Director, Copyright
Team: Office of the Chief Legal Officer
Status: Full-time/Regular/Exempt
Job Objective
PBS and its member stations have been recognized for sixteen consecutive years as the most trusted public institution. PBS provides the most trusted news and public affairs content and has the most educational media brand. PBS is seeking a Director, Copyright to provide crucial support to the public television community to maintain our high-quality, valued programming in this time of dynamic change in television and broadcast industry.
PBS provides an essential service to its member stations and the public television community and represents them before the Copyright Review Board to secure, collect, and distribute copyright royalties for public television content rebroadcast on cable. The Director, Copyright manages the process for distributing these royalties to the public television system and will be an integral part of the PBS legal team’s copyright filing administration, and rights clearance processes. The ideal candidate for this position is either a senior paralegal or similar legal professional experienced in intellectual property royalty matters with exceptional communication skills. Experience with and knowledge of the United States and international copyright retransmission royalty systems and data analysis are strongly preferred.
Essential Duties
Retransmission royalty recovery and distribution: The Director, Copyright manages PBS’s system to distribute retransmission royalties to PBS, its member stations, public television producers, and other rightsholders of programming broadcast on non-commercial, educational television stations. Key duties in this area are as follows:
• File US retransmission royalties claims with the US Copyright Office and serve as resource to rightsholders for the annual claims filing process.
• Review, aggregate, and process data to determine accurate royalty payments to rightsholders.
• Evaluate and research reporting data for quality control.
• Collaborate with the PBS finance and accounting teams to ensure accurate payments to rightsholders and cost accounting.
• Collaborate with stakeholders and team members to develop process and governance documentation.
• Provide support to in-house and outside counsel and experts for the Copyright Review Board hearing to recover retransmission royalties, including gathering and compiling supporting data and information, and developing case strategies.
• As needed, assist non-US retransmission royalty collectives in identifying U.S. public TV rightsholders who may be entitled to royalties.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
Copyright Administration
• Provide guidance and administration regarding copyright registration and filing.
• Advise PBS team members on copyright and intellectual property rights clearance matters.
• Investigate infringement or other enforcement claims.
• Assess and communicate registration requirements and organize PBS copyright registrations.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
Minimum Experience Required
6 years’ experience working with rights to intellectual property royalties as a paralegal or similar legal professional. Experience in the television/entertainment industry, with a working knowledge of retransmission royalties, and communication strategies is preferred.
Minimum Education/Training Required
Bachelor’s degree in related field.
Other Skills/Abilities Required
• Proficiency with complex Excel documents and demonstrated comfort with new technologies
• Ability to manage detailed assignments independently, and to assess which issues to escalate for higher-level review
• Ability to learn quickly, demonstrated ability as a self-starter, and excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent organizational skills
• Strong research skills
• Demonstrated exceptional judgment and subject matter expertise
PBS is an Equal Opportunity Employer of Minorities, Women, Protected Veterans, and Individuals with Disabilities
