Notes from Louisville: My Takeaways from the Copyright Society's 50th Annual Meeting
I just got back from the Copyright Society's 2026 Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, and I am still thinking about it. This was a milestone year. The Society turned 50, and the gathering doubled as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Copyright Act, the law that still forms the backbone of how we think about authorship, ownership, and infringement today. Three days at the Galt House Hotel, hundreds of practitioners and scholars from around the world, and more substantive copyright discussion than I usually get in a month.
I went in expecting a solid CLE program. I left with a notebook full of issues that I can immediately implement for clients, a stronger network of people I can call when those issues show up, and a genuine appreciation for how fast this area of law is moving.
A View from the Top
The meeting opened with the Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, giving her annual update on developments at the Office. Hearing directly from the person running the agency that processes every registration and shapes so much policy is one of those experiences that reminds you why showing up in person still matters. Slides and press releases tell you what happened. A room full of follow-up questions tells you what is actually unsettled.
The Issues Everyone Is Actually Talking About
Three sessions stood out as the ones I keep coming back to.
The first addressed a case called Vetter, where the Fifth Circuit held that a valid copyright termination notice may reach a creator's rights worldwide, not just domestically. Termination has always been treated as a U.S.-only remedy. If that holding survives further scrutiny, it changes how international rights deals get structured and how creators and their counsel think about reclaiming rights years after the fact. The panel was candid about where the reasoning is strong and where it is vulnerable, which is exactly the kind of unvarnished discussion you do not get from a case summary.
The secondwas a direct, practical breakdown of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment, which reversed a billion-dollar judgment and reset the standard for contributory copyright infringement. The Court held that simply providing internet access to known repeat infringers is not enough for liability. Plaintiffs now need to show specific intent through inducement or a service tailored to infringement. For anyone advising clients on online infringement strategy, whether you represent rights holders or service providers, this changes the calculus immediately.
Third was a thoughtful retrospective on the 1976 Act itself, with two law professors examining which of its core decisions have aged well and which have been overtaken by technology and new business models. Useful context for anyone who wants to understand where current AI-related copyright debates actually come from rather than treating them as entirely novel.
The Conversations
Between panels, at the welcome reception at the Muhammad Ali Center, an invite to Churchill Downs for some horse races from private boxes (thanks again Jason Raff), and over dinner, I spent a lot of time talking to other attorneys about the problems they are actually dealing with right now: clients confused about AI training and ownership, registration backlogs, and how to advise on international rights when the law itself is in flux. Conferences are useful for hearing the unofficial updates. They are essential for hearing what people are not yet writing articles about.
Why This Matters for Clients
Copyright law touches more of our clients' businesses than they usually realize, and right now it is moving faster than usual. AI, secondary liability standards, and the international reach of U.S. copyright remedies are all live questions, not settled doctrine. Staying current on these issues, and staying connected to the people working through them in real time, is part of how we make sure our advice reflects where the law is heading, not just where it has been.
If your business touches copyrighted content in any form, whether you are a creator, a platform, a licensee, or somewhere in between, these are the issues worth a conversation. Reach out and we can talk through what they mean for you.
Jonathan Phillips is an attorney at Phillips & Bathke, P.C. in Peoria, Illinois, focusing on intellectual property law. He can be reached HERE.