WCL Glushko-Samuelson IP Clinic

The Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, in collaboration with  the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts (WALA) and George Washington University College of Law’s Small Business Clinic will hold a “Pop Up Legal Clinic” for creative entrepreneurs seeking legal assistance.   The Clinic will provide legal consultations to individuals and businesses involved in the regions’ creative economy.  Student attorneys from the WCL IP Clinic will provide assistance in copyright, patent, trademark and related fields. GW student attorneys from the Small Business Clinic will provide start-up corporate assistance in the area of small business development.  Clients are asked to pre-register for the counseling on the WALA website http://waladc.org/

All student attorneys will be supervised by WCL and GW clinical faculty.

The Clinic will be held 5-7PM on Wednesday, Oct. 16^th  at the GW clinic offices at 2000 G Street NW in DC.

* Clinic students created work product for Colombian clients trying to garner support for a balanced implementation of the Colombian-US Free Trade Agreement, with respect to copyright and ISP liability laws.

* Clinic students collaborated with Dance Heritage Coalition (DHC) who, in the course of preserving and providing access to historical dance works, has encountered issues regarding works for whom the owners could not be found and/or contacted. On behalf of DHC, the Clinic prepared a comment conveying DHC’s unique circumstances that was submitted to the Copyright Office in response to a call for comments on Orphan Works. The purpose of the comment was to ensure the preservation of dance’s cultural history for generations to come and ensure that the voices of those seeking to preserve this cultural history were heard during the formation of potential orphan works legislation.

* Clinic students prepared case studies about the universities involved in the first Native American civil rights movement to remove Native American imagery from college mascotting and discussed how this movement might inform the present-day rally to remove Native American imagery from professional sports mascotting. This project will be part of a larger endeavor by Suzan Harjo and the National Museum of the American Indian to educate people on the negative impact of Native American stereotyping in the sports industry and beyond.

* IP Clinic students have advocated for consumer freedom in both the Second Circuit Aereo and Ninth Circuit Aereokiller proceedings.  Both Aereo and Aereokiller technologies allow consumers to access broadcast content from any device, at anytime, and helps consumers avoid paying exorbitant cable fees just to ensure access to clear, reliable broadcast signals.  Broadcast content providers are seeking an injunction to block these services. The issues which the Aereo and Aereokiller cases highlight are fundamentally important to any television viewer because these services will help consumers save money, and will give consumers the necessary flexibility watch desired content when and where they want to.  It is crucial that courts allow consumers to continue to use technologies like the mp3 player, smartphone, tablet, and other hugely popular, user-friendly technologies which empower consumers by enabling time and space-shifting of content.  A decision that halts the Aereo or Aereokiller services in either of these cases could harm consumers by stifling innovation and decreasing access to information, and by forcing consumers to pay too much for TV.  The Second Circuit recently ruled in favor of Aereo, but the Ninth Circuit decision is still pending.  It is important to raise awareness about the importance of the current proceedings so that the public can demonstrate their support for new technologies like Aereo and Aereokiller that meet consumer needs.