Illuminating the Profession: Women in Copyright

• Author: Ralph Oman
• Position: Ralph Oman teaches copyright law at the George Washington University Law School. He is the former US Register of Copyrights (1985-1993). He can be reached at roman@law.gwu.edu.
• Pages: 9-14

During the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s, MGM claimed to have “more stars than there are in heaven.” Today,

the copyright bar has its own stars—and so many of them are women. Women have always been strong leaders in

copyright law, going back to Barbara Ringer, Bella Linden, Thea Zavin, and Dorothy Schrader.

I had the pleasure of talking with six of today’s copyright stars, all colleagues and friends, about a diversity of opin-

ions on some of the hot copyright issues of the day: June Besek, executive director of the Kernochan Center for Law,

Media and the Arts at Columbia Law School; Dale Cendali, head of Kirkland & Ellis’s Copyright, Trademark, Internet

and Advertising practice group; Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the Authors Guild and Authors Guild Foundation; Kate Spel-

man, shareholder with Lane Powell; Francine Ward, sole practitioner and author of Esteemable Acts; and Nancy Wolff, partner with

Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard. Collectively and individually they represent a perfect cross section of the many opportunities

provided by careers in copyright law—private practice, in-house practice, government service, and academia. In my opinion, each one

of these lawyers tops anybody’s list of the greats in our profession, without any reference to gender.

Our lively exchange reminds me that the copyright portfolio in the digital age is in very good hands—and that our creators will

surely continue to enrich our lives with music, literature, and art. My fellow lawyers will all help shape the larger debate over the

copyright rules of the road in the digital age.

ILLUMINATING

THE PROFESSION

WOMEN IN COPYRIGHT

BY RALPH OMAN

Are you optimistic about the survival of copyright in the digital age?

June Besek (JB): I think copyright will survive but will

evolve. Over time we’re likely to see more collective licens-

ing, for example.

Dale Cendali (DC): While digitalization has meant that

it is now very easy to copy things on a massive scale that

previously would not have been technologically possible,

copyright is more important than ever in protecting con-

tent for just this reason. Copyright, moreover, has adapted to

numerous types of groundbreaking technology since its his-

toric inception centuries ago, and I think it is exible enough

to continue to adapt. It is true, however, that the current

system under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

requiring copyright holders to police the Internet and send

cascades of takedown notices is a challenging strain for copy-

right owners.

Mary Rasenberger (MR): I am an optimist by nature—so

yes, copyright will survive, although its health could be bet-

ter. In the last decade or so, courts have gradually chipped

away at copyright, and respect for copyright has plummeted.

This is due to the ease of copying and distributing digital

works by ordinary citizens, as well as the vocal anticopyright

movement fueled by the Internet sector.

Published in Landslide® magazine, Volume 10, Number 4, a publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL), ©2018 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.

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