SCOTUS Pick Jackson Has ‘Acumen’ to Be IP ‘Thought Leader’: AHRA Lawyer

Lawyers on opposing sides of the July 2014 Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) case presided over by then-U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in D.C. were effusive in their praise of Jackson's qualifications as President Joe Biden's nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (see Ref:2202280001]).

Jackson "was presented with a case applying an arcane, little-used statute involving 1990s digital audio recording technology to modern in-vehicle infotainment systems,” emailed copyright attorney Seth Greenstein of Constantine Cannon. Yet she “mastered the intricacies of both the statute and the technology" in rendering a decision, said Greenstein Monday.

The Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC) sued the major automakers and their suppliers, alleging the CD-copying hard drives shipped in their vehicle infotainment systems violated the AHRA because they lacked the statute's serial copy management system for preventing second-generation digital copies. AARC also argued the companies were liable for the 2% royalties on the wholesale cost of the hard drives as the statute demanded.

Jackson ruled in the automakers’ favor in March 2018, saying the hard drives didn't fall under the scope of the AHRA because the data they stored wasn't exclusive to the functionality of music playback. The U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit upheld her decision in January 2020. Jackson now sits on that court.

Greenstein represented then-Chrysler supplier Mitsubishi in the case, and appeared before Jackson in an October 2017 motion hearing to talk about his firsthand knowledge of the AHRA’s legislative history and how the computer industry fought successfully to exclude hard drives and other products from the statute (see 1711040001). Jackson "decided the case based on the plain language of the statute,” Greenstein told us Monday.

Jackson's decisions in the case "were principled and clear, and unsurprisingly were affirmed unanimously by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals," said Greenstein. "I have every confidence she has the acumen and policy proficiency to succeed her former boss, Justice Breyer, as the Court’s thought leader on copyright, technology, and intellectual property.”

Though Rick Dagen of Axinn Veltrop was AARC's lead AHRA attorney in a losing cause, he thinks Jackson will be an "incredible" Supreme Court justice, he emailed Tuesday. "Although I disagreed with her decision in the one matter that I argued before her, it was always clear that Judge Jackson gave the matter serious consideration," said Dagen. "Her background, intellect, and judicial temperament are all remarkable. I hope to one day be able to argue before Justice Jackson, and maybe get a win this time."