On March 1, 2023, the Copyright Office and the Copyright Society came together to celebrate Marybeth Peters’ life. Eric Schwartz called it “Marybeth Fest.” And indeed, from the transcript below, you can see how impactful and loved Marybeth Peters was.

After a long life in copyright, Marybeth Peters passed away on September 29, 2022, at the age of 83.1 She served as the 11th Register of Copyrights from 1994 to 2010. But these brief biological facts tell none of the full story of Marybeth. Upon her retirement, the Journal of the Copyright Society had paid tribute to her, with an outpouring of love and remembrances of what she had done (and how she had influenced, inspired, and mentored) in copyright throughout her career. Now, the Copyright Society and the Copyright Office gathered to pay tribute to Marybeth once again.

The Journal is proud to publish the transcript. We’ve added footnotes to contextualize and help the reader. In doing so, we quickly recognize the enormous impact Marybeth made in the field of copyright. For Copyright Society members and those who also knew her, we hope it brings back memories. And for those that did not, we hope this gives you a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes and very human element that is our copyright system.

Gathered that day was a room filled with the powerhouses of copyright. What is amazing as you read it, is not the professional accomplishment, but the personal stories and remembrances of their time with Marybeth. The tribute is like a painting, a glimpse of a life well-lived, and the impact both professionally and personally on so many lives, and copyright too. This tribute was conducted by Zoom on March 1, 2023. Note the journal’s editorial team added footnotes to help with references that the contributors spoke to. These are meant as resources and not directly supplied by the contributors.

The Journal is proud to publish the transcript and grateful to the tribute organizers: Maria Pallante, who served on Marybeth’s executive team and succeeded her as Register of Copyrights, and Regan Smith, who chairs the DC Chapter of the Copyright Society and is a former Copyright Office general counsel.

Contributors included

• Fritz Attaway
• Jon Baumgarten
• June Besek
• Bob Brauneis
• David Carson
• Jacqueline Charlesworth
• Casey Chisick
• Richard Dannay
• Laura Gasaway
• Mitch Glazier
• Paul Goldstein
• Francis Gurry
• David Israelite
• Joe Keeley
• Art Levine
• David Nimmer
• Maria Pallante
• Shira Perlmutter
• Mary Rasenberger
• Catie Rowland
• Eric Schwartz
• Jule Sigall
• Kate Spelman
• Regan Smith
• Winston Tabb
• Karyn Temple
• Nancy Wolff
• Michele Woods