Kernochan Center for Law,
Media and the Arts

The Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts was established to contribute to a broader understanding of the legal aspects of creative works of authorship, including their dissemination and use.

Center faculty and staff are pursuing university-mandated policies and are in the office only three days a week.  The Center remains as always reachable by email at [email protected].  

Kernochan Center Symposium 2021

NFTs: Future or Fad?

Nov 19, 2021

9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Online

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are a contemporary point of confusion and controversy.  The Kernochan Center Symposium serves as a guide to this growing, creative, and potentially lucrative, market, and discussed what role copyright can play in protecting these assets.  For more details, including a list of speakers and panelists, and a schedule, please visit the dedicated symposium page.  The event took place on Zoom.

We apologize for the delay in making the video available.  We hope to have the panels and keynote speeches available as individual videos soon.

Entertainment Law Initiative Writing Contest

The Recording Academy® Entertainment Law Initiative Writing Contest challenges law students to identify and research a pressing legal issue facing the music industry today and outline a proposed solution in a 3,000-word essay. A nationwide panel of music law experts will judge the papers in a blind process to select a winner and two runners-up.  The winner will receive a $10,000 scholarship, tickets to the Grammys including travel, and the publication of their paper in the ABA Entertainment & Sports Lawyer Journal.  The runners up will receive $2,500 scholarships.  All three will receive a mentorship session with an ELI Executive Committee attorney member.  Please visit the official site for deadlines and details.

2021 Annual Phil Cowan-Judith Bresler Memorial Scholarship Writing Competition

The Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association (EASL)’s Phil Cowan–Judith Bresler Memorial Scholarship, named after two esteemed former EASL Chairs, offers up to two awards of $2,500 each on an annual basis in Phil Cowan’s and Judith Bresler’s memories to law students who are committed to a practice concentrating in one or more areas of entertainment, art or sports law.  Each Scholarship candidate must write an original paper on any legal issue of current interest in the area of entertainment, art or sports law.  Each scholarship candidate will receive a complimentary membership in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Section through December 31, 2022.  The deadline to submit the essay is January 5, 2022.   The winner(s) will be announced and the scholarship(s) awarded during the Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law virtual meeting on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. For further information, please visit the competition's website, or contact Dana Alamia.

ALAI-USA Answers to the 2021 ALAI Questionnaire

Alumni In IP and Entertainment

On September 20th, 2021 at 6:30 PM, current and prospective students are invited to join us for a night with some CLS alumni currently employed in intellectual property and entertainment law.  Our guest speakers for 2021 are:

Daniel Nemet-Nejat '10 - Vice President and Senior Counsel, HBO

Idara Udofia '13 - Associate, Loeb & Loeb LLP

Olena Ripnick-O'Farrell '14 - IP Product Counsel, Facebook

Luke Budiardjo '18 - Associate, Kirkland & Ellis

The event is on Zoom, and guests must register for it online.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2021 Intellectual Property Prizes!

The Caroll G. Harper Prize, for graduating students who attain the highest standard in IP studies and writing: Timothy Chung, Jeremy King and Mary Kate Patterson

The Michael D. Remer Award for a graduating student whose activities and achievements demonstrate an aptitude for IP law: Peter Cramer and Maya Katalan

The Andrew D. Fried Memorial Prize for the best student essay on IP law published in the Journal of Law & the Arts: Alec Fisher, "Unspoken Criticism: Audiovisual Forms of Critique as Fair Use."

Details on our winners will be published in our Late Summer 2021 Newsletter!

Read the Kernochan Center newsletter online!

Stories include coverage of our spring talks and our symposium, as well as links to videos!  Read it here now!

The Restatement of Copyright Law: Past, Present, and Future

On April 23, 2021, the Kernochan Center hosted an online half-day roundtable discussion of the ALI's Restatement of the Law, Copyright project.  Panelists included federal judges, leading scholars, and notable practitioners.

Video of the symposium is available here.

For biographies of the participants, please click on their names.

10.00 – 10.45 AM: The Restatement as a Re-Telling of Copyright Law
Moderator: June Besek, Columbia Law School
Panelists:
Jeanne Fromer, NYU School of Law
Jessica Silbey, Boston University School of Law
Joseph Liu, Boston College Law School
Eric Schwartz, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp
 
10.45 – 11.00  AM: Break
 
11.00 – 11.45 AM: The Originality Requirement in the Restatement
Moderator: Philippa Loengard, Columbia Law School
Panelists:
Justin Hughes, Loyola Law School Los Angeles
David Nimmer, Irell & Manella; UCLA School of Law
Joshua Simmons, Kirkland & Ellis
 
11.45 AM – 12.00 PM: Break
 
12.00 – 12.45 PM: The Restatement and Statutory Interpretation
Moderator: Jane Ginsburg, Columbia Law School
Panelists:
Shyam Balganesh, Columbia Law School
Peter Menell, UC-Berkeley School of Law
Judge Stephanos Bibas, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Judge Jon Newman, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

The 33rd Annual Horace S. Manges Lecture

Our first online Manges Lecture, “Beyond Whack-a-Mole:Content Protection in the Age of Platform Accountability,” was given by Karyn Temple '97 on Monday, March 15th, 2021.  Thank you to everyone who joined us!

Karyn Temple '97 is the Global General Counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America and former Register of Copyrights.  She spoke in her personal capacity.

New Feature: Showcase

At the Kernochan Center, faculty and staff produce original scholarship in the field of intellectual property.  We involve our students in our research and we also strive to recognize their excellent scholarship in their own endeavors.  From time to time, we will highlight some of that scholarship on our website.  Please visit our Showcase to read the work our faculty and staff have selected.

Currently from the Kernochan Center:

The Restatement of Copyright Law: Past, Present and Future

Kernochan Center's Reply Comments to Copyright Office NOI regarding the Noncommercial Use of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings.

2018 Kernochan Center Symposium, Owning Personality: The Expanding Right of Publicity

News from the Kernochan Center:

October 21, 2021: Philippa Loengard spoke at the New York County Lawyers' Association Art Law Day on "Copyright Year in Review."

September 20, 2021: Philippa Loengard addressed the New York City Bar Association's Sports Law Committee on the Phillips v. Harrison-Erickson case.

September 14, 2021: Philippa Loengard participated in the New York City Bar Association's Hot Topics in Art Law Panel.

2020: Jane Ginsburg published Deep Dive: Burrow-Giles Lithographing v. Sarony (US 1884) Copyright Protection for Photographs and Concepts of Authorship in an Age of Machines (Twelve Tables Press 2020).

May 2, 2020: Jane Ginsburg gave an online mini-course at Bocconi University (Milan, Italy) on Platform and Search Engine Liability for Copyright Infringement in the US and EU.

February 25, 2020: Spring IP Speaker Series: Google v. Oracle, with Joseph Gratz (Drurie Tangri) and Steve Tepp (Sentinel Worldwide).

February 4, 2020: Spring IP Speaker Series: Copyright and Legal Annotation, with Shyam Balganesh (University of Pennsylvania Law School) and Joshua Johnson (Vinson & Elkins LLP).

January 28, 2020: Spring IP Speaker Series: Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act with Nancy Wolff (Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams and Sheppard LLC) and Jonathan Band (Jonathan Band PLLC).

Click here for more news