LA Copyright Society

Upcoming Event:

Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. PT

at Lawry's Prime Rib

A View from the Bench:

A Fireside Chat with Ninth Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown

With Kelli Sager of Davis Wright Tremaine, and Ben Sheffner of the Motion Picture Association

Judge M. Margaret McKeown has compiled a remarkable record of copyright jurisprudence, authoring some of the most important copyright decisions of recent decades, including Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin (2020) (abrogating the “inverse ratio” rule), Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. v. ComicMix LLC (2020) (“mashup” of Dr. Seuss and Star Trek works not a fair use), and Garcia v. Google, Inc. (2015) (actor’s performance not a copyrightable work).

Kelli Sager, a frequent advocate before the Ninth Circuit in copyright and First Amendment cases, and Ben Sheffner, who served as a law clerk to Judge McKeown, will lead a discussion with the Judge about how her litigation experience informs her views on copyright, her and her fellow judges’ approach to IP issues, and what advice she has for advocates in the cutting-edge copyright cases the Ninth Circuit frequently confronts.

Judge M. Margaret McKeown has served more than twenty-five years as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an affiliated scholar at the Center for the American West at Stanford University, and jurist-in-residence at the University of San Diego School of Law. As a former White House Fellow, she served as special assistant at the White House and as special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior. A Wyoming native, she serves on the board of Teton Science Schools and was a member of the first American expedition to Mt. Shishapangma in Tibet.

Judge McKeown graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and holds an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University. Before her appointment to the bench, she was the first woman to be appointed partner at Perkins Coie. She is a member of the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability. She chairs the Ninth Circuit Workplace Environment Committee and is a member of the National Workplace Conduct Working Group. She is on the Council of the American Law Institute, the Judicial Advisory Board of the American Society of International Law, and the editorial board of Litigation magazine. She served as Chair of the ABA Commission on the 19th Amendment, past President of the Federal Judges Association, and former chair of the U.S. Judicial Conference Codes of Conduct Committee (ethics). She was recently selected as the 2024 recipient of the prestigious American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell Jr. Award for Professionalism and Ethics in recognition of her exemplary service in the areas of professionalism, ethics, civility and excellence.

Kelli Sager, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, has more than 35 years of experience representing all kinds of media/entertainment companies, including filmmakers, broadcasters, web publishers, newspapers, and book publishers. She consistently has been recognized as one of the top First Amendment attorneys in the country: among other accolades, Chambers USA has ranked her for over 10 consecutive years in its top tier of media attorneys in the U.S.; she has been one of Lawdragon's 500 Leading Lawyers in America since 2005; and she regularly is included in the Los Angeles Daily Journal's lists of top lawyers in California. She also was identified by Best Lawyers as Los Angeles’ 2024 “Lawyer of the Year” in both First Amendment Litigation and First Amendment Law. In 2019, Kelli received the "Excellence in Advocacy" award from the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the first woman to receive that honor. Kelli has argued dozens of times in federal and state appellate courts, including many times in the California Supreme Court and 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. She has served in leadership roles in virtually every media-related bar association and nonprofit, including chairing the ABA Forum on Communications Law and the Media Law Resource Center Defense Counsel Section, and served for more than a decade on the advisory board of LA Sports & Entertainment Council. She has served on a variety of Ninth Circuit committees for more than fifteen years, and currently is a member of the Advisory Board to Chief Judge Mary Murguia.

Ben Sheffner is Senior Vice President & Associate General Counsel, Law & Policy, at the Motion Picture Association, where he specializes in copyright, First Amendment, and other legal and policy issues of importance to the MPA’s member studios. With dual appointments in the MPA’s Legal and Government Affairs departments, Ben works closely with attorneys and policy advocates internally and at the MPA’s member studios to formulate and implement strategies to create a favorable environment for the industry to thrive, both economically and creatively. Among his several roles, Ben frequently represents MPA before federal and state government officials and entities; manages the MPA’s amicus brief program; and serves as counsel to the Title Registration Bureau. Prior to joining the MPA in 2011, Ben held in-house legal positions at NBCUniversal and Twentieth Century Fox, and worked as an associate in the Century City office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where he litigated copyright and other cases for major movie studios, television networks, and record labels.