IRVINE, Calif. (June 10, 2025) — University of California, Irvine School of Law Chancellor’s Professor R. Anthony Reese has served as an Associate Reporter for the newly approved Restatement of the Law, Copyright, the first Restatement ever devoted to copyright law.
On May 20, the American Law Institute’s membership formally approved the final stage of the Restatement of the Law, Copyright at ALI’s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The milestone publication provides critical guidance to courts navigating the many areas of copyright law where statutory language leaves room for judicial interpretation and common law development, particularly in an era of rapid technological and creative evolution.
Professor Reese has served on the Restatement project since its launch in 2014, working alongside fellow Associate Reporters Daniel J. Gervais (Vanderbilt Law School), Lydia Pallas Loren (Lewis & Clark Law School), and Molly S. Van Houweling (UC Berkeley School of Law), under the leadership of Reporter Christopher Jon Sprigman (NYU School of Law).
“Copyright law is both complex and central to the modern cultural and economic landscape,” said Professor Reese. “This Restatement is the product of over a decade of collaborative scholarship and drafting, and aims to offer courts a clear, coherent, and doctrinally grounded resource in applying copyright law.”
Professor Reese is a leading copyright scholar whose work has real-world impact. We are proud of Professor Reese’s more-than-a-decade of contributions to this historic project which will help to shape how courts, lawyers, and scholars understand and apply copyright law.
Austen Parrish
Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law
Professor Reese is one of the nation’s foremost experts in copyright and trademark law, with a particular focus on digital copyright issues and the doctrine’s structural complexity. A widely published scholar, Professor Reese is a co-author of several leading casebooks and is a frequent speaker at domestic and international intellectual property conferences. His recent scholarship explores copyright termination provisions and the preservation of creative works.
“Professor Reese is a leading copyright scholar whose work has real-world impact,” said Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law Austen Parrish. “We are proud of Professor Reese’s more-than-a-decade of contributions to this historic project which will help to shape how courts, lawyers, and scholars understand and apply copyright law.”
The Restatement of the Law, Copyright, includes eleven chapters addressing key areas such as the scope of protection, ownership and transfers, infringement standards, and limitations on protection such as fair use.
The publication is organized into eleven chapters:
- Subject Matter and Standards
- Scope of Protection
- Initial Ownership, Transfers, Voluntary Licenses, and Termination of Grants
- Copyright Formalities
- Duration of Copyright
- Copyright Rights and Limitations
- Copyright Infringement
- Secondary Liability
- Remedies for Copyright Infringement
- Copyright-Protection-and-Management Systems
- Procedural Issues and Relationship to Other Bodies of Law
Professor Reese and the other Reporters, under the oversight of the ALI Director, will now prepare the official Restatement text for publication. This involves incorporating any final changes approved during the Annual Meetings, making editorial revisions, and updating citations. Until the official text is published, the five approved Tentative Drafts of the Copyright restatement represent the official position of The American Law Institute and may be cited as such.
UC Irvine School of Law’s faculty have long been involved with the ALI and its primary projects and publications. Fourteen current UC Irvine Law faculty are elected or life members of the American Law Institute. Four current faculty serve as reporters or associate reporters, including for the restatements for Copyright, Torts, and Conflicts of Law, as well as for the Principles of the Law, High-Volume Civil Adjudication project.
About the University of California, Irvine School of Law
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