IP Clinic Information sessions will follow on Feb. 1 and Feb. 9th at noon in Y115 and Feb 16th at 1PM in YT14.
See WCL clinic website for more details and application. information.
On February 21st, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts (WALA) will again partner with the WCL Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic and GW Small Business Clinic for their fourth annual “Pop-Up” Legal Clinic. This amazing opportunity for Washington’s creative community provides artists and entrepreneurs to receive free legal consultation in intellectual property and business development.
Assisted by WCL and GW professors, the IP Law Clinic students will assist in copyright, patent, trademark and related intellectual property fields, while Small Business Clinic students will provide corporate assistance for start-ups. This collaboration creates a valuable learning opportunity for both students and artists.
The Clinic will be held from 5-7 PM at the offices of the GW Law School’s Small Business & Community Economic Development Clinic at 2000 G Street NW, Washington, DC.
For more information: http://waladc.org
Through the USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Program, more than 2,700 law school clinic students have been able to practice patent and/or trademark law before the USPTO under the guidance of a Faculty Clinic Supervisor. Not only has this provided superior legal training and invaluable experience to these students, but by providing their IP services to the public pro bono, this has also increased access to legal representation for the public.
The program came about as a result of a 2006 request for student practice in the agency by faculty of the American University Glushko-Samuelson IP Law Clinic. The AU faculty suggested the creation of a student practice rule in the agency modeled on the many student practice rules in state and federal courts across the country. The clinic’s students were appearing in federal court under such rules in IP matters, but were unable to participate in IP rights acquisition at the USPTO on their own.
By expanding education about patents, trademarks, and the patents and trademarks system at the law school level, independent inventors and entrepreneurs that have otherwise not been able to obtain quality legal services, have been afforded access to the competent legal representation necessary to succeed and compete in today’s economy.
This first annual report fulfills the requirements of the Law School Clinic Certification Program Act (P.L. 113-227) by describing the number of law schools and law students participating in the Law School Clinic Certification Program, the work done through the Program, the benefits of the Program, and any recommendations for modifications to the Program. A copy of the Report to Congress is available here.
On November 17th over 50 IP Clinic alums (representing the classes of 2002-2016) and all the former clinic faculty returned to campus to hear clinic founder Professor Peter Jaszi deliver the annual Distinguished Lecture on Intellectual Property. Peter’s lecture was “Cultural practice and copyright justice: Confessions of a semi-reconstructed auteurist”
At the celebratory reception clinic alums, faculty and current clinic students had the chance to mingle and toast the man who started it all!
This Wednesday, November 16th, at 6 PM, the National Press Club will host an exclusive D.C. screening of I Voted?, a non-partisan documentary examining the United States voting system.
Director Jason Grant Smith and television personality Katie Couric teamed up to investigate threats posed by the rise of internet voting. During the six years of research and production, IP Clinic student attorneys provided counseling on pertinent intellectual property matters.
Viewers interested in catching this 2016 Tribeca Film Festival favorite are asked to please RSVP to the screening here.
The ground breaking documentary film, Black Ballerina, tells the story of several generations of women of color who overcame racism, exclusion and unequal opportunity to become pursue careers as ballerinas.
Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic student attorneys Margaret Mrzyk, Jung Kim, Nick Crovo, and Yenu Wodajo, provided legal assistance necessary to release the film Black Ballerina.
The film tells the story of several black women from different generations who fell in love with ballet, and explores the struggles they face entering the “white world of classical ballet.”
The Director Frances McElroy commended the students “thoroughness, patience, and knowledge” of what she considers “a highly complicated matter.” McElroy expressed her admiration with the student attorneys’ dedication to addressing issues of social concern.
Black Ballerina is a feature length documentary produced by Shirley Road Productions and is being distributed nationally by American Public Television in the hopes of “stimulating discussion about diversity, inclusion, and opportunity.”
Black Ballerina was selected by the XXXI Black International Cinema in Berlin for “Best Film/Video Documentary Production.”
PBS will begin scheduling public broadcasts this month, and the DVD is available for purchase on the Black Ballerina Documentary website
Thus far, BLACK BALLERINA has been screened at:
After seventy-five years of anonymity, Bill Finger, co-creator of Batman, will posthumously receive the recognition he deserves. In July 2015, Finger Family Attorney and Washington College of Law IP clinic alumna Alethia Mariotta (’02) conducted closed door negotiations with Warner Brothers and has secured official credit for Bill Finger as co-creator of Batman and other golden age comic book characters. DC Comics and DC Entertainment have already added Finger’s name to the “created by” credit on all Batman stories, including the most recent Batman movies and the television show Gotham.
Though Bill Kane has been credited for years, Finger is the one who “came up with many of the key concepts behind the character: his origin as a child who saw his parents murdered in front of him and vowed to fight crime, the final version of his costume, his secret identity of Bruce Wayne, the moniker of the ‘Dark Knight,’ the name ‘Gotham City,’ Commissioner Gordon, villains like the Penguin and Catwoman, and more,” the Wall Street Journal reports. On October 14th, Hulu will debut its Limelight Documentary “Batman & Bill,” which explores the “true origin of the iconic super hero through an eye-opening account of Bill Finger,” the long unknown co-creator of Batman. The documentary delves into Bill’s fight for “the recognition he deserved.
Mariotta credits her experience with the first WCL Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic as providing her with “the foundation to have the confidence and skills to take on such a formidable case and be successful.” She thanks Clinic faculty Peter Jaszi and Victoria Phillips for their “passionate and intelligent” guidance.
Read More:
If you listen to WAMU 88.5 FM, the leading NPR affiliate in the Washington, DC, area and a department of American University, you might have heard Ally Schweitzer this morning describing an exciting new initiative: WAMU has officially launched its Capital Soundtrack Project. The Project supports the DC community’s music scene; it promotes and benefits local, DC metro-based musicians by featuring their music in between broadcasted news segments and shows. The Project changes the sound of the Station to reflect the tastes and influences of the DMV, and also shows appreciation to the rich wealth of local music the DC area offers.
In the weeks leading up to its unveiling, Alexandra Wilson and Yasaman Zahedi, student attorneys at the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, had the opportunity to work with WAMU to pave the way for this project. The Clinic helped the Station put together a music licensing agreement so that local musicians can connect with the community, as well as share their songs on the air. WAMU’s goal was to have a licensing agreement that does not intimidate local artists, and is easily understood. Long, wordy licensing agreements filled with legalese can be discourage local artists, and can hamper beneficial relationships, so we tried to keep the agreement as simple and clear as possible.
We also wanted to create an agreement that encompasses and covers all of the Station’s intended uses for the songs. WAMU does not just broadcast programming over local signals; it also distributes programming to other NPR affiliate stations, like the nationally syndicated “Diane Rehm Show.” The Station also podcasts several of its shows, streams its content over the Internet, and provides its content on the NPR One app.
Through this representation, Alex and Yasee learned the importance of understanding the client’s interest in order to draft a licensing agreement that best represents their needs. They drafted a simple agreement that is easy to understand, at the same time providing WAMU the rights it needs to showcase the sound of the DMV.
by Kendal Hardison and Rachael Stelly
The Federal Communications Commission issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on February 18, 2016 seeking comment on their proposed rules to unlock the set-top box.
The Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, on behalf of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), filed comments in the FCC’s proceeding. Our comments support the FCC’s proposed rules and argues that the rules are in the interest of all consumers. Dr. Mark Cooper, Research Director at the CFA, provided economic analysis of the cable market supporting the need for increased innovation and wrote a report to attach with the comments which describes the abuse of market power by cable providers.
The following can be attributed to Dr. Cooper:
“Cable company abuse of market power in the set-top box market has probably cost consumers over $100 billion in the past two decades, but the pocketbook impact is only part of the story. This is the most egregious example of the failure of federal policy to deliver the competition promised by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, precisely because similar markets that were competitive—like cell phones, computers and TV sets—delivered so much higher quality at a fraction of the cost.”
The cable market is in dire need of competition and unlocking the set-top box will promote innovation in the multichannel video programming distribution (“MVPD”) market. The digital programming market has innovated at a rapid pace over recent years, offering consumers a wide range of new products and services. In contrast, the set-top box market and the MVPD market, of which it is a part, has been comparatively stagnant.
The set-top box is a key barrier to the delivery of MVPD services and plays a role in perpetuating cable market power to the detriment of consumers. Without the incentives inherent in a competitive marketplace, the cable industry has had little reason to listen to user needs and adapt accordingly. Unlocking the set-top box market finally places the consumers in a more advantageous position when dealing with the cable industry.
Currently, consumers are paying $231 annually to rent a set-top box by their cable provider. This is on top of cable subscription fees. The proposed rules will open up the market for the set-top box and allow third-party manufacturers to enter the set-top box market.
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is set to hear Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. Aereokiller, the latest case in the Internet retransmission service’s saga to obtain 17 U.S.C. § 111 compulsory licensing under the Copyright Act, which gives access to broadcast television programming at regulated rates. The Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, on behalf of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), filed an amicus brief in support of Aereokiller (now known as FilmOn) because American consumers are tired of over-paying for cable television. Download it here (PDF):
Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. Aereo Killer, Case No. 15-56420 CFA
Another team of student attorneys filed a second brief on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind highlighting the importance of online access to television programming in accessible formats. Download the NFB’s brief here:
Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. Aereo Killer, Case No. 15-56420 NFB
More information about the case and the CFA brief after the jump! More info about the NFB brief will come in a future blog post.
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