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The law of copyright is relevant to anyone who is a creator or user of creative works. Traditional copyright rules have been challenged by the evolution of digital media and the Internet, which render simple and universal the copying, dissemination and alteration of creative works. Interpreting these rules in today’s digital environment – and in appropriate cases bringing creative legal challenges to them – is at the heart of the firm’s practice.

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REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

  • Challenging, on behalf of publishers of educational DVDs, university practices of streaming the DVDs to students.

  • Representing religious television producers and syndicators before the Copyright Royalty Board of the Library of Congress in proceedings to determine the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars in annual cable and satellite royalties.

  • Litigating in federal court on behalf of Los Angeles screenwriter Yolanda Buggs against DreamWorks Animation and Paramount Pictures alleging copyright infringement of a screenplay she wrote as a graduate student at the American Film Institute.

  • Serving as lead counsel for a consortium of national library associations in connection with passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) and the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH Act).

  • Filing numerous amici briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeal on behalf of national library and educational associations concerning provisions of copyright law that govern copyright term and the rights of freelance authors, photographers and publishers to control the electronic republication of works and on behalf of economics professors in a peer-to-peer file-sharing case.
  • Defending a software company’s sale and distribution of innovative DVD backup and restoration software and the public’s fair use rights.

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  • Guiding litigation in Europe establishing the precedent of moral rights protection for American filmmakers.

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  • Representing the Directors Guild of America in legislative work on the National Film Preservation Act.

  • Successfully concluding the copyright infringement and false advertising claim of Mary Buck, a jewelry designer whose work was improperly exploited in print advertising and online by Vera Wang’s company.

  • Successfully resolving a suit by Rudy K, a prominent Washington, D.C. photographer, against The Washington Blade, a leading newspaper for the gay and lesbian community for copyright infringement and breach of contract claims involving multiple unauthorized reproductions of his photographs in print and online.

  • Representing a satellite resale carrier in landmark litigation that established the cable industry’s right to deliver superstation programming to millions of cable subscribers.

  • Testifying at the Library of Congress in connection with hearings to establish exemptions under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

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