Symposium – The Meaning of Ownership: Rethinking Intellectual Property, Creativity, and Control in the Age of Innovation
The 33rd Annual IPLJ Symposium, “The Meaning of Ownership: Rethinking Intellectual Property, Creativity, and Control in the Age of Innovation,” brings together diverse scholars and practitioners to examine how traditional concepts of ownership are evolving across industries. The Symposium highlights emerging legal and commercial challenges shaped by rapid technological change, digital distribution, and global commerce. Featuring panels on journalism, sports and licensing, artificial intelligence and music, and fashion and trademarks, the Symposium dives into how courts, businesses, and creators are redefining ways to manage information, creative expression, and commercial identity. In connection with the event, the IPLJ’s second book of Volume XXXVI will be devoted entirely to scholarship presented at the Symposium.
Program Agenda
10:00 – 10:30 AM | Check-in
10:30 – 11:00 AM | Welcome Remarks
- Basha Goldwater’ 26, Symposium Editor, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal, Volume XXXVI
- Sophie Ashley’ 26, Editor-in-Chief, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal, Volume XXXVI
- Joseph Landau, Dean and Paul Fuller Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Panel 1: The Right to Know: Journalism, Publicity, and Judicial Transparency
The first panel addresses journalism, defamation, free speech, and the role of the press in court-related coverage, focusing on how information is shared and accessed. The presentations will explore the constitutional foundations of press freedom, the changing role of media in reporting on trials and other proceedings, and the legal and practical questions surrounding transparency in the judicial system. Panelists will also consider how historical understandings of the Press Clause and the purpose of journalism help frame current debates about reporting, access, politics, and the relationship between the justice system, the press, and the public.
- Kate Bolger, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine; Adjunct Professor, Fordham University School of Law
- Jack Ford, Journalist; Trial Attorney; Best-Selling Author
- Matthew Schafer, Media Litigator; Adjunct Professor, Fordham University School of Law
- Moderator: Kate Robinson ‘27, Student, Fordham University School of Law, Class of 2027
12:30 – 12:35 PM | Break
12:35 – 1:35 PM | Panel 2: Inside the Playbook: Grant of Rights Agreements and the Business of Sports
The second panel explores the grant of rights and commercial realities that shape licensing, branding, and media distribution in sports and entertainment. The discussion will cover how these agreements allocate control over media and intellectual property. It will also address the governance and contractual challenges that arise when leagues, conferences, and institutions negotiate long-term broadcasting and licensing arrangements. Panelists will address how recent developments in college athletics and media rights reflect broader tensions among stakeholders and show how licensing agreements operate in practice.
- Dr. Emma Best, Associate Teaching Professor at Wake Forest University School of Business
- Matthew Kelman, Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs – Head of Commercial Transactions for Fanatics Holdings, Inc.
- Moderator: Lindsey Prutsman ‘25, Legal Associate, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
1:35 – 2:20 PM | Lunch/ Refreshment Break
2:20 – 3:50 PM | Panel 3: The Future of Sound: Artificial Intelligence Liability and Music Copyright (Sponsored by Seyfarth Shaw)
The third panel examines the ownership of music and creative expression in the wake of artificial intelligence, which is changing how music is created, reproduced, and distributed. The presentations will cover the ways in which copyright law has adapted to new forms of musical creation and how emerging forms of artificial expression challenge traditional ideas of authorship, originality, liability, and infringement. Panelists will also discuss the ongoing uncertainties facing the music and technology industries as courts, policymakers, and creators respond to these rapidly developing tools.
- Dr. Douglas Lind, Professor at Virginia Tech Department of Philosophy
- Owen Wolfe, Partner at Seyfarth Shaw, Intellectual Property/Commercial Litigation
- Moderator: Ron Lazebnik, Associate Dean for Administration, Clinical Professor of Law
3:50 – 3:55 PM | Break
3:55 – 4:55 PM | Panel 4: Rules of the Runway: Trademarks, Counterfeits, and Global Fashion
The fourth and final panel turns to the fashion industry in an era shaped by counterfeits, “dupes,” and evolving consumer markets. The discussion will highlight the legal and practical challenges of protecting fashion brands and trademarks in a global marketplace influenced by e-commerce, social media, and shifting trends. As an interactive Q&A session, this panel will offer a broad conversation on current developments in trademark enforcement, brand strategy, and the relationship between creativity, commerce, and imitation.
- Dyan Finguerra-DuCharme, Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP
- John Maltbie, Director of Intellectual Property, Civil Enforcement, Louis Vuitton Americas
- Claudine Meredith-Goujon, Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Amanda Slatin, Principal Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Burberry Americas
- Moderator: Susan Scafidi, Founder and Director of Fashion Law Institute, Fordham University School of Law
4:55 – 5:00 PM | Closing Remarks
- Basha Goldwater’ 26, Symposium Editor, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal, Volume XXXVI
5:00 – 8:00 PM | Reception at Tanner Smith, 204 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019
About the Panelists:
Dr. Emma Best, Associate Teaching Professor at Wake Forest University School of Business
Emma Best is an Attorney and Associate Teaching Professor in the School of Business at Wake Forest University where she teaches business law and purpose and ethics to graduate and undergraduate students. She has 20 years of experience as a transactional attorney and continues to practice law as Supply Chain Counsel for Ahold Delhaize. Her research focus is employment law, gender, and business.
Kate Bolger, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine; Adjunct Professor, Fordham University School of Law
Kate is an experienced First Amendment and media litigator
who has represented news and entertainment companies in a broad spectrum of content- related matters, ranging from investigative journalism to coverage of celebrities. In addition to defending media clients in court, Kate regularly counsels newspapers, magazines, and book publishers about pre- publication issues, and advises authors on contract, electronic publishing, and intellectual property matters. Chambers USA reports that clients have described Kate as “incredibly bright, very strategic, and an exceptionally strong writer” who is “a very effective litigator” and “the lawyer I would want the most in a New York state court street fight.” Before joining DWT, Kate was a partner at Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz LLP.
Dyan Finguerra-DuCharme, Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP
Dyan Finguerra-DuCharme is the Co-Chair of Pryor Cashman’s Intellectual Property Group, and she’s trusted by AI disruptors, Fortune 100 titans, and industry icons across beauty, fashion, entertainment, and tech. As a driving force in the firm’s IP, Fashion, Litigation, and Media + Entertainment Groups, Dyan delivers bold, results-driven counsel that turns complex trademark and copyright disputes into decisive victories. With 30 years of experience in trademark, has earned elite recognition from Chambers, Forbes, Legal 500, World Trademark Review, Managing IP and many others, solidifying her status as the attorney competitors hope you don’t hire.
High-Octane IP Battles:
Dyan’s litigation skills shine in federal and state courts, and she’s a force at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), where her early wins and knockout dismissals set the gold standard. Her client wins read like a who’s who of industry heavyweights: from securing game changing settlements for Drive Devilbiss Healthcare, TraxNYC, Honda, Richemont, L’Oréal, and world- famous entertainers like Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Pharrell Williams, and DJ Khaled, to landmark victories for luxury leaders and innovative startups. Whether it’s defending iconic trademarks or shutting down copycats, Dyan consistently delivers exceptional results and headline- worthy outcomes. Dyan is also recognized as a legal expert and has been interviewed by Nightline, CNBC and ABC, which have all aired primetime, as well as print publications like Law360 and Bloomberg.
Jack Ford, Journalist; Trial Attorney; Best-Selling Author
Jack Ford is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist, respected educator, prominent trial attorney and best-selling author. Most recently a host of “Metro Focus” on PBS, Mr. Ford began his television news career in 1984 as a legal analyst with WCBS-TV in New York. In addition to being a co-founder of American Ed TV, Mr. Jack Ford has worked for several major news organizations, including NBC News as Chief Legal Correspondent, reporting on major legal stories, ABC as an Anchor/Correspondent, ESPN, and he served as a CBS News Legal Analyst. His television journalism has received several honors including three Emmy Awards, a George Foster Peabody Award, and three National Cable Television Awards. In 1997, he received an NCAA Silver Anniversary Award, which is presented to former outstanding college athletes who have achieved distinction in their professional lives. In 2009 he was a recipient of Yale University’s highest athletic honor, the “George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award.” And in a somewhat unusual accolade, he was named People Magazine’s “Sexiest News Anchor” in 1999. Prior to embarking on his journalism career, Mr. Jack Ford, a Yale University and Fordham Law alumnus, was a prosecutor in New Jersey before entering private practice. He became a prominent trial attorney, successfully handling such high-profile cases as the Northeast’s first death penalty trial, one of the nation’s first corporate homicide trials, and the Wall Street insider trading scandal of the late 1980s. During his legal career, he served as an Adjunct Professor at the Fordham University School of Law. He has been a Visiting Lecturer at Yale University since 2007, and has also taught at New York University, Monmouth University, and the University of Virginia. In 2017, he served as a Lead Scholar for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and also speaks frequently at colleges and universities, nationally and internationally. He is the author of four novels: “The Osiris Alliance” (2009); “The Walls of Jericho” (2013); “Chariot on the Mountain” (2018); and “Beyond This Place of Wrath and Tears” (2025).
Matthew Kelman, Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs – Head of Commercial Transactions for Fanatics Holdings, Inc.
Matt Kelman is Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs, for Fanatics Holdings, Inc. – the corporate division of Fanatics (“FHI”). As global Head of Commercial Transactions, he works on a wide variety of matters for FHI as well as for all three of Fanatics’ verticals – Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting and Gaming. After his graduation from law school, Matt spent many years at large law firms working in intellectual property; first in litigation and then moving to the transactional side – including trademark/copyright and brand licensing. Matt eventually transitioned in-house and has worked as a transactional attorney – largely in media, television, and intellectual property – for Major League Baseball, Viacom, Bloomberg, and the Daily Mail before joining to Fanatics in 2022. Matt graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, and received his J.D. from Cornell Law School, where he was Executive Bench Brief Editor of the Moot Court Board. Over the course of his career, he has spoken on media law/fair use and intellectual property law. Matt lives on Long Island with his wife, Karen, and two children.
Ron Lazebnik, Associate Dean for Administration, Clinical Professor of Law
Ron Lazebnik is the Academic Director of Fordham’s Center on Law and Information Policy, and the Director of Fordham’s J.D. Externship Program. He has also previously taught the school’s Samuelson-Glushko Intellectual Property and Information Law Clinic and the Law and Technology Clinic. In his supervisory role, he has assisted clinic students in various significant legal matters. His academic and scholarly interests include IP law, information law, and Internet law, among other topics. Before joining Fordham Law, he was an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, where he helped represent clients in various matters involving patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and general commercial litigation. He also counseled clients on U.S. and international intellectual property–related issues and has assisted in the defense of corporations and government agencies being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and the United States Department of Justice. Professor Lazebnik is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he spent a significant amount of time as a Massachusetts SJC Rule 3:03 student attorney and as the Director of Research and Technology for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. He also served on the staff of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and contributed to GartnerG2’s and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s 2005 white paper “Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster World.” He won the Betty Allebach Award for outstanding commitment and service to the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and was recognized for providing over 1,000 hours of pro bono work as a law student. Prior to law school, Professor Lazebnik received an MS in electrical engineering from Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Douglas Lind, Professor at Virginia Tech Department of Philosophy
Douglas Lind is a Professor of Philosophy at Virginia Tech. He received his B.A. from the University of Minnesota, J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches courses in jurisprudence, pragmatism, ethical theory, and copyright law. His research interests include legal philosophy, judicial decision-making, indigenous law, pragmatism, and music aesthetics and copyright. He has published numerous essays and book chapters on pragmatism and legal philosophy. He is the author of Logic and Legal Reasoning (2d ed. 2007) and coeditor of Pragmatism, Law, and Language (2014). Since 1994, he has served on the faculty of The National Judicial College.
John Maltbie, Director of Intellectual Property, Civil Enforcement, Louis Vuitton Americas
John Maltbie has served as the Director of Intellectual Property, Civil Enforcement for Louis Vuitton North America, Inc. since October 2012. In that role, he oversees the intellectual property civil litigation and enforcement activities for Louis Vuitton in the United States and Canada and has represented a number of LVMH affiliates including Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs, Celine, Givenchy, Emilio Pucci, Kenzo, and Berluti with respect to intellectual property issues. Prior to joining Louis Vuitton, John was an intellectual property associate at Arnold & Porter LLP, among other firms, where he represented clients including, Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Bottega Veneta, Nike, adidas, Paramount Pictures, and Pernod Ricard, with respect to issues ranging from trademark prosecution and licensing to brand enforcement and anti-counterfeiting. John received a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University and a Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School. John’s lack of a sense of humor has been affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. John cannot get you a discount.
Claudine Meredith-Goujon, Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Claudine Meredith-Goujon is Global Co-Head of Intellectual Property & Technology Transactions and a Deputy Co-Chair of the Corporate Department. She concentrates her practice on intellectual property transactions and counseling, and has helped numerous public companies and private equity firms protect and leverage the IP assets at the heart of all types of transactions. Claudine’s practice includes addressing and structuring the intellectual property aspect of mergers and acquisitions, investment funds, securitizations of franchise businesses, financings and restructurings in a broad range of industries. She has extensive expertise advising on some of the largest and most complex IP transactions in a variety of industry sectors including beauty, fashion, retail, food, healthcare, media & entertainment, and financial services, among others. Claudine is ranked Band 1 in Chambers USA in the Intellectual Property category and is highly ranked in Technology. In 2025, Claudine was named a “Transactions Star” by Managing IP’s IP Stars awards, has been shortlisted for “Practitioner of the Year” in IP Transactions by Managing IP’s Americas awards and was named to World Intellectual Property Review’s Leaders List. In 2024, Claudine was named as part of the “IP Team of the Year” by Luxury Law and was recognized as “Trademark Lawyer of the Year” and shortlisted for “Thought Leadership Lawyer of the Year” by Euromoney’s 2024 Women in Business Law Americas Awards. In 2023, Claudine was ranked number one in “Top Intellectual Property Lawyers in North America” by MergerLinks.
Lindsey Prutsman, Legal Associate, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Lindsey Prutsman is an associate in the Litigation practice group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. A 2025 graduate of Fordham Law, Lindsey previously served as Symposium Editor of the IPLJ, where she led the planning and execution of the Annual Symposium. She is pleased to return this year in a new role as a moderator. Before entering legal practice, Lindsey worked in political strategy, advising on messaging and advocacy in fast-moving, high-visibility environments—experience that continues to inform her perspective on negotiation, rights allocation, and strategic considerations that shape modern sports media and licensing agreements.
Kate Robinson, Student, Fordham University School of Law, Class of 2027
Kate Robinson is a current law student at Fordham University School of Law and a valuable member of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal. She serves on the symposium committee for the journal, helping to plan the annual event. She has experience in international investigations and litigation through her work at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, where she currently serves as a legal intern, and at Kobre & Kim LLP. Robinson holds a B.A. with honors in Russian & Eurasian Studies, Political Science, and Philosophy from Colgate University and has been recognized for honors and academic excellence.
Susan Scafidi, Founder and Director of Fashion Law Institute, Fordham University School of Law
Susan Scafidi is the first professor ever to offer a course in Fashion Law, and she is internationally recognized for establishing the field. She has testified before the U.S. Congress regarding the proposed extension of legal protection to fashion designs and continues to work with government officials and stakeholders in the fashion industry on this and other issues. Professor Scafidi founded and directs the Fashion Law Institute, the world’s first center dedicated to the law and business of fashion. A nonprofit organization headquartered at Fordham Law School, the Fashion Law Institute was established with the generous support and advice of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and its then-president, Diane von Furstenberg. On behalf of the Fashion Law Institute and Fordham, Professor Scafidi also developed another global first: degrees in Fashion Law, an LLM for lawyers and an MSL for non-lawyers. Prior to teaching at Fordham, Professor Scafidi was a tenured member of both the law and history faculties at SMU, and she has taught at a number of other schools, including Yale, Georgetown, and Cardozo. After graduating from Duke University and the Yale Law School, she pursued graduate study in legal history at Berkeley and the University of Chicago and clerked for a distinguished legal historian, Judge Morris S. Arnold of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, she has served as an expert witness in cases including Star Athletica v. Varsity, Navajo Nation v. Urban Outfitters, and other matters including litigants such as Gucci, Givenchy, and adidas. Professor Scafidi is the author of Who Owns Culture? Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law, as well as articles in the areas of intellectual property, cultural property, and of course fashion law.
Matthew Schafer, Media Litigator; Adjunct Professor, Fordham University School of Law
Matthew Schafer is a Partner at Jassy Vick Carolan, a boutique law firm focused on First Amendment, media and copyright counseling and litigation. He has spent his career representing news organizations and publishers in high-profile disputes with presidents, palaces, and public figures with a focus on content- liability claims—especially, defamation. Matt began his career at the litigation boutique Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, where he defended news organizations and often argued in favor of greater transparency in judicial proceedings, including in the military commissions at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. A recognized authority on press freedom, his colleagues in the bar regularly rely on his scholarship, and federal and state judges cite it when considering statutory and constitutional issues affecting the press. He serves on the Board of the New York City Bar Association and teaches Journalism & the Law at Fordham Law.
Amanda Slatin, Principal Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Burberry Americas
Amanda Slatin is the Principal Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Burberry Americas. At Burberry, Amanda leads the Americas legal department and is responsible for managing all aspects of the Company’s legal matters, including commercial transactions, marketing and brand collaborations, corporate governance, IP-licensing, litigation disputes, regulatory compliance, real estate, and labor and employment matters, across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. Prior to joining Burberry, Amanda was a member of the Labor and Employment practice group at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where she specialized in the defense of wage and hour and complex employee litigation, and regularly counseled luxury retail and Fortune 500 clients. Amanda earned her law degree, cum laude, from Fordham Law School.
Owen Wolfe, Partner at Seyfarth Shaw, Intellectual Property/Commercial Litigation
Owen has a particular focus on intellectual property litigation, representing clients in pre-litigation disputes relating to trademarks and copyrights, as well as in enforcement litigation in federal court or arbitral forums. Owen is also a seasoned appellate litigator and a co-lead of Seyfarth’s Appellate Group, who helps clients preserve appeal issues at trial and navigate the appellate process once an appeal is taken, including determining which issues are most appropriate for appeal. Owen has worked on high stakes appeals in federal and state appellate courts across the country and has deep experience with merits briefing, oral argument, motion practice, and procedural issues in appellate courts. In addition to intellectual property disputes, Owen represents clients in disputes involving misappropriation of trade secrets, non- compete and non-solicitation agreements, breach of contract, real estate, breach of fiduciary duty, foreign sovereign immunity, non-party discovery, and much more. He has represented clients in a wide variety of industries and circumstances. In all cases, he dives deep to understand his clients’ businesses and industries to help advise them on how best to navigate challenging litigation. Coming of age during the rise of the internet and new technologies has also helped Owen marry traditional litigation techniques and strategies to those new technologies in order to benefit his clients.
