2025 Midwinter Meeting When: January 30, 2025 - February 1, 2025 Where: Hotel Monteleone and Virtual Join us in New Orleans January 30–February 1, 2025 for the Copyright Society’s Midwinter Meeting! This year’s program is elevated by everything NOLA has to offer–from cultural activities and a reception overlooking the Mississippi River to the vibrant nightlife and fun that only the “Big Easy” can deliver! Special Thanks to the 2025 Midwinter Meeting Planning Committee: Chairs Terrica Carrington and Matt Skelton, CeCe Cole, Art Levy, Elizabeth Townsend-Gard, and Brian Collins. HOTEL RESERVATIONS The conference will take place at the historic Hotel Monteleone. Our special group rate of $254/night plus tax runs through January 9, 2025. You can book your room online here or by calling (504) 523-3341 and mentioning that you are with the Copyright Society. Conference Address: Hotel Monteleone, 214 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70130 REGISTRATION Be sure to renew your membership to receive the discounted member rate. Not a Member? Consider joining the Copyright Society today to receive special savings on our CLE programs and a ton of members-only benefits. Please note, online registration will close 48 hours prior to the event (January 28, 2025). The rate increases by $100 for walk-in registrations. If you need to make a change to your registration, please email info@copyrightsociety.org. In-Person or Virtual Earlybird Rate Regular Rate Late Walk-In First-Time Attendee $1,045 $1,245 $1,345 Member $1,145 $1,345 $1,445 Academic Member $945 $1,145 $1,245 Government Member $945 $1,145 $1,245 Student Member $745 $945 $1,045 Non-Member $1,745 $1,945 $2,045 Single Day Pass (Panels Only) $675 $875 $975 MCLE CREDIT The Copyright Society is an accredited provider in California, New York, and Pennsylvania. MCLE Credits will be available for those jurisdictions, and requests for credit in other jurisdictions may be made when registering. While credit in other jurisdictions is not guaranteed, the Copyright Society staff will submit applications for accreditation and notify attorneys upon approval. The Midwinter Meeting’s intermediate program is transitional and appropriate for newly admitted attorneys. Instructions for verifying attendance will be emailed to registrants prior to the conference. Please email cle@copyrightsociety.org for CLE related questions. SPONSORSHIP For information on sponsorship and marketing opportunities at the Midwinter Meeting, please click here. Useful Links 2025 Midwinter Meeting Sponsorship Packages Cancellation Policy Financial Aid Information Agenda 1/30 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm CST Registration 1/30 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm CST Executive Committee Meeting 1/30 1:45 pm - 5:15 pm CST Activity: Private Cooking Class at the New Orleans School of Cooking Cook an authentic Louisiana meal from start to finish with hands-on instruction and guidance from the New Orleans Cooking School chefs. You will prepare and enjoy a three-course meal. Tour departs from the main lobby at 1:45 PM. The class and meal runs from 2-5 PM. Tickets: $250/person and includes: Approximately three (3) hours of cooking instruction and dining Three (3) course meal Recipe cards New Orleans School of Cooking apron 1/30 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm CST Programming Committee Meeting 1/30 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm CST Board of Trustees Meeting 1/30 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm CST Welcome Reception 1/30 8:15 pm - 9:30 pm CST Dine-Arounds Enjoy a nice meal with peers at these informal dinners around town. Copyright Society will make the reservations at local restaurants, and to maximize the conversation, each dine-around will be limited to 8 people. Dine-around attendees will be responsible for their own transportation, and to pay for their meal, drinks and tip. Dine-around sign ups begin January 9, 2025. 1/31 7:30 am - 8:30 am CST Breakfast Buffet 1/31 8:45 am CST President's Welcome Daniel Cooper President, Copyright Society | Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property, NBCUniversal View Full Bio 1/31 9:00 am - 10:00 am CST "Dear Robot, Be Nice": AI Training, Technical Measures, and Rights Reservations The legal and technical norms for generative AI have origins with search engines, but these norms are under renewed scrutiny, even as they evolve. This panel will explore technical measures that impact web crawling, rights reservations, the implications for fair use, and new approaches that may be mutually beneficial for creators and AI developers alike. Matthew Moore Fundraising Committee Co-Chair, Copyright Society | General Counsel, Created by Humans View Full Bio Regan Smith Senior Vice President & General Counsel | News Media Alliance View Full Bio Lauren Chamblee Assistant General Counsel, Open Innovation (Intellectual Property Group) | Microsoft View Full Bio Chad Rutkowski AI Subcommittee Chair, Copyright Society | Partner, BakerHostetler LLP View Full Bio 1/31 10:00 am - 10:20 am CST Break 1/31 10:30 am - 11:30 am CST Back to the Future: Revisiting Judicial Site Blocking At the start of 2012, a coalition of websites and online platforms staged an internet “blackout” in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). The protest, which stoked fear and panic about censorship, sank the chances of enactment of SOPA and PIPA—site-blocking legislation that prior to the protest had widespread, bipartisan support in Congress. In the 13 years since, more than 50 countries around the world have embraced and adopted no-fault injunctive relief (i.e., site blocking) as a mechanism for combating commercial-scale piracy. Panelists will discuss existing remedies for addressing piracy and whether site blocking is necessary and beneficial in the United States; how site-blocking laws work in other countries; and how site blocking might be implemented in the United States, including any First Amendment, due process, and other relevant implications. Karyn A. Temple Senior Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel | Motion Picture Association View Full Bio Meredith Rose Senior Policy Counsel | Public Knowledge View Full Bio Kristina Milbourn Managing Counsel, Litigation | Rogers Communications View Full Bio Kayleigh Nauman North American Intellectual Property Attaché and Policy Advisor | British Embassy Washington View Full Bio Michael D. Smith J. Erik Jonsson Professor of Information Technology and Marketing | Carnegie Mellon University Heinz College View Full Bio 1/31 11:30 am - 11:50 am CST Coffee Break 1/31 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm CST Cross-Border Considerations: Balancing Copyright Territoriality and Choice of Law Application Catalyzed by dramatic technological advancements since the onset of the internet age, exploitation of creative works across national borders has expanded exponentially and increased the frequency with which otherwise disparate legal systems interact. These interactions, however, have raised significant challenges as domestic courts must now frequently engage in complex choice of law analyses that often require application of multiple foreign copyright laws despite having limited knowledge of the underlying policies implicated by such laws. Our panel will explore approaches to choice of law conflicts in copyright cases both from U.S. and foreign perspectives, thereby attempting to make this opaque topic more comprehensible. Jan Bernd Nordemann Attorney at Law (Germany) • Certified Copyright and Media Lawyer • Certified Industrial Property Rights Lawyer | Berlin | Nordemann View Full Bio Eleonora Rosati Of Counsel | Bird & Bird View Full Bio Casey M. Chisick Partner | Cassels View Full Bio FeiFei Jiang Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property | NBCUniversal View Full Bio 1/31 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm CST Luncheon and Creativity Award Presentation The Copyright Society is proud to present the 2025 Excellence in Creativity Award to Walter Isaacson. Isaacson is the Leonard Lauder Professor of American History and Values at Tulane. He is the past CEO of the Aspen Institute, where he is now a Distinguished Fellow, and has been the chairman of CNN and the editor of TIME magazine. He is the bestselling author of Elon Musk; The Code Breaker; Leonardo da Vinci; The Innovators; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. Isaacson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023. Walter Isaacson Leonard Lauder Professor of American History and Values | Tulane University View Full Bio 1/31 1:45 pm - 5:15 pm CST Activity: Private Cooking Class at the New Orleans School of Cooking Cook an authentic Louisiana meal from start to finish with hands-on instruction and guidance from the New Orleans Cooking School chefs. You will prepare and enjoy a three-course meal, so we recommend that participants grab a quick bite at the Midwinter Luncheon and then depart for the School at 1:45 PM. The class and meal runs from 2-5 PM. Tickets: $250/person and includes: Approximately three (3) hours of cooking instruction and dining Three (3) course meal Recipe cards New Orleans School of Cooking apron 1/31 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm CST Activity: Private Tour of the New Orleans Jazz Museum No trip to New Orleans would be complete without a visit to the New Orleans Jazz Museum! Join Museum Director Greg Lambousy for a private tour of the collections. The Museum is about a 25-minute walk from the Monteleone, so participants are encouraged to wear comfortable walking shoes and dress in layers. Tickets: $30/person 1/31 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm CST Activity: Cradle of Jazz Walking Tour Join us for a stroll led by guides from The Cultural Curriculum Project, including historians, musicians, record producers, and actors. These knowledgeable guides will immerse you in New Orleans music, history, and culture through captivating storytelling. Of course, jazz was not born on a particular day or birthed by one particular person. It was created over time from a meeting, mixing, and melding of many cultures, many emotions and many musical styles. These are the stories your guide will share, complimented by their personal stories and insights as a member of the arts community. Each guide has a unique perspective with varying emphasis on New Orleans music that led to the emergence of jazz: opera, spirituals, blues, military processional, European classical music, and later rock-n-roll, funk, bounce, brass bands and more. The one constant topic with every guide, is of course, Louis Armstrong, New Orleans’ native son and possibly the most important jazz figure of all time. You’ll be dancing in the street as you experience the joie de vivre of the Big Easy! Cultural Curriculum Project is a 501c3 Nonprofit Organization committed to sustainable tourism and cultural preservation through programs that connect visitors, locals, and school kids to New Orleans music, art, culture and history. Your tour dollars support public school field trips and the cultural economy. Tickets: $100/person 1/31 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm CST Activity: Mardi Gras World Private Tour Experience the magic of Mardi Gras with a behind-the-scenes tour at Mardi Gras World. Delve into the artistry and craftsmanship of Blaine Kern Studios, the creative force behind Mardi Gras floats since 1947. Our guided tour offers insight into the history of Mardi Gras before exploring the float den, where artists craft over 500 spectacular floats and props. Elevate your visit with a mask-making workshop, allowing your group to create unique Carnival masks to cherish. Discover the secrets behind New Orleans’ most iconic celebration firsthand. Tickets: $80/person 1/31 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm CST Activity: History of the Cocktail Walking Tour Explore the birthplace of legendary cocktails with the History of the Cocktail Walking Tour in New Orleans. Led by a knowledgeable cocktail historian, this interactive experience delves into the city’s rich history through themed Drink & Learn presentations. Discover the stories behind famous concoctions and notable characters as you visit unique locations in the French Quarter. Sample several iconic New Orleans cocktails and punches along the way. Tickets: $80/person — must be 21 years or older. 1/31 6:30 pm - 7:00 pm CST DEI Committee Mixer Join our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for a pre-parade mixer at the Monteleone’s Carousel Bar. All are welcome! 1/31 7:00 pm - 7:30 pm CST Copyright Parade Laissez les bons temps rouler No conference in New Orleans would be complete without a second-line parade to dinner! Join our merry marching band and revelers as we walk from the Hotel Monteleone to our dinner reception at the River View Room. If you would prefer to ride alongside the parade, a few pedi-cabs will be available for booking. Contact Kait Kubat at kkubat@copyrightsociety.org to reserve a pedi-cab for two guests. 1/31 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm CST Dinner Reception at the River View Room Join us for dinner and sweeping views of the Mississippi River. Guest tickets are available for purchase at checkout. Dinner venue: The River View Room, 600 Decatur Street, 4th Floor of the Jax Brewery 2/01 7:30 am - 8:30 am CST Breakfast Buffet 2/01 8:45 am CST President's Opening Remarks Daniel Cooper President, Copyright Society | Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property, NBCUniversal View Full Bio 2/01 9:00 am - 10:00 am CST ABCDE…WTF?: Attribution, Bots, Copyright, Deep Fakes, Embedding: How Social Media is Disrupting the Basics This panel will discuss how social media platforms continue to present new challenges to copyright lawyers and rightsholders. Panelists will include representatives from social media companies, policy makers, and lawyers who advise on these issues daily. Specifically, the panel will address the varying views on attribution, including on whether, how, and when to attribute copyright credit to another creator and the recent trend of vigilante enforcement. Panelists will also discuss the forthcoming legislation surrounding deep facts, such as the NO FAKES Act, and the protections afforded by these new laws. The panel will also cover embedding and how the 2nd and 9th Circuit’s split over the server test complicates the way we share content online. Finally, our panelists will discuss whether and how a social media platform’s terms of service play a role in copyright enforcement and protection in light of the Breitbart decision from the Southern District of New York. While the ABCs of copyright may not be as easy as 1,2,3, this panel will focus on how the basic principles of the Copyright Act are being disrupted by social media. Chris Mohr President | SIIA View Full Bio Molly Rothschild Associate | Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz View Full Bio Zachary St. Martin Head of Commercial & IP Legal - North America | TikTok & ByteDance View Full Bio Dr. Elizabeth Townsend Gard Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of the Copyright Society | John E. Koerner Endowed Professor of Law, Tulane University Law School View Full Bio 2/01 10:00 am - 10:20 am CST Break 2/01 10:30 am - 11:30 am CST Improvisational Creativity: Protection and Appropriation Challenges for Ephemeral Media Some creative mediums are known for a high degree of extemporaneous expression during live performance—like comedy, and jazz, which is especially important in our host city of New Orleans. This presents unique challenges in copyright, given the fixation requirement, though other forms of protection or remedies against unauthorized use may be available. Further, performing communities themselves may (or may not) have norms to establish what constitutes misappropriation, and informal or “extra-legal” redress. This panel will feature examples of live improvisational performance and explore: The role and importance of improvisational creativity in certain media; The fixation requirement for purposes of copyright; The role of federal and state laws (e.g., 17 USC 1101 – unauthorized fixation); The degree of protection, and/or limitations on protection for some kinds of works, like choreography; The merits and outcomes in recent dance cases; the availability of remedies to limit (or not) to restrict unauthorized live streaming of live performances (Wolfgang’s Vault litigaiton); and The challenges identifying and potentially protecting derivatives. Olufunmilayo B. Arewa Professor, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University | Senior Fellow for Entrepreneurship & Senior Scholar, Center for Intellectual Property x Innovation Policy (C-IP2) View Full Bio Joe Fishman Professor of Law, Robert S. and Theresa L. Reder Faculty Fellow | Vanderbilt Law School View Full Bio Art Levy VP of Business and Legal Affairs | Songtradr View Full Bio 2/01 11:30 am - 11:55 am CST Coffee Break 2/01 12:00 pm - 12:10 pm CST Photo Contest Awards Presentation 2/01 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm CST Whose Fault is it, Anyway? – Assigning Liability for Infringing AI Outputs Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the legal debates over generative artificial intelligence have focused on the potential liability for the use of copyrighted works to train AI models (i.e., the “input” side). This panel will explore the lesser-discussed question of who can and should be held liable for infringing outputs created using generative AI. Panelists will discuss topics including theories of direct and secondary liability, volitional conduct, and whether the safe harbors in section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provide valid defenses for AI companies sued over allegedly infringing outputs. Panelists will also discuss how the potential for generative AI outputs to infringe existing works and questions surrounding potential liability impact practical decision making related to the development and use of AI systems. Joshua Simmons Partner | Kirkland & Ellis View Full Bio Joseph C. Gratz Partner | Morrison Foerster LLP View Full Bio Nadia Steele Sr. Associate Counsel | Visa View Full Bio Sponsors Platinum Sponsors Gold Sponsors Activity Sponsor Bronze Sponsors Registration Login to Register Become a Member Register as a Guest 0
