Legal Frontiers in Digital Media 2024

Tuesday, May 14th, 2024

Mission Bay Conference Center
1675 Owens Street
San Francisco, CA 94143

The Media Law Resource Center and the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology are proud to present the next in this series of conferences that explore emerging legal issues surrounding digital content in today’s multi-platform world. The Conference will feature sessions running from approximately 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14th. Registration fees include a hot lunch and an evening reception at 5:30 p.m. (sponsored by Google).

We expect that California MCLE credits will be available for this event, and we’ll have more information as we get closer to the date of the conference. If you are seeking credit for another jurisdiction, please check with your state bar to determine if California CLE credits are recognized, through reciprocity, in your jurisdiction.

CONFERENCE AGENDA

Registration
9:30 am – 10:00 am

Opening Remarks
10:00 am – 10:10 am

Copyright and AI: Maneuvering Through Uncertainty
10:10 am – 11:25 am
With the explosion of generative artificial intelligence, and companies racing to capitalize on this next generation of innovative tools, copyright lawyers face rapidly evolving challenges on issues of copyrightability, the use of third-party content for training purposes, and liability for the outputs of these tools. This session will survey the shifting landscape of AI’s impact on copyright and offer counseling strategies while the case law shakes out. This session will begin with a fireside chat with Suzy Wilson from the U.S. Copyright Office, and then transition into a broader panel discussion.
Speakers:
Lauren Chamblee, Asst. General Counsel, Microsoft (Moderator)
Joe Gratz, Partner, Morrison Foerster
Regan Smith, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, News/Media Alliance
Suzanne Wilson, General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights, United States Copyright Office

Fifteen Minute Break

Navigating the AI Marketplace: How Regulatory Realities Shape Terms of Use
11:40 am – 12:40 pm
AI services are sold using different terms, restrictions, and approaches than other types of technology solutions. This panel will describe the approaches taken by large AI technology vendors, explaining how their licensing approaches reflect concerns around responsible AI and pending AI regulation, digital safety, and copyright. The panel will then include a discussion among the panelists about the relative merits and considerations for each of these approaches, as well as what these different approaches might teach licensees, users, and other AI service vendors.
Speakers:
Benjamin Glatstein, Asst. General Counsel, Microsoft (Moderator)
Claudia Lin, Associate, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Ashley Pantuliano, Deputy General Counsel, OpenAI
Erin Simon, Product Counsel, Google

One-hour lunch break (Sponsored by Microsoft), plus a special lunch gathering for lawyers who have been practicing for 10 years or less, hosted by MLRC’s NextGen Committee

Europe’s New Digital Rulebooks
1:40 pm – 2:40 pm
The EU’s massive new regulations for online services, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, are now fully in force. Our panel of experts will discuss how compliance and enforcement are going, and what to expect from the various legal challenges that are pending before the EU Court of Justice. We will also preview how a number of more recently adopted measures – such as European Media Freedom Act, the Political Advertising Regulation and the AI Act – are likely to affect the increasingly fraught relationship between online platforms and digital media.
Speakers:
Remy Chavannes, Partner, Brinkhof (Moderator)
Laura Ewbank, Asst. General Counsel, Microsoft
Damien Kieran, General Counsel, BeReal
Joe Shear, EU Legal Affairs, Google

Ten-minute stretch break

The Age-Gating Dilemma
2:50 pm – 3:50 pm
Legislatures across the country, as well as Congress, are seeking to impose new age-verification and parental consent requirements that are aimed at protecting minors from predators and adult-oriented content that are pervasive on the internet. So far, most courts are not persuaded that new age-gating laws can survive constitutional scrutiny. Can such systems accurately validate age while simultaneously protecting user privacy and preserving the First Amendment rights of both children and adults? Our panel will separate fact from fiction and apply strict scrutiny to this new wave of laws.
Speakers:
Zach Lerner, Legal Director, ZwillGen (Moderator)
Laura Bisesto, Global Head of Policy & Privacy, Nextdoor
Stephen Gikow, Senior Director, Product Law, Discord
Darpana Sheth, Vice President of LItigation, FIRE
Paul Taske, Litigation Center Counsel, NetChoice

Fifteen-minute snack break

Addiction: The Next Frontier in Content Liability
4:05 pm – 5:05 pm
With children’s mental health as a rallying cry, state legislatures and plaintiffs’ firms have long sought to hold online publishers liable for the allegedly detrimental effects of their services.  The theory du jour, reflected in a tidal wave of legislation and lawsuits, is that publishers have designed their services to be addictive. This theory has gained some initial traction in court, but are penalties for causing “addiction” just liability for speech in disguise? What effect do recent Supreme Court cases involving social media radicalization and content moderation have?  Our panel will discuss these efforts, their legal (and medical) merits, and how they might change the way online services operate.
Speakers:
Ambika Kumar, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Clay Calvert, Professor, University of Florida, Levin College of Law
Bob Corn-Revere, Chief Counsel, FIRE
Page Robinson, Senior Director, Litigation and Intellectual Property, Activision Blizzard
Aaron Schur, General Counsel & SVP, Yelp

Five-minute stretch break

Update: Content Moderation at the Supreme Court
5:10 pm – 5:35 pm
In a brief update, we’ll check in on how the First Amendment applies to content moderation following the arguments in NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice and consider how state action questions in other cases before the Court might shape the result.
In Conversation:
Ari Holtzblatt, Partner, WilmerHale
Daphne Keller, Director of Program on Platform Regulation, Stanford Cyber Policy Center

Cocktail Reception to Follow (Sponsored by Google)

Questions? Contact us at digitallaw@medialaw.org.