Newsletter

KERNOCHAN CENTER CO-HOSTS AI SYMPOSIUM IN TOKYO
The First Annual U.S.-Asia Comparative Copyright Law Roundtable: Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Law

On June 10th and 11th, 2023, the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts co-sponsored a two-day symposium on artificial intelligence and copyright law, held in Tokyo at Waseda University.  The symposium brought scholars, government officials, and industry executives together to discuss the legal challenges raised by content-producing machine learning algorithms.  

Three panels were featured on the first day of the symposium.  The first panel, on the copyright protection of AI-generated work, was moderated by Professor Jane Ginsburg, and included Register of Copyrights and Director of the US Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, as well as representatives of the governments of Hong Kong, India, and Japan.  Professor Shyam Balganesh and Prof. Ginsburg both spoke on the second panel, which discussed copyright infringement by AI and was moderated by Waseda University professor Tatsuhiro Ueno.  The third panel, moderated by Prof. Balganesh, covered stakeholder views and experience, and included the perspectives of executives from Google, Microsoft, and Tencent, as well as artist Ken Akamatsu, creator of the mangas Love Hina and A.I. Love You.

The second day of the conference was an academic roundtable, with short topic talks from speakers from Google, Singapore Management University, Kobe University, the University of Aberdeen Law School, and Yonsei Law School.  Other academics were invited to the discussion, including Kernochan Center Executive Director Pippa Loengard, as well as Profs. Balganesh and Ginsburg.

KERNOCHAN CENTER CONGRATULATES PRIZE WINNERS
 
The Kernochan Center congratulates the graduating students who received our 2022 Intellectual Property prizes.

The Caroll G. Harper Prize, for graduating students who attain the highest standard in IP studies and writing: Joshua Berlowitz and Ethan Kovar.

The Michael D. Remer Award for a graduating student whose activities and achievements demonstrate an aptitude for IP law: Eliza Holland.

The Andrew D. Fried Memorial Prize for the best student essay on IP law published in the Journal of Law & the Arts: Adam Vischo for his Note, "The Case for the CCBl: A Defense of the Constitutionality of the Copyright Claims Board.”  

FORTHCOMING EVENTS
 

The Kernochan Center's Annual Symposium will be held October 20th, and will cover issues raised by the Derivative Works Right.  The Symposium will be open to the public, and we will reach out to let you know when registration is available, as well as to provide more details.

Our first student-facing event will be held at the end of August, when we invite new students to Meet the Kernochan Center, allowing them to hear about our work, talk informally with the Center's professors, and speak with students who have worked with us as Research Assistants.  One of our most popular student events, the Alumni in Arts and Entertainment panel, will be held later in the fall.  This panel brings recent Columbia Law School alumni together to discuss their career paths with current students looking to find their own way.

While exact dates for public-facing events are still forthcoming, we hope to be able to host several interesting talks in the fall semester, including a discussion of the government edicts doctrine.

KERNOCHAN CENTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JUNE BESEK RETIRES
 
This summer, the Kernochan Center’s Executive Director, June M. Besek, announced her retirement from Columbia Law School and the Center.  Ms. Besek had been with the Center for over twenty-three years, beginning in 1999.  She is succeeded in the position of Executive Director by Philippa Loengard, formerly the Center’s Director.  Please look for a full tribute to Ms. Besek’s work in the next issue of our newsletter.

KERNOCHAN CENTER CONGRATULATES PRIZE WINNERS
 
The Kernochan Center congratulates the graduating students who received our 2022 Intellectual Property prizes.

The Caroll G. Harper Prize, for graduating students who attain the highest standard in IP studies and writing: Alison Robins and Jake Glendenning.

Before law school, Glendenning worked at a San Francisco self-driving car startup for three years, primarily in legal operations and compliance. At Columbia, he participated on the school's American Intellectual Property Law Association moot court team and served as the Senior Digital Editor of the Columbia Business Law Review. He also worked as a Judicial Extern in the Eastern District of New York and was a James Kent scholar. This fall, he plans to join Covington & Burling's San Francisco office and pursue his interests in intellectual property and antitrust litigation. 

Robins developed her love for intellectual property law after reading a case famous for its epistemological musings on what defines a banana costume.  Prior to law school, she worked as a legal assistant at Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP in New York.  Robins graduated from Bryn Mawr College after studying Literatures in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and received honors for her thesis on mid-century American science fiction and eschatology.  During her time at CLS, she participated in the  AIPLA moot court, served on the board of the Entertainment, Art, and Sports Law Society, and was the head writer for Columbia Law Revue.  She also interned with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and WNET. 

In the fall, Robins will join the New York office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in its Intellectual Property group.  In the future, she hopes to hone her legal skills and help enable artists to make their art.

The Michael D. Remer Award for a graduating student whose activities and achievements demonstrate an aptitude for IP law: Gili Karev.

Prior to attending CLS, Karev spent six years working in the art market as the Global Curator of Opera Gallery Group and as a specialized provenance researcher advising private collectors, law firms and art dealers with regards to provenance risks of artworks located or lost in Europe during WWII. 

During her time at Columbia, Karev worked for the Kernochan Center of Art and Law and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and served as a member of the New York City Bar Association (NYCBA) Art Law Committee.   She now works at Klaris Law on a wide range of both transactional intellectual property, First Amendment, and entertainment matters.

The Andrew D. Fried Memorial Prize for the best student essay on IP law published in the Journal of Law & the Arts: Gersham Johnson for his Note, "The Last Line of Defense: Addressing Section 512(g)'s Dwindling Capacity to Protect Educational Fair Users on the Internet.”  

At CLS, Johnson developed a passion for intellectual property law.  Among his various commitments, he served as a Notes and Submissions Editor for the Journal of Law & the Arts, provided pro bono services to music producers through Columbia’s externship program, and participated in corporate and litigation IP matters as a summer associate. 

Prior to law school, Johnson majored in Economics at Yale College (B.A. 2018), where he helped to lead a creative writing collective that spurred his interest in the arts and music.  As he begins his career as a litigation associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, Johnson hopes to continue pursuing IP law in all of its facets.

JUDGE MARGARET MCKEOWN'S MANGES LECTURE AVAILABLE ONLINE
 
Judge Margaret McKeown delivered the 34th Annual Horace S. Manges Lecture for the Kernochan Center in the spring.  Video of the lecture is available online, at the Kernochan Center's website, and on our YouTube channel.

This newsletter has been archived with the Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive.

SPRING IP SPEAKER SERIES BEGINS

On February 1, the Kernochan Center's Spring IP Speaker Series began with Jonathan Band (Jonathan Band PLLC) and Danielle Coffey (News Media Alliance), who spoke on press publishers’ rights.
We have published a further summary of this talk.

On February 8, Mary Anne Franks (University of Miami School of Law) and Cathy Gellis, Esq., discussed the possible reform of §230 of the Communications Decency Act
We have published a further summary of this talk.

On February 15, Pascale Gelly (Schneider Electric) and Ari Waldman (Northeastern University School of Law) spoke on the subject of personal data privacy.
We have published a further summary of this talk.

The Spring IP Speaker Series continues throughout the semester.

34TH ANNUAL MANGES LECTURE ANNOUNCED

On April 4 at 6:30 pm, Judge M. Margaret McKeown of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will present the 34th Manges Lecture "live" at the Law School.  It is entitled , "Art, Music, and Mash-ups — A View from the Bench on Creativity and Copyright."

Seating will be limited due to Covid protocols in place at Columbia.  RSVP will be required, as well as proof of vaccination and booster.  We will be sending out a formal invitation shortly.

KERNOCHAN SYMPOSIUM VIDEO AVAILABLE

The Kernochan Center's Fall Symposium, "NFTs: Future or Fad?" continues to draw attention and interest.  The video is available to the public on YouTube.

This newsletter has been archived with the Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive.

NFTs: Future or Fad?

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are a contemporary point of confusion and controversy.  The Kernochan Center Symposium, "NFTs: Future or Fad?" will serve as a guide to this growing, creative, and potentially lucrative, market, and will discuss the role copyright can play in protecting these assets.

Register

For more detailed information, and CLE readings, please visit the Symposium's dedicated page.

9:00-9:15    Welcome remarks

9:15- 9:45   Keynote – Introduction to NFTs

Stuart D. Levi, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

9:45 – 11:00 Session I:  The Intersection of NFTs and Copyright

Brian Frye,  Spears-Gilbert Associate Professor of Law, Rosenberg College of Law, University of Kentucky

Andre Guadamuz, Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law (Law), School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex

Sean Sullivan, Davis Wright Tremaine

Adrian Perry, Covington & Burling LLP

11:15-11:45 Keynote -   NFTs and the Art Market

Kevin McCoy, Associate Professor of Art and Art Education, NYU

11:45-1:00  Session II – NFTs and the Art Market

Megan Noh, Pryor Cashman LLP

Sarah Odenkirk, Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP

Yayoi Shionoiri,  Executive Director for the Chris Burden Estate and the Nancy Rubins Studio

Register

Information Regarding New York CLE Credits:

Columbia Law School has been certified by the New York State Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Board as an Accredited Provider of CLE programs. Under New York State CLE regulations, this live simultaneous transmission transitional and non-transitional CLE Program will provide 3.5 hours of New York CLE credit in Areas of Professional Practice. This CLE credit is awarded to New York attorneys for full attendance of the Program. Attendance is determined by an attorney's submission of their Attorney Attendance Affirmation forms with appropriate course codes noted. On submission of the Attorney Attendance Affirmations, attorneys also should submit their completed Evaluation Form, provided by the program organizers. Please note the NYS Certificates of Attendance will be sent to the email address as it appears in the register unless otherwise noted there.

This newsletter has been archived with the Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive.

The Kernochan Center congratulates all of the Class of 2021.  In this special late-summer edition of our newsletter, we extend special congratulations to the students whose work won awards for their IP scholarship.

The Carroll G. Harper Prize

Timothy Chung is a recipient of the Carroll G. Harper Prize, awarded to one or more members of the graduating class who have attained the highest standards of achievement in intellectual property studies and writing.  He came to Columbia to study IP law, fueled largely by his dual interests in the arts and auto racing. While at Columbia, he was the Executive Submissions Editor and an Articles Editor for The Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts (through which he published his student note, Fair Use Quotation Licenses: A Private Sector Solution to DMCA Takedown Abuse on YouTube, 44 COLUM. J. L. & ARTS 69 (2020)), a research assistant for Prof. Jane Ginsburg, and an extern for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and the Copyright Dispute Resolution Externship at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. This fall, following a quick, COVID protocols-compliant trip abroad, he will be joining Norton Rose Fulbright LLP's Disputes practice group in New York City. It is his hope to eventually build a career in IP litigation, but he remains excited and open to see what the future may hold.

Jeremy King is also a recipient of the Carroll G. Harper Prize.  He is an incoming Associate in the Intellectual Property department of Hunton Andrews Kurth's New York office, where he will be focusing on Copyright, Trademark, and Trade Secret litigation.  Prior to law school, Jeremy was a professional musician, having played guitar for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and Matilda on Broadway, as well as designing keyboard, drum pad, and guitar effects sounds for numerous musicals including Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen.  His interest in IP law began in his hotel room while on tour, when he started taking free courses online to learn how to protect himself in the arts business and came to realize he was more interested in the legal issues involved than in the art itself.

Jeremy's academic focus is on arts-related IP.  He has written on the copyrightability of recordings of individual musical notes and their use in derivative works (Tiny, Tiny Copyright: An Examination of the Copyrightability of Sampler Instruments and its Impact on Derivative Works, forthcoming in the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts); counseled musicians through Columbia's Practicing the Law of Music externship; and worked on music and film copyright litigation during his 1L summer as a law clerk at Doniger/Burroughs PC.  He is currently co-authoring a paper on the right of integrity embodied in the Visual Artists Rights Act, and has also written on the reciprocal Trademark rights in the Pan American Convention.  He is also a member of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association committees on Copyright and Trademark, and helped organize their President's Forum on the 9th Circuit's recent decision in Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin (952 F.3d 1051 (9th Cir. 2020)) decision.

Jeremy's career goals are to help affect the development of IP law through litigation and scholarship.

Mary Kate Patterson is also a recipient of the Carroll G. Harper Prize.  Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she was devoted to music, learning to play the piano and other instruments.  She attended the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate, studying Chemistry and Sociology.  While at Penn, she was a chemistry research assistant at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and participated in the College House Music Program and the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project.  She entered law school with an interest in IP law, specifically patent law, based on her experience as a chemist, and copyright, based on her experience in music.  At Columbia, she joined and coached the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) moot court, acted as the Executive Editor for Submissions and Content for Columbia's Science and Technology Law Review, and served as a research assistant to Prof. Jane Ginsburg.  In the fall, she will start at Cravath, Swaine, and Moore LLP.  Her ambitions for the future are to continue to practice IP law, continue playing the piano, and give back to the community.

The Michael D. Remmer Award

Peter Cramer is a recipient of the Michael D. Remer Award, which is awarded annually and presented by the Kernochan Center to a graduating student whose activities and academic achievements demonstrate an interest in and aptitude for the fields of arts and copyright law.  Before attending Columbia Law School, he studied film at Wesleyan University and worked in television production and politics. During his time working in Hollywood he became interested in copyright and media law.  Cramer applied to CLS specifically because of the Kernochan Center.  While in law school, he was co-President of the Entertainment, Art and Sports Law Society (EASLS), a coach for the AIPLA moot court team, and a staffer on the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts. This fall, he will be joining the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Group at Proskauer Rose LLP in New York. It is his professional goal to apply his knowledge and training from CLS and Proskauer to help independent creative professionals and media startups thrive in the digital entertainment marketplace. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, hiking, watching independent films and NBA basketball, and listening to history audiobooks.

Maya Katalan is also a recipient of the Michael D. Remer Award.  She graduated from Duke University in 2015.  At Columbia Law School, Maya has focused her academic interests on art, media, and copyright law.  Her coursework at CLS included Art Law seminars, First Amendment and Media Law courses, and serving as a teaching assistant to Prof. Tim Wu for Copyright Law.  She also worked as a research assistant to Prof. Wu, as one of the Kernochan Center’s research assistants, and as a legal intern at the Authors Guild.  Outside of curricular activities, she was a Co-Chair of the EASLS Symposium, and was on the staff of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law.  Maya spent the fall of 2L in the Copyright Dispute Resolution externship at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, assisting on a pro bono copyright litigation concerning appropriation art. The following summer, she was a summer associate at Pryor Cashman LLP, and looks forward to returning there this fall, where she will gain experience working in a variety of areas, including copyright litigation, art, and media & entertainment law.

The Andrew D. Fried Memorial Prize

Alec Fisher is the recipient of the annual Andrew D. Fried Memorial Prize, awarded annually for the best student essay on a subject in the field of intellectual property and related law published in the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts during the preceding year.  He is originally from central Florida but has lived in New York City for the past several years. He obtained his B.A. in Theater and Creative Writing at Florida State University before pursuing his J.D. In his third year at Columbia, he served as the Editor-in-Chief for Volume 44 of the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts. Prior to that, he also served on the board of the Columbia Antitrust Law and Economics Association.  

His note, Unspoken Criticism:  Audiovisual Forms of Critique as Fair Use, was published in the Winter 2021 edition of the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts. It argues that the traditional legal framework for analyzing works of criticism as fair use is particularly constraining for works of audiovisual criticism that critique copyrighted works in an unspoken, visual manner. The paper further argues that courts should undertake a film-specific analysis of works of audiovisual criticism, including an analysis of editing, shot selection, and camera movement, when assessing the transformativeness of works of audiovisual criticism under factor one of the fair use test.

Alec will be joining Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP as a litigation associate in the fall. His professional interests include copyright law, trademark law, digital privacy, and antitrust.

This newsletter has been archived with the Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive.

KARYN TEMPLE DELIVERS 33RD ANNUAL
HORACE S. MANGES LECTURE

On March 15, Karyn A. Temple '97, Senior Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) delivered the 33rd annual Manges Lecture.  Her talk was titled, “Beyond Whack-A-Mole: Content Protection in the Age of Platform Accountability,” and gave an overview of the history of copyright laws regulating the internet and how new legislation is both necessary and, perhaps, forthcoming.  Ms. Temple's lecture will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts.

Read More

SPRING TALKS CONCLUDE

On March 11, Dr. Jennifer Mass of Scientific Analysis of Fine Art, LLC, gave a talk on the many techniques which can be used to discover the fascinating true history of an artwork.
For a further summary of this talk, read more here.

On March 23, as part of the IP Speaker Series, Kirkland and Ellis’ Dale Cendali and Joe Gratz of Durie Tangri LLP discussed current issues in fair use
For a further summary of this talk, read more here.
For a video of this talk, click here.

Data mining and text analysis were the subject of a March 30 talk by Nancy Kopans, Vice President and General Counsel at ITHAKA, and Nathan Kelber, a data analyst at JSTOR.
For a further summary of this talk, read more here.
For a video of this talk, click here.

Kimberley Isbell and former Kernochan Center IP Fellow Brad Greenberg, attorneys at the United States Copyright Office (USCO), spoke on April 6 about the USCO’s 2020 study of Section 512.
For a further summary of this talk, read more here.
For a video of this talk, click here.

Art lawyer Nicholas M. O’Donnell spoke on April 8 about his recent case before the Supreme Court, Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp (592 U.S. __ (2021)), and the role of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) in Nazi-art repatriation cases.
For a further summary of this talk, read more here.
For a video of this talk, click here.

KERNOCHAN SYMPOSIUM
The Restatement of Copyright Law: Past, Present, and Future

This year’s symposium was held virtually on April 23 and focused on the American Law Institute’s draft Restatement of Copyright.  Panels discussed the process of drafting a restatement where there is a governing statute, how the Restatement deals with the originality requirement, and whether there is a need for such a document at all.  Panelists included academics, private practitioners and members of the judiciary. 
Video of the entire event is available here.
 

ALUMNI NOTES

Kernochan Center Board Member Joshua Simmons '10 was featured on the CLS website as a “Lion of the Law.”  Simmons discusses his interests as an IP lawyer, his experience at Kirkland & Ellis, his background with Columbia Law and the Kernochan Center, and his pro-bono work, including the cases of several LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.  This April, he received the Judge Deborah A. Batts Award for Queer Visibility at the annual Out in the Law Gala, organized by student groups OutLaws and Queer and Trans People of Color.

This newsletter has been archived with the Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive.

JOIN THE KERNOCHAN CENTER'S JANE GINSBURG AND PIPPA LOENGARD FOR AN IP PANEL

Wednesday, March 24th, at 4PM EDT

The Kernochan Center invites you to the Class of 1986 "Toaster Talk" on Wednesday, March 24th.  The topic is:"Protecting the Rights of Authors and Artists: New Perspectives on Intellectual Property Law.”

The panel will be held on Zoom.  Other panel members include Cheryl Davis '86, General Counsel for the Authors' Guild, and Scott Martin '86, Deputy General Counsel, EVP, Paramount Pictures.  The panel will be moderated by Heather Dembert Rafter '86.

Register Here

SPRING SPEAKER SERIES COMMENCES

The series kicked off on January 26 when James Grimmelman, Tessler Family Professor of Digital and Information Law at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School, and Annemarie Bridy, Copyright Counsel at Google, discussed the copyrightability of works created by artificial intelligence (AI).
For a further summary of this talk, click here.

The second lunch featured Catherine Gellis and Professor Mary Anne Franks of the University of Miami School of Law speaking on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA).
For a further summary of this talk, click here.
For a video of this talk, click here.

The Kernochan Center also held talks on Data and Personal Privacy Protection (with speakers Pascale Gelly LL.M. ‘92, Group Data Protection Officer at Schneider Electric and Vice-President of AFCDP (French Association of Data Protection Practitioners), and Professor Paul Schwartz, Berkeley Law School) and Art Authentication (with speaker Dr. Jennifer Mass, Scientific Analysis of Fine Art LLC).  Details of these talks will be published in an upcoming newsletter.

UPCOMING SPRING TALKS INCLUDE

Recent Developments in Fair Use
Speakers: Joseph C. Gratz, Durie Tangri, and Dale Cendali, Kirkland and Ellis
Tuesday, March 23 at 12:15PM EDT
To register, click here.

Text and Data Mining
Speakers: Nancy Kopans, vice president and general counsel, ITHAKA, and Nathan Kelber, Mike Ilitch School of Business, Wayne State University and Community Engagement Lead, JSTOR Labs.
Tuesday, March 30 at 12:15PM EDT
To register, click here.

DMCA Section 512

Speakers: Kimberly Isbell, U.S. Copyright Office and Brad Greenberg, Council-Detailee, U.S. Copyright Office to the Senate Judiciary Committee)
Tuesday, April 6 at 12:15PM EDT
To register, click here.

[The Limits of] Using the FSIA to Litigate Nazi-Looted Art Art Claims
Speaker: Nick O'Donnell, Sullivan and Worcester
Thursday, April 8, at 12:05PM EDT
To register, click here.

KARYN TEMPLE '97 DELIVERS 33RD ANNUAL HORACE S. MANGES LECTURE

The thirty-third annual Horace S. Manges Lecture, entitled, "Beyond Whack-a-Mole: Content Protection in the Age of Platform Accountability," was delivered on Monday, March 15 by Karyn Temple '97, the Global General Counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America and former Register of Copyrights.  Ms. Temple spoke in her personal capacity.  More details will be available in our next newsletter.

This newsletter has been archived with the Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive.

This newsletter has been archived with the Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive.

The IP Speaker Series, which is sponsored by the Horace Manges Lecture and Conference Fund, will continue throughout the Spring.

March 10, 2020: Recent Developments in Fair Use.  Speakers: Dale Cendali (Kirkland and Ellis LLP) and Robert Clarida ('93, Reitler, Kailas and Rosenblatt).

March 31, 2020: State Sovereign Immunity from Copyright Infringement.  Speakers TBA.

April 21, 2020: Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Issues.  Speakers: Luke Budiardjo (’18, law clerk to Hon. Pierre Leval, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) and Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid (Ono Academic College, Israel, Visiting Professor, Fordham Law School).

All talks are at 12:10PM, in Jerome Greene Hall.  Please contact Kernochan Center.

This newsletter has been archived with the Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive.