Copyright Office Announces Appointment of Joel Waldfogel as Kaminstein Scholar

Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter welcomes Professor Joel Waldfogel as the fourth Abraham L. Kaminstein Scholar at the U.S. Copyright Office. Professor Waldfogel will be joining the Office on June 7 and serving in this position through the end of 2021.

Professor Waldfogel holds the Frederick R. Kappel Chair in Applied Economics in the Department of Strategic Management & Entrepreneurship at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management and is the Associate Dean of the School’s MBA and MS programs. His primary research interests are industrial organization and law and economics. He has conducted empirical studies of issues related to media and digital products, including piracy, pricing, and revenue sharing. He has published over fifty scholarly articles and several books and has served on two National Research Council Committees related to copyright. He received a BA in economics from Brandeis University and a PhD in economics from Stanford University.

“Professor Waldfogel is a well-known scholar who has done extensive work on the economics of copyright markets and industries. His expertise will greatly benefit the Office and the public, both in providing insights on the economic aspects of copyright matters and in helping to develop an economic research program for the Office going forward,” Perlmutter said. “I look forward to our collaboration during his tenure as a scholar and to building on his ideas when we bring on board a chief economist for the Office.”

The Abraham L. Kaminstein Scholar Program provides an opportunity for scholars in legal, copyright, and related areas to spend time at the Copyright Office, 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.

Prior Kaminstein Scholars were Professor Robert Brauneis of George Washington University Law School (2013–2014), Professor Zvi Rosen of Hofstra University (2015–2016), and Steven Wilf of the University of Connecticut School of Law (2016–2017). For additional information about the Abraham L. Kaminstein Scholar Program, including how to apply, please visit the program’s web page at copyright.gov/about/special-programs/kaminstein.html.