Ann Arbor Film Festival 2009

Co-hosted by the A.C.E.S. of the State Bar of Michigan

One of the most critical and ongoing debates in the global entertainment sector is the battle over fair use rights and copyright law in the arts. Whether embedded with music, film, new media or beyond, this issue does not just affect everyone; it is redefining the entertainment world as we know it. Join us for an animated and educational discussion on copyright infringement, guidelines and laws where we question if our current laws are out of date, and whether they serve or stifle social creativity.

This event is FREE to the public!

CRAIG BALDWIN -- Born in Oakland California, USA, Craig Baldwin attended the University of California at Santa Barbara, University of California at Davis, and San Francisco State University (Masters, 1986). In the Dept. of Cinema there, he studied under Bruce Conner and became increasingly drawn to collage film form. His interest in the re-contextualization of “found” imagery led him to the theories of the Situationists, and to various practices of mail art, ‘zines, altered billboards, and other creative initiatives beyond the fringe of the traditional fine-arts curriculum. Baldwin has received the SF Bay Guardian Goldie award, the Phelan Award in Film Art, “Film of the Year” by the LA Film Critics Circle, and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship. His 1995 film Sonic Outlaws is an experimental documentary on the emerging “electronic folk culture”, exploring the legal, political, and artistic implications of the audio-collage work of culture-jamming collectives like Negativland, Tape-beatles, Emergency Broadcast Network, and the Barbie Liberation Organization.

MARK HOSLER -- Mark Hosler is a founding member of the group Negativland. Since 1980 Negativland have been creating records, video, radio and live performance using appropriated sound, image and text. Taken mostly from corporately owned mass culture, Negativland rearranges these bits and pieces to make them say things they never intended to. In doing this kind of cultural opposition and “culture jamming” (a term coined by Negativland in 1984), Negativland have been sued twice for copyright infringement and have, since 1991, been aggressively and publicly involved in advocating a significant reform of this nation’s copyright laws. As a member of Negativland, Mark has written essays and articles on these issues for Billboard Magazine, Keyboard Magazine, College Music Journal, NYU Law Commentator and others. He has lectured at universities, including Arizona, Virginia, Tennessee, MIT, Yale, NYU, and at various venues.

LARRY JORDAN -- Larry Jordan has been practicing law since 1977. He heads the Ann Arbor, Michigan office of the law firm Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, and Weiss, PC. He also chairs the firm’s Intellectual Property Group. He represents a number of artists, in all media, publishers, writers, inventors, musicians, researchers, and other creative people and companies. Larry is past Chair of the “Arts, Communications, Entertainment and Sports” Section of the State Bar of Michigan, and Past Chair of the “Computer Law” Section of the State Bar of Michigan. He has taught as an adjunct professor at The University of Michigan School of Art. He has spoken frequently at the Institute for Continuing Legal Education, professional meetings, universities, and law schools on topics including publishing, contracts, intellectual property, licensing, computer law, art law, entertainment law, and defamation. He has represented clients in Federal Courts in California, New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois, as well as in State Courts throughout Michigan.

MATT BOWER -- Matthew Bower is an attorney with Safford & Baker PLLC, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and practices in the area of general business with a focus on copyright, trademark, Internet law, software, ecommerce, art law, publishing, entertainment law, right of publicity, and other areas of intellectual property. Matthew is currently Chair of the Arts, Communications, Entertainment & Sports (ACES) Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. He received a BFA in theater from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York, NY. He has lectured on intellectual property issues for the Library and Information Science Program at Wayne State University, ArtServe Michigan’s Services Programs, VSA Arts of Michigan, and the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE).