FROM TWELFTH NIGHT TO THE DARK KNIGHT:  COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR LITERARY AND MOVIE CHARACTERS

For decades the courts have struggled to provide clear guidelines for determining protection for literary and movie characters:  Is Mickey Mouse copyrightable?  What about Rocky Balboa?  Godzilla?  Recent Ninth Circuit rulings extending protection to movie cars have drawn scholarly criticism and a pending request for review by the United States Supreme Court.  Attorney Robert Helfing will explain the shaky standards presented in the fitfully evolving caselaw.

Presenter:

Robert Helfing is a partner with Sedgwick, LLP.  An author, lecturer and adjunct professor of copyright law at Southwestern School of Law, Mr. Helfing represented car maker Carroll Shelby in the "Gone in Sixty Seconds" case,Halicki Films, LLC v. Sanderson Sales & Mktg., 547 F.3d 1213 (9th Cir. 2008).

Location: 

SmithHouse Tap and Grill