Copyright Office Announces Appointment of Steven Wilf as Kaminstein Scholar
Issue No. 644 - December 1, 2016
Acting Register of Copyrights Karyn A. Temple welcomes Professor Steven Wilf as the Abraham L. Kaminstein Scholar in Residence at the U.S. Copyright Office during the 2016–17 academic year.
The Abraham L. Kaminstein Scholar in Residence Program provides an opportunity for legal scholars to spend time at the Copyright Office, at the invitation of the Register, conducting independent research and working on mutually beneficial projects. Kaminstein served as Register of Copyrights from 1960 to 1971. An internationally recognized expert in the field of copyright, he presided over many major revision studies and roundtables that laid the foundation for the 1976 Copyright Act.
Wilf will serve as the Office’s third Kaminstein Scholar. He is the Anthony J. Smits Professor of Global Commerce and director of the Intellectual Property and Information Governance Program at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he specializes in intellectual property and legal history. He is currently also a participating fellow at the Wesleyan University Center for the Humanities Intellectual Property/Intellectual Piracy research project. Wilf is the author of two books and numerous scholarly articles and is completing a history of intellectual property law for Cambridge University Press. In 2012, he was a visiting professor in Beijing where he taught Intellectual Property Infringement Defenses and Remedies. He has also taught seminars on comparative intellectual property law at Freie Universität and Hebrew University.
In his role as Kaminstein Scholar, Professor Wilf will focus on a review of the history and development of the Copyright Office, with a concentration on deposit issues. As part of his work, he will assess matters relating to mandatory deposit, registration deposit, best edition, and collection building.
“I am extremely pleased to have an academic of Professor Wilf’s caliber and background join the Office as part of the Kaminstein Scholar Program,” Temple said. “His tenure will continue the great tradition of previous scholars and will be of tremendous benefit to the Office and to the constituencies it serves.”
Wilf follows Professor Zvi Rosen of Hofstra University who served as Kaminstein Scholar from 2015 to 2016 and Professor Robert Brauneis of George Washington University Law School who served as Kaminstein Scholar from 2013 to 2014. For additional information about the Abraham L. Kaminstein Scholar in Residence Program, including how to apply, please visit the program’s web page at http://copyright.gov/about/special-programs/kaminstein.html.