29th Annual BTLJ-BCLT Spring Symposium: The Role of the Author and the Acquisition and Duration of Their Rights
Panel 2: The Role of the Author
April 16, 2026
Event Information | Agenda | Resource(s) | Speaker Bio(s) & Contact Info
At the Berkeley Technology Law Journal’s 29th Annual Symposium, Professors Tyler Ochoa, David Nimmer, Robert Brauneis, and Peter DiCola examined the 1976 Copyright Act’s author-centered reforms—covering formalities, duration, termination of transfer, fixation, joint authorship, and market structure—and concluded that twin oligopolies in copyright aggregation and technological distribution have structurally disabled the economic leverage those reforms were designed to provide, while judicial resistance and contractual end-runs have eroded the inalienable termination right that was the Act’s most ambitious pro-author innovation.
Instructor(s)
Tyler Ochoa, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law
David Nimmer, Professor from Practice, UCLA School of Law, and Of Counsel, Irell & Manella LLP, author of Nimmer on Copyright
Robert Brauneis, Michael McKeon Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Faculty Co-Director, GW Barnard Center for Law and Technology, George Washington University Law School
Peter DiCola, Professor of Law and Director of the JD-PhD Program, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Molly Van Houweling, Professor and Faculty Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, UC Berkeley School of Law.
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