Christopher A. Meyer Memorial Lecture

About the Lecture

Christopher A. Meyer passionately believed in the rights of authors to both control the commercial exploitation of their expression and to draw from the expressions of others when creating new works.  After Mr. Meyer’s death in 1999, the firm Meyer, Klipper & Mohr, PLLC established a lecture series for prominent practitioners and academics to set forth their views on current trends in copyright law and related issues. The Copyright Society of the USA and its Washington DC Chapter and George Washington Law School are proud to sponsor this series in cooperation with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Sandra Aistars is a Clinical Professor at Scalia Law School at George Mason University, leading the law school’s Arts & Entertainment Advocacy Program. She also serves as a Senior Scholar and Director of Copyright Research and Policy at the law school’s Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP). Aistars has more than twenty years of advocacy experience on behalf of copyright and other intellectual property owners. Throughout her career she has served in positions that required mastery of intellectual property issues, federal policy process and development, and the ability to understand and manage the implications of intellectual property policies across a portfolio of businesses.

In addition, Aistars has a wealth of experience working with policy makers in Washington and internationally. She has served on trade missions and been an industry advisor to the Department of Commerce on intellectual property implications for international trade negotiations; worked on legislative and regulatory matters worldwide; frequently testified before Congress and federal agencies regarding intellectual property matters; chaired cross-industry coalitions and technology standards efforts; and is regularly tapped by government agencies to lecture in U.S. government-sponsored study tours for visiting legislators, judges, prosecutors, and regulators.

Immediately prior to joining George Mason, Aistars was the Chief Executive Officer of the Copyright Alliance – a nonprofit, public interest organization that represents the interests of artists and creators across the creative spectrum. While at Mason, she continues to collaborate with the Copyright Alliance as a member of its Academic Advisory Board. Aistars has also previously served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Time Warner Inc. She began her legal career in private practice at Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP. Aistars is a Trustee of the Copyright Society of the USA and serves on the board of the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts.