Erika is the Assistant Director at New Media Rights, where she works with creative professionals and small businesses in preventative transactional legal matters. In addition to providing one to one legal assistance in entertainment, intellectual property and privacy law matters, Erika also develops educational resources for New Media Rights and engages in public policy advocacy in regulatory proceedings at the Copyright Office.
Erika received her J.D. from California Western School of Law, and her B.A. degree in English from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. During law school, Erika worked for New Media Rights as an intern and student fellow before spending a semester in Los Angeles working in the business and legal affairs department of Shout! Factory, a multi-platform media company. While obtaining her undergraduate degree, Erika worked for four years in the marketing department of a large performing arts center in Madison, Wisconsin, where she assisted in programming projects and events that engaged local communities with the arts, and promoted national Broadway and non-Broadway touring productions.
Selected Talks
- Speaker, “Copyright Law 101 for Creators”
- Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, CA, November 2021 (held virtually), November 2020 (held virtually), October 2019
- California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA, October 2021 (held virtually), March 2021 (held virtually), October 2020 (held virtually)
- San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, March 2020
- Speaker, “Triumphs, failures, lessons learned, and opportunities to collaborate,” National Tech Clinics Camp 2020, New York, NY, June 2020 (held virtually)
- Speaker, “Intellectual Property, Data and Privacy Law”
- Serra High School, San Diego, CA, February 2020
- Hoover High School, San Diego, CA, April 2019
- Speaker, "Legal Assistance and Resources for Local Creators," KPBS Explore Local Content Program Orientations, San Diego, CA, August 2019
- Panelist, "Funding and Distribution for Feature Films," San Diego Film Week 2019, San Diego, CA, April 2019
- Speaker, "Using Your Content as Leverage," SD Media Pros, San Diego, CA, March 2019
- Panelist, "Smart & Safe Emerging Startups" Panel, San Diego Smart & Safe Cities Initiative, San Diego, CA, December 2018
- Speaker, "Copyright Law 101 for Creators," Urban Beats, San Diego, CA, October 2018
- Speaker, "Advanced Copyright Law for Creators," SD Media Pros, San Diego, CA, June 2018
- Speaker, "Copyright Law for Creatives," San Diego City College, San Diego, CA, April 2018
- Panel Moderator, “Contract Negotiations: Closing the Deal with the Perfect Pitch,” Entertainment & Sports Law Symposium, California Western School of Law, San Diego, CA, March 2017
- Speaker, “Copyright Law 101 for Creators,” University of California San Diego Extension, San Diego, CA, June 2016
- Speaker, “Copyright Law 101 for Creators,” San Diego City College, San Diego, CA, May 2016
Selected Interviews
- Pop Culture Detective: Audio Files - guest speaker on the episode "Demystifying Fair Use, Copyright, and Content ID," hosted by Jonathan McIntosh (January 31, 2023). Discussion about the fair use doctrine and its importance for internet users, in addition to how YouTube's Content ID systems interacts with fair use.
Publications
- Fixing Copyright Registration for Online Video Creators: The Case for Group Registration of Published Videos, Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal (Vol. 28, No. 1, p. 87-98, 2019) (with Art Neill).
- Fixing Section 512 – Legislative Reforms for the DMCA Safe Harbor Provisions, California Western School of Law Research Paper No. 17-1 (2016) (with Art Neill).
