July 30, 2021, 1 – 4 pm EST
This session uses music copyright tutorials and simulations to explore the delicate and nuanced balances involved in copyright litigation. The program features musical experts (including a successful songwriter and performing artist) who will provide insight into musical composition. This highly engaging program—examining litigation involving Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, Marvin Gaye’s Gotta Give It Up, and Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, among others–provides an extraordinary window into popular music as well as the role of musical experts and the challenges of separating original protectable elements from standard musical elements in jury trials.
Program Faculty
Peter S. Menell, Koret Professor of Law; Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; Faculty Director, Berkeley Judicial Institute; University of California at Berkeley School of Law
Hon. Jon O. Newman, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Mark Avsec, Songwriter, Performing Artist, Producer, and Intellectual Property Attorney
Shyamkrishna Balganesh, Sol Goldman Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Judith Finell, Musicologist and Expert Witness
David Nimmer, Of Counsel, Irell & Manella
Background Materials