This workshop on copyright law for non-lawyers offers practical advice for media creators—screenwriters, authors, photographers, filmmakers, internet content creators, etc.—from two perspectives. First we discuss how creators can show their work, discuss their work, and pitch their projects while protecting their work from infringement. Crucially, we also discuss the nuts and bolts of how to register work with the copyright office—an absolutely crucial and fairly easy way to engage the full panoply of copyright protections. Second we discuss how far creators may lawfully go in borrowing third-party material—information, reports, media, stories, images—and integrating that material into their own work without fear of lawsuits. 

PRESENTER: B. DOUGLAS ROBBINS, ESQ. specializes in both appellate work and trial work in the areas of media law, complex commercial disputes, professional liability, employment law, and real estate law. Mr. Robbins serves as Chair of the San Mateo County Bar Association's Intellectual Property Section, as Delegate to the Conference of California Bar Associations, as Panel Counsel for California Lawyers for the Arts, and as a Member of CLA's Arts Arbitration and Mediation Panel.