Michael Donaldson and Christopher Perez Honored as Daily Journal’s California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year
Partners Michael Donaldson and Christopher Perez are recipients of the Daily Journal’s California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) awards for their work on obtaining a DMCA copyright exemption for documentarians and authors. Mr. Donaldson and Mr. Perez will receive their awards along with Jack Learner and Blake E. Reid of the UC Irvine Intellectual Property, Arts, and Technology Clinic.
Mr. Donaldson and Mr. Perez worked along with the UCI Clinic to secure a similar exemption in 2008, which was then expanded in 2012. The latest ruling eases constraints on documentary filmmakers to either only source material from unencrypted sources, or risk violating the DMCA.
Thanks to Mr. Donaldson and Mr. Perez’s work, documentarians who make legitimate fair use of third-party material from DVDs, digital video content, and Blu-ray disks can now rest easy, knowing they are not in violation of the DMCA.