Many creators and practitioners believe that once a copyright is signed away, it’s gone for good. But the Copyright Act tells a different story. Hidden within the law is a powerful “second chance” mechanism: the statutory right to terminate prior transfers and recapture ownership.

Whether you are representing authors or managing portfolios, understanding these termination rights is essential for navigating the modern IP landscape. Join us for an insightful deep dive presented by attorney Linda Edell Howard and a experts panel into the mechanics of taking back what was once given away.

Linda Edell Howard is affectionately known as the “Mama Mafia” because of her decades of almost ruthless representation of client interests to attain legacy preservation, financial growth, and avenge the historical inequities inherent in the power-base of the entertainment industry. She is recognized as a preeminent Intellectual Property expert, specializing in the field of global copyright protection and enforcement. With over 40 years of experience in television, film, music, and new media law, social media transactions and emerging technologies, Linda guides her clients to implement successful growth and monetization strategies. Her knowledge in the field of copyright recapture is unsurpassed. Her deep network of highly regarded industry leaders and clients include songwriters with some of the biggest songs in recorded music history. As an attorney, she has helped clients protect and monetize the copyrights for 100s of musical works.

Linda also advises numerous key industry executives, business entrepreneurs, personalities, influencers, brands, innovators, thought leaders, independent music publishers, songwriters, recording artists, producers, social media celebrities, record labels and related industry players such as banks, unions, inventors and investors.

After Law School, she was appointed to the prestigious judicial clerkship with the New Jersey Supreme Court and then practiced law where she was counsel to the Estates of George Gershwin and Elvis Presley. She later joined PolyGram Music Publishing Group as Vice President of Operations, and then was a partner in the Nashville office of Loeb & Loeb before establishing the Entertainment and New Media division at Adams and Reese.  In order to bring her entrepreneurial spirit and the most value and vigilance to her clients and business associates, in early 2021, Linda branched out on her own to align her talents to her highest and greatest strengths with Edell Howard Enterprises. She embraces and attacks difficult problems and road blocks  with a stringent “can do” philosophy.

She is a featured “Super Lawyer” and has been awarded the title of “Leader in Their Field” and a “Woman of Influence,” and was named among the “brightest and most successful entertainment lawyers” by HITS magazine.  Linda has also been featured in articles in Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter and The Los Angeles Times.   She serves on the  Advisory Board for the Creative Community for Peace, the Board of Directors for Music Health Alliance, Ordinary Hero Foundation and the Foundation for Families of Late Talking Children, and is a Master of the Nashville Entertainment and IP Inn of Court. She is an alumnus of Leadership Music, and a member of the Country Music Association, and National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Sean McNamara serves as Director, Publisher Services for the Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC), where he plays a key role in managing relationships with music publishers to support The MLC’s mission of ensuring songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers receive their mechanical royalties from streaming and download services in the U.S. accurately and on time. In this role, Sean serves as a primary liaison between The MLC and publishers, ensuring clear communication, addressing concerns and providing guidance to help publishers successfully navigate the landscape of digital music royalties. He also works closely with internal teams to streamline operational processes and helps monitor The MLC’s monthly royalty distributions to publishers and songwriters. To date, The MLC has distributed over $3.5 billion in total royalties and grown membership to over 80,000 Members.

Prior to joining The MLC, Sean served as Performance Rights Manager for The Orchard, where he worked closely with global performance collection societies to identify royalty growth opportunities, streamline workflows, and foster relationships with international media licensors, while also overseeing the timely delivery of millions of lines of new release metadata. Before The Orchard, Sean spent nearly 5 years at Harry Fox Agency, where he worked with publishers, songwriters, and record labels of all sizes, refining his expertise in music publishing, licensing, and content monetization.

Sean holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Industry Studies from Loyola University New Orleans and resides in Nashville, TN.

Duff Berschback is EVP of Legal and Business Affairs for Concord Music Publishing.  He oversees the global team of legal professionals for Concord publishing matters including transactions, litigation, policy, and industry relations.  He negotiates, advises, and advocates for Concord Publishing and its songwriters with respect to copyright and business matters, and oversees the relationships between Legal and other Concord departments.   Prior to arriving at Concord in 2020, he spent 13 years as SVP of Business Affairs at Sony Music Publishing Nashville, joining Sony from private practice.

John Barker is the founder, President & CEO of ClearBox Rights, LLC, an independent IP rights managements company, based in Nashville, TN. (www.clearboxrights.com) John also founded ICG (Integrated Copyright Group) in 1990. Before co-founding ICG, John was General Manager of Publishing and Copyrights for The Benson Company (1985-1989) and A&R Director for Word Records (1983-1985).

John has worked with a wide variety of clients, including the catalogs of Marty Robbins, Roy Orbison, Brad Paisley, Ray Stevens, Craig Wiseman, Kenny Loggins, Paul Overstreet, Garth Brooks, Jerry Chesnut, Mr. (Fred) Rogers, Bill Monroe, John Anderson, Loretta Lynn, Allen Shamblin, Amy Grant, Don Schlitz, Songwriters Guild of America, Albert E. Brumley & Sons, Seals & Crofts, and many others.

He is past President and current board member of the Copyright Society of the South, a member of CMA, NARAS, Leadership Music 2012, ACM, Copyright Society of the U.S.A., and AIMP. In 2014, John co-organized IPAC (Interested Parties Advancing Copyright) to provide comments to the Music License Study, and frequently participates in U.S. Copyright Office studies.

John has lead copyright administration companies representing over a thousand publishing catalogs for over 30 years. He has designed and overseen the building of three copyright administration software platforms and is continuously working to enhance systems to provide greater efficiency and transparency related to licensing and royalty processing.

This is a private event for Society members and their registered guests.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the Copyright Society of the South, or if you are an active member and did not receive your email invitation,  contact us at copyrightsocietyofthesouth@gmail.com .