Matt Syrkin and Dan Schnapp Participate in Copyright Society Panel on Cloud Computing

Matt Syrkin presented and produced a panel for the New York Chapter of the Copyright Society of the USA titled "Copyright and Content in the Cloud" featuring Dan Schnapp as a moderator and other prominent practitioners. The panel, held on September 15, 2011, tackled the critical legal issues raised by the expansion of cloud computing and explored how stakeholders can balance the need to comply with evolving laws, standards and court decisions with the need to exploit new technological advancements that lead to improved services and enhanced user experiences. The complete description of the panel is set forth below: As the public's demand for "any content anywhere" grows, entertainment, media and technology companies are turning to the "cloud" for innovative ways to distribute and monetize content. The movement to the cloud, however, presents stakeholders with a familiar challenge: how to formulate new business models without infringing the rights of content owners. While recent case law provides some guidance for cloud service innovators, many issues regarding the copyright implications of storing, reproducing and transmitting content from the cloud remain unsettled. Now, a host of emerging cloud-based business models — from MP3tunes, Dar.fm and Zediva to Amazon CloudDrive, Apple's iCloud and GoogleMusic — are testing the parameters of copyright law. This panel focused on the critical legal issues raised by the expansion of cloud computing and explore how stakeholders can balance the need to comply with evolving laws, standards and court decisions with the need to exploit new technological advancements that lead to improved services and enhanced user experiences.