Copyright and the Right to Repair When: April 13, 2021 at 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT - This event has passed ABOUT THE PROGRAM: As digital technology has increased in complexity and expanded its reach, so too has the “right to repair” movement grown in visibility and enlarged its influence—posing fascinating new questions for our copyright-law regime. The goal of the right-to-repair movement is to make information, parts, and tools freely available to consumers and independent maintenance groups, so they can fix their stuff themselves. But isn’t a company manual protected by copyright? And embedded vehicle software the same? Isn’t the author perfectly free to issue only a narrow copyright license prohibiting unauthorized maintenance, as John Deere reportedly did with its tractors? (“Farmers Fight With John Deere Over Who Gets to Fix an $800,000 Tractor,” Bloomberg Businessweek, March 5, 2020). Our dynamic panel grapples with these questions daily—in practice, through public policy and legislative efforts, and by close analysis of existing legal doctrine. Come learn the fundamentals of the right to repair and its inescapable intersections with copyright law. Our speakers will provide an overview of the copyright landscape implicated by the right to repair, with real-world examples of copyright arguments triggered by individuals and third-party repair organizations seeking access to tools and information to service their products. The panel will also explain the multiple fora in which these copyright arguments play out. This will include up-to-the-minute updates on right-to-repair legislation introduced in over 20 state houses throughout the U.S., including what carve-outs in those bills for copyright and other intellectual property rights may mean in practice. Our panel will also explore the way in which copyright and the right to repair intersect every three years in the US Copyright Office, during rulemaking on exemptions to the anti-circumventions provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s Section 1201. You’ll come away well-grounded in an emerging area of copyright law that is sure to make headlines for years to come. SPEAKERS: Aaron Perzanowski is a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and the associate director of its Spangenberg Center for Law, Technology & the Arts. Aaron is one of the leading legal academics on the right to repair and its implications for intellectual property law. He has published widely in the area and in the related field of digital-goods ownership, including a paper on “Consumer Perceptions of the Right to Repair” in the Indiana Law Journal; a co-authored book The End of Ownership: Personal Property in the Digital Economy, published by MIT Press in 2016; and, literally, the book on the subject—The Right to Repair, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press in 2021. Kerry Maeve Sheehan is the U.S. Policy Lead at iFixit, where she advocates for Right to Repair at the state and federal levels. She’s a graduate of Boston University School of Law and comes to iFixit from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge, where she worked extensively on issues in intellectual property law and technology policy. She’s written on legal issues in technology for EFF’s Deeplinks blog, Slate, and The Hill. Matthew Williams is a partner with the Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp firm, who focuses on civil litigation relating to entertainment, intellectual property, and technology law. He has extensive experience defending film, music, and publishing-industry clients against copyright-infringement and implied-in-fact contract claims. A significant portion of Matt’s practice also includes representing clients in administrative and regulatory proceedings relating to copyright and communications policy. Matt has represented the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Association of American Publishers, and the Entertainment Software Association for over a decade in triennial Copyright Office rule-making proceedings regarding regulatory exemptions to anti-circumvention provision of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Aleksander Goranin (Moderator) is an intellectual-property litigator at Duane Morris LLP. Alex specializes in copyright and patent litigation, particularly in the areas of enterprise software, internet, telecommunications, and medical devices. He brings over twenty years of trial and licensing experience to the resolution of technology-driven disputes. Alex has also taught intellectual property courses at the Villanova University School of Law and, before entering private practice, clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He currently co-chairs the Copyright Society’s Pennsylvania Chapter. COST: Members: $35 Non-Members: $75 Student Members: Free Not a member? Consider joining today to receive a discount to this event and more! Membership Info Cancellation Policy Refunds must be requested in writing at least three business days before the event. Refunds will not be issued after that point. Unfortunately we will not be able to credit your registration payment toward a future event, but you may allow another person to attend in your place. Please email rogerio@csusa.org and let us know that person’s name, affiliation, city and state, and email address. Financial Aid The Copyright Society is dedicated to making its programming accessible by providing a limited number of scholarships each year to students, law clerks, unemployed attorneys, and nonprofit and government employees. For information on how to apply, please click here. CLE CREDIT: The Copyright Society is a Certified CLE Provider in New York and California. Program will satisfy 1.0 NY CLE credit and 1.0 CA participatory credit. 1.0 PA CLE credit pending approval by the PA Bar. The intermediate program is transitional and appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys. Instructions for verifying attendance will be emailed to registrants prior to the program. CLE Credit Details The Copyright Society is a Certified CLE Provider in New York and California. Program will satisfy 1.0 NY CLE credit and 1.0 CA participatory credit. 1.0 PA CLE credit pending approval by the PA Bar. The intermediate program is transitional and appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys. Instructions for verifying attendance will be emailed to registrants prior to the program.
