Eric J. Schwartz

Eric Schwartz has over 35 years of experience as a copyright attorney counseling on U.S. and foreign copyright laws – including rights, ownership, licensing, exceptions, and enforcement issues – for emerging technological uses (e.g., social media and artificial intelligence), as well as “traditional media” in film and television, recorded sound, music publishing, book publishing, videogames, and business software. He has served as production counsel for numerous feature and documentary films and television programs (as well as provided fair use guidance). For several decades, Eric has counseled on copyright termination issues regarding the recapture and re-negotiation of rights in high-profile cases involving musical compositions, recordings, films, and works of the visual arts. Eric has served as an expert witness in numerous federal copyright cases, and as an appellate and trial litigation strategist, as well as assisting on Copyright Office registration and recordation practices. He is an expert on film and recorded music archival legal and preservation issues; his pro bono preservation work was featured in a 2011 Washington Post profile. He is an adjunct professor and frequent guest lecturer on copyright law and related subjects, including serving on the faculty of Georgetown University Law Center and American University Washington College of Law.

Eric was President of the Copyright Society from 2014 to 2016.