Intellectual Property Influence; UC Berkeley Law, June 10, 2026

  UC Berkeley Law; Intellectual Property Influence

"An article by Professor Pamela Samuelson has been selected as one of the best intellectual property papers of 2025 and will be included in the next edition of the Intellectual Property Law Review, published annually by Thomson Reuters. It’s the seventh time one of her articles has been recognized this way. 

“Justification for Fair Uses(opens in a new tab),” published in 2025 in the Wisconsin Law Review, explains the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith. Samuelson argues that the ruling preserved the standards for analyzing fair–use defenses the Court laid out in its 1984 Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. decision. 

“Contrary to what some have mistakenly asserted, nothing in Warhol abjures the rich body of fair use case law, both before and after Campbell, that has recognized many types of fair use justifications,” Samuelson writes."

(Podcast) The Briefing: What Is Fair Use and Why Does It Matter? (Featured); JDSupra, December 5, 2025

 Richard Buckley, Jr. and Scott Hervey, JDSupra ; (Podcast) The Briefing: What Is Fair Use and Why Does It Matter? (Featured)

"Creators, beware: just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s fair game. In this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey and Richard Buckley break down one of the most misunderstood areas of copyright law—fair use.

In this featured episode, they cover:

- What makes a use “transformative”?

- Why credit alone doesn’t protect you

- How recent court rulings (Warhol v. Goldsmith) are changing the game

- Tips to stay on the right side of the law"

Rock Hall ‘fair use’ ruling raises big questions for creators; Cleveland.com, November 21, 2024

 Peter Chakerian, Cleveland.com; Rock Hall ‘fair use’ ruling raises big questions for creators

"Seeing things from both sides

“It can be a slippery-sloped and indeed it was a slippery slope,” said attorney Mark Avsec, partner and vice chair of the Intellectual Property Group of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff.

Avsec was part of the funk-rock band Wild Cherry (“Play That Funky Music”) and was an original member of Donnie Iris & the Cruisers. The keyboardist-songwriter wrote or co-wrote all the latter band’s music, was its sole lyricist and produced all of its albums.

“[C]ases started evolving to where any derivative work based on a copyrighted work was almost by definition transformative and therefore a fair use,” he said. 

“That can’t be right. A copyright owner’s ability to authorize or not authorize derivative works based on the copyrighted work is an important right under the Copyright Act.”

Avsec said that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the recent Warhol case reset things."