On Jan. 18, the Recording Academy announced the winners of the 20th annual Entertainment Law Initiative writing competition.
Rebecca Pollack of Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., wrote the winning paper for this year's competition, titled "Innovation Or Exploitation: Is It Time To Update The DMCA Safe Harbors?" Digital Millennium Copyright Act safe harbors were meant to protect passive internet hosts but fail to address repetitive uploading of infringing material to online platforms. Pollack receives the scholarship's top award of $10,000.
The runner-up is Megan Abner from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City. Her paper was on "Effects Of The FCC's 'Internet Freedom' On The Music Industry And Potential Collaborative Solutions." She will receive a $2,500 scholarship.
The GRAMMY Week event will be held on Jan. 26 at Worldwide Plaza in New York and is the nation's preeminent gathering for entertainment attorneys. It provides a forum to explore important legal issues, honor outstanding practitioners and support the next generation of arts lawyers through the ELI writing and scholarship competition.
Both Abner and Pollack will attend GRAMMY Week's Entertainment Law Initiative event, which will include a keynote from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and service award presentations to attorneys Allen Grubman and Michael Reinert. The former will receive a Recording Academy President's Merit Award from Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow in recognition of his many years of work protecting the interest of music creators. A small number of tickets remain available for the luncheon.
The ELI writing competition is co-sponsored by the American Bar Association Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries.
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