Careers in Copyright: A Panel Discussion and Networking Reception

Careers in Copyright: A Panel Discussion and Networking Reception

A career in copyright law provides opportunities to practice in a number of industries that have become integral to our lives.  Copyright attorneys work in areas such as film, television, music, media, and in government.  Many attorneys and students who wish to practice in these areas want to know two things: what are my options and how do I get there?  Please join us for a panel discussion with a diverse and distinguished group in the public and private sectors to answer those very questions.  A reception with light snacks and refreshments will follow.

Date: Thursday, September 18
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Faculty Conference Center – Burns 505, The George Washington University Law School, 716 20^th Street, NW
Cost: Free

Our distinguished panel:

Troy Dow, Vice President and Counsel at Walt Disney

Alec Rosenberg, Partner, Arent Fox

Danielle M. Aguirre, SVP, Business and Legal Affairs, National Music Publishers’ Association

Kevin Amer, Counsel for the Office Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office

Rick Marshall, Attorney-Advisor for the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Copyright Office

Ann Chaitovitz, Attorney-Advisor for the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Greg Olaniran, Partner at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP

Panelist Bios

Troy Dow is Vice President and Counsel, Government Relations and IP Legal Policy and Strategy at The Walt Disney Company.  He advises the company on intellectual property and technology policy and represents the company on such matters before the U.S. Congress, the Executive Branch and related agencies. In addition to work in the legislative and regulatory areas, Mr. Dow works to ensure an effective and consistent legal policy and strategy in the area of intellectual property, including in commercial transactions and in major copyright litigation matters that involve Disney or its trade associations. Mr. Dow served as Vice President and Counsel for Technology and New Media at the Motion Picture Association of America, and as Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  He teaches copyright at Duke University Law School and holds degrees from Brigham Young University and the Georgetown University Law Center.

Alec P. Rosenberg is a partner in Arent Fox’s Intellectual Property Group. His practice encompasses the full range of scenarios involving intellectual property, from ownership, misappropriation, and infringement disputes to strategic counseling and transactions. Alec was a general litigator before focusing his practice on IP-related work, and he has extensive experience litigating trademark, copyright, and trade secrets cases in the courts and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. He clerked on, and regularly appears before, the demanding US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (aka the “Rocket Docket”). In addition, Alec advises clients of all types on enforcement techniques and internal best practices to develop, safeguard, and exploit valuable intellectual property. In recent years, a significant part of his practice has involved counseling disruptive emerging growth companies in connection with such matters, as well as serving such companies in a broader, “outside general counsel” capacity.

Prior to joining Arent Fox, Alec handled IP and other litigation matters as an attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling.  He graduated from Northwestern University and The George Washington University Law School.

As Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs for the National Music Publishers’ Association, Danielle Aguirre’s role is to protect and enforce the copyrights and intellectual property interests of songwriters and music publishers.  Danielle has aggressively fought digital piracy and infringement litigating against YouTube, Limewire, LiveUniverse and Fullscreen.  She works with the largest companies, digital services and record labels to ensure that publishers and songwriters are being fairly compensated, negotiating model industry licenses which have enabled publishers to be paid for the use of their songs in digital music videos.  Danielle oversees NMPA’s takedown program, which focuses on shutting down or licensing illegal lyric, sheet music and tablature websites.  Before the Copyright Royalty Board, she represents publishers and songwriters in their fight for fair mechanical royalty rates under Section 115 of the Copyright Act.

Prior to NMPA, Danielle was an attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.  Danielle graduated from Georgetown University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Rick Marshall is an Attorney-Advisor for the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Copyright Office. The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) assists the Register of Copyrights in carrying out critical work of the U.S. Copyright Office regarding the legal interpretation of the Copyright Act and related statutory and regulatory provisions. The OGC is also responsible for advising Congress, the Department of Justice, and other federal agencies on a wide range of copyright-related law and policy matters.

Prior to joining the Copyright Office in June 2013, Rick served for several years as Law Clerk and Senior Staff Attorney for the Chief Judge at Florida’s First District Court of Appeal. In 2012, he earned his LL.M. in Intellectual Property Law from The George Washington University Law School. His most recent publication: The Quest for Parity: An Examination of the Internet Radio Fairness Act was published in the Spring ‘13 edition of the CSUSA journal.

Gregory O. Olaniran, a partner in the Entertainment & New Media, Intellectual Property & Technology, and Litigation Departments at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP, is at the forefront of copyright and new media law, with special expertise in representing copyright owners in connection with statutory license royalty and enforcement matters involving cable, satellite, and other delivery systems, and in other copyright and contractual matters. Mr. Olaniran frequently counsels major media and entertainment companies on a myriad of issues affecting content creation and distribution of syndicated television programs, movies, specials, sports, documentaries, reality shows and other television programming delivered on multiple platforms. He represents leading media and entertainment and technology clients before the Copyright Office, the Copyright Royalty Judges, the Federal Communications Commission, and state and federal trial and appellate courts.  Mr. Olaniran is an active member of numerous professional and civic organizations, including the Horizon Foundation, the Alpha Foundation of Howard County (Maryland), the Maryland State Bar Association, and the District of Columbia Bar Association. Mr. Olaniran is a graduate of George Washington University Law School. He holds an MBA in Finance and two baccalaureate degrees, with honors, from Morgan State University. In addition he is a Certified Public Accountant (license inactive).

Ann Chaitovitz has more than 20 years of experience representing songwriters, publishers, recording artists, the US government and digital technology companies on music, technology and copyright matters.Ann specializes in domestic and international copyright law as an attorney-advisor at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where she handles copyright and related rights issues in various international regions, a position she held previously, as well.  Ann has represented the U.S. in various multilateral fora, such as WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, and has participated in the development and implementation of U.S. domestic copyright and related intellectual property laws and policy, including the Department of Commerce’s Green Paper on “Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy.”

In between stints at the USPTO, Ann was the Executive Director at the Future of Music Coalition (FMC), a national non-profit education, research and advocacy organization working on the challenging issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy, and she also consulted on copyright, digital technology, new media and music issues. 

 Before beginning her work at the USPTO, Ann served as the National Director of Sound Recordings at the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), the labor union representing recording singers. At AFTRA, Ann worked on domestic and international copyright issues. She worked to repeal the amendment to the “work made for hire’ definition of the US Copyright Law, to ensure the direct payment of digital performance fees to artists and to change the structure of SoundExchange, so that artists would share control. Ann also focused on the rights of U.S. performers internationally, negotiating with foreign countries’ collecting societies to ensure that U.S. performers receive their share of royalties.

Prior to AFTRA, Ann worked as a staff attorney at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), a songwriters’ and publishers’ collective management organization, where she conducted copyright litigation on behalf of songwriters and publishers.

Ann was an inaugural FMC Voice of Advocacy Honoree, awarded for a career devoted to serving the music community, working towards solutions and building bridges in the often-bumpy transition from an analog to a largely digital music industry.  She serves on the Research Advisory Committee of the FMC’s Artist Revenue Streams project and has served on the Board of Directors of the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC), the Board of Directors of SoundExchange and the FMC Advisory Board.  She participated in the American Assembly on “Art, Technology, and Intellectual Property” and graduated in 2004’s Leadership Music class.  She holds degrees from Amherst College (BA, cum laude) and New York University School of Law.

Kevin R. Amer is Counsel for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office.  The Office of Policy and International Affairs (PIA) assists the Register of Copyrights in advising the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch agencies on domestic and international copyright policy matters.  PIA also represents the Copyright Office in U.S. government delegations to international organizations, including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as in bilateral meetings and negotiations on copyright issues with foreign governments.

Prior to joining the Copyright Office in September 2013, Mr. Amer spent several years as an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., focusing on appellate litigation before the Supreme Court of the United States and federal courts of appeals.  Previously, he served as an attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and as a law clerk to the Hon. Charles R. Wilson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  Mr. Amer received a J.D. from Yale Law School and an A.B. from Harvard University.