This program offers 2 participatory MCLE credit.

Q&A with the USCO
In an interview format, Professor Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University Law, will ask the Register (and others from the USCO) important questions raised by California copyright practitioners.

Break 12:50 PM – 1:00 PM

Litigation Hot Topics
Topics would include a discussion of recently-issued Supreme Court decisions from the last and current term.

Break 1:40 PM – 1:50 PM

Registration Updates and Tips
The Office will review the newly released Compendium update, highlight new group registration options (GRTX, GRUW, and GRAM), and explain common registration mistakes and how practitioners can avoid them.

Speakers: Shira Perlmutter, Eric Goldman, Erik Bertin, Rob Kasunic, and Regan A. Smith

Moderator: Angus M. MacDonald and John R. Wierzbicki

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Shira Perlmutter is the Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office, appointed as of October 25, 2020.

Prior to her appointment, Perlmutter served as Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Before that, she was the Executive Vice President for Global Legal Policy at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), was Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property Policy at Time Warner, and worked at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva as a consultant on copyright and electronic commerce.

In 1995, she was appointed as the first Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office, and was also copyright consultant to the Clinton Administration’s Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure. Before that, she was a law professor at The Catholic University of America. She also practiced law in New York City, specializing in copyright and trademark counseling and litigation. She is a co-author of a leading casebook on international intellectual property law and policy. Perlmutter received her AB from Harvard University and her JD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Eric Goldman is a Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law in the Silicon Valley. He also co-directs the High Tech Law Institute and supervises the Privacy Law Certificate. He joined the Santa Clara Law faculty in 2006. His research and teaching focuses on Internet, IP and advertising law topics, and he blogs on these topics at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog [http://blog.ericgoldman.org]. Managing IP magazine has twice named him to a shortlist of North American “IP Thought Leaders,” and he has been named an “IP Vanguard” by the California Lawyers Association IP Section.

Before joining the Santa Clara Law faculty, he was an assistant professor at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Before that, he practiced law for eight years in the Silicon Valley as General Counsel of Epinions.com and an Internet and technology transactions attorney at Cooley Godward LLP. Eric received his BA, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in Economics/Business from UCLA in 1988. He received his JD from UCLA in 1994, where he was a member of the UCLA Law Review, and concurrently received his MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.

Regan A. Smith is the General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights for the United States Copyright Office. She was appointed to the position effective May 27, 2018. In her position as General Counsel, Smith provides legal guidance to the various divisions and programs of the Office, including the national registration and recordation systems, and she is frequently called upon by congressional offices, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other federal agencies for advice and assistance. She also has primary responsibility for the formation and promulgation of regulations and the adoption of legal positions governing policy matters and practices of the Copyright Office. Smith joined the Copyright Office in 2014 as assistant general counsel and advanced in 2015 to associate general counsel. She was named deputy general counsel in 2016. Before joining the Office, Smith spent several years in private practice in Chicago, where she represented a variety of clients in matters concerning copyright, technology, media, and related intellectual property issues. Smith earned her JD from Harvard Law School, where she served on the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. She earned her BA in philosophy and political science from the University of Michigan.

Robert J. Kasunic: Mr. Kasunic is Associate Register of Copyrights and director of registration policy and practice for the United States Copyright Office. Kasunic heads the Office of Registration Policy and Practice, which administers the U.S. copyright registration system and advises the Register of Copyrights on questions of registration policy and related regulations and interpretations of copyright law. Kasunic joined the Copyright Office in 2000 as a senior attorney in the Office of General Counsel and was appointed deputy general counsel in 2010. Prior to arriving at the Office, he worked in private practice on a variety of copyright, trademark, and cyberlaw issues. He has been an adjunct professor of law for over twenty-five years and currently is an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law. Kasunic earned his JD from the University of Baltimore School of Law and his BA in political science from Columbia University.

Erik Bertin is deputy director for Registration Policy and Practice for the United States Copyright Office. Bertin assists the Associate Register of Copyrights and director of registration policy and practice on a full range of legal, policy, and governance issues involving the Copyright Office and its administrative responsibilities. Bertin joined the Office in 2011 as an attorney-advisor in the Office of Policy and International Affairs, and he served as an assistant general counsel from 2013 to 2015. Before joining the Office, he worked in private practice for 15 years in Washington, DC, where he represented a wide range of clients in intellectual property matters. Bertin earned his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was an articles editor for the law review. He earned a BA in English from The Johns Hopkins University.