EFF Announces Intellectual Property Legal Team

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Contact:

Cindy Cohn
   Legal Director
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   cindy@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x108 (office), +1 415 307-2148 (cell)

EFF Announces Intellectual Property Legal Team

Corynne McSherry Named IP Director; Senior Staff Attorney
Abigail Phillips and Staff Attorney Julie Samuels Join Team

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is
proud to announce its new lineup focusing on intellectual
property issues: Intellectual Property Director Corynne
McSherry; Senior Staff Attorney Abigail Phillips; and Staff
Attorney Julie Samuels.  EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kurt
Opsahl will also continue his dual role on EFF's Civil
Liberties and IP teams.

Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry has been a
staff attorney at EFF for more than five years, working on
high-profile EFF cases including the Sony-BMG rootkit
litigation and defending the Yes Men and other activists in
a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over a
political parody.  Corynne's practice focuses on fair use
and free speech and includes both litigation and advocacy
work, such as spearheading EFF's Takedown Hall of Shame
campaign and providing public commentary on online
copyright and trademark issues.  Corynne is the author of
"Who Owns Academic Work?: Battling for Control of
Intellectual Property" (Harvard University Press, 2001).

Senior Staff Attorney Abigail Phillips recently joined EFF
after more than five years at Yahoo!, where she was Senior
Legal Director for copyright and advised product
development teams such as Yahoo! Search, Flickr, and Yahoo!
Video on a range of cyberlaw issues.  At EFF, she focuses
on copyright and online content matters and will play a
central role in EFF's policy work.  Prior to Yahoo!,
Abigail practiced in the technology policy and IP
litigation groups of Perkins Coie LLP in San Francisco.
Her non-law experience includes work as an editor,
designer, and programmer in new and traditional media
areas, including as the first webmaster for the Berkman
Center for Internet and Society.

Staff Attorney Julie Samuels focuses on patents as well as
other intellectual property issues.  Currently Julie is
overseeing EFF's Patent Busting Project and assisting on
Lenz v. Universal, EFF's landmark case fighting a bogus
claim of copyright infringement against a mother who posted
a short YouTube video of her son dancing to a Prince song.
Before joining EFF, Julie litigated IP and entertainment
cases in Chicago at Loeb & Loeb and Sonnenschein Nath &
Rosenthal.  Prior to becoming a lawyer, Julie spent time as
a legislative assistant at the Media Coalition in New York
and as an assistant editor at the National Journal Group in
D.C.

"EFF's IP work has been long respected by both the public
and the courts for its a critical role in bringing balance
to the law and for ensuring that technology empowers
consumers, creators, and citizens," said EFF Legal Director
Cindy Cohn.  "Corynne, Abigail, Julie, and Kurt are the
perfect team to bring EFF's work on behalf of users,
activists, and innovators to the next level."

For this release:
https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/12/20

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at https://www.eff.org/

     -end-

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