Reach for Gold: Copyright and Sports
Celebrate World IP Day 2019 with the Copyright Office
RegisterThe U.S. Copyright Office will celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with a special event on Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. eastern time in the historic Coolidge Auditorium in the Jefferson Building in Washington, DC. This year’s theme, as announced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is “Reach for Gold: IP and Sports.”
The Copyright Office’s program will explore the unique and sometimes surprising relationship between sports and copyright. We will look at different points at which sports and copyright intersect, including how people watch games from home, the various ways athletes work with copyright to develop merchandise and more, and the burgeoning world of esports.
Featured speakers include Derrick Heggans, founder and CEO of Global Sports and Entertainment Business Academy (GSB Academy); Delara Derakhshani, counsel, tech policy, Entertainment Software Association; and Robert Garrett, senior counsel, Arnold & Porter.
This event will also be livestreamed.
We will continue our celebration of World IP Day Saturday, April 27, at 10:30 a.m. with a special copyright-focused Story Time at the Young Readers Center at the Library of Congress. Weʼll use song, stories, and activities to introduce copyright concepts and highlight the power of taking ideas and making them into creative works. This event is great for families with children from 5 to 10 years old.
World Intellectual Property Day, observed on April 26th since 2000, marks the date in 1970 when the WIPO Convention came into force. The anniversary of this occasion is observed as a way of promoting and increasing general understanding of intellectual property. This program is part of the Copyright Matters lecture series and is free and open to the public.
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or [email protected].
Robert Garrett
Senior Counsel, Arnold & Porter
Robert Garrett whose practice focuses on copyright and telecommunications law, particularly as it affects the sports, media and entertainment industries and new technologies. He represents and advises major sports leagues and organizations, motion picture producers and distributors, recording companies, broadcast and cable television networks, municipal and foreign governments, and others who create or make use of copyrighted works.
Mr. Garrett handles numerous matters before the federal district courts and courts of appeals, US Supreme Court, Copyright Office, Copyright Royalty Board (and predecessors), FCC, Congress and WIPO. He analyzes, under applicable copyright and communications laws, the legality of various technologies and practices. He also assists clients in contractual negotiations and disputes involving the licensing of copyrighted content as well as in the mediation of disputes over the unlicensed use of such content.
Prior to joining Arnold & Porter, Mr. Garrett served in the US Army and as a law clerk to then-Judge John Paul Stevens of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He graduated, cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was Executive Editor of the law review, a member of the law school’s moot court team, co-recipient of the Adlai Ewing Stevenson Award and William Jennings Bryan Award.
Derrick Heggans
Founder and CEO, Global Sports and Entertainment Business Academy
Derrick Heggans is an Assistant Professor of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, serving as the Faculty Champion for the Sports Management Fellows Program. Heggans also serves as the Founder and CEO of Team Turnaround, an organization supporting President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper Initiative” focused on improving life outcomes for boys and young men of color. Team Turnaround is focused on using the infrastructure and assets of the sports and entertainment communities to promote equity in education for all underserved kids.
Prior to starting Team Turnaround, Heggans served as the Managing Director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, a research and education-focused think tank based at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania from 2010-2013. While at Wharton, Heggans founded and served as Director of the Wharton Sports Business Academy.
Prior to joining the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, Heggans worked at AOL as General Manager of AOL’s Sports Channel, overseeing all business and programming operations. In 2008, he was named by Sports Business Journal as one of the “20 Most Influential in Sports Digital Media”. In March 2009, Heggans was named to Sports Business Journal 2009 “Forty Under 40” list of most dynamic young executives in business of Sports under the age of 40.
Prior to his time with AOL, Heggans worked for the National Football League from 1998 through 2004 in various legal roles. In May 1998, he began working at NFL Properties, the marketing and licensing division of the National Football League, in the Legal & Business Affairs Department as a staff attorney. His primary role was serving as business affairs counsel for Corporate Sponsorships, Marketing and Special Events. In May 2001, Heggans moved to the Office of the Commissioner of the National Football League as Assistant Counsel for Broadcast Operations and Policy, where he assisted the Broadcasting Department, NFL Films, and NFL Enterprises in negotiating, structuring and administering various League media contracts; advised clubs on broadcast issues; served as chief business affairs counsel for implementation of Super Bowl, Pro Bowl and other NFL run special events; and served on the Super Bowl Policy Committee.
A native and current resident of Washington, DC, Heggans graduated from Duke University in 1992. He also graduated from George Washington University’s School of Law in 1998 and is a member of the NY Bar.
Delara Derakhshani
Counsel, Tech Policy, Entertainment Software Association
Ms. Derakhshani serves as Counsel, Tech Policy at the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the U.S. trade association for the video game industry, where she advises video game publishers and game console manufacturers on a range of technology law and policy matters. Her areas of expertise include privacy, consumer protection, accessibility, and esports. Before joining ESA, Delara served as policy counsel at Consumers Union and worked in the DC Government Affairs office of T-Mobile. Delara received her J.D. and certificate in communications law from The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Virginia.