Jacqueline Charlesworth

Jacqueline Coy Charlesworth is an American attorney and the Founder and Principal of Charlesworth Law, a Los Angeles-based boutique law firm focused on music, film, and other creative content. Previously, she served as General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights of the U.S. Copyright Office. She played a critical role in enacting two major amendments to the U.S. Copyright Act, the Music Modernization Act of 2018 (MMA) and the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE Act). In addition to practicing law, Charlesworth has lectured extensively on copyright, including at Yale Law School (where she taught a class on music law), Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, and other institutions.

Early Life and Education

Charlesworth was born Jacqueline Schafer in Rochester, New York, to Sylvia J. Charlesworth and Richard K. Schafer.

She attended Brown University, where she earned a bachelor's degree with departmental honors in American Civilization, graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. After working for several years as a gay and lesbian rights advocate, Charlesworth attended Yale Law School, where she received her J.D.

At Yale, Charlesworth served as one of five Executive Committee members who oversaw The Yale Law Journal in its centennial year of publication instead of a single editor-in-chief. She was also a founding member of the Yale Journal of Law & Feminism, for which she created an iconic cover logo depicting Lady Justice removing her blindfold. During law school, Charlesworth changed her last name from Schafer to her mother's name, Charlesworth.

Career and Advocacy Work

Before attending law school, Charlesworth served as the first Liaison to the Gay and Lesbian Community for the Manhattan District Attorney. In that role, she implemented a new program at the DA's Office to assist victims of anti-gay violence by supporting their participation in the prosecution process and serving as a resource for the assistant district attorneys handling such cases. She also worked with outside organizations and the police to eliminate obstacles that impeded gay men and lesbians from seeking justice. In 1986, Charlesworth testified before Congress regarding her role as Liaison and in support of federal legislation to establish anti-gay violence as illegal and unacceptable.

Following law school, Charlesworth served as a Law Clerk for Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, followed by Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She then spent several years in private practice at New York City law firms.

In 1994, Charlesworth published an essay in The New York Times titled The Politics of the Breast, in which she examined gender norms in relation to a woman who had chosen to ride the New York City subway topless.

In 1996, as an Associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Charlesworth sued Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the City of New York on behalf of the Irish Lesbian & Gay Organization (ILGO), alleging violations of ILGO's rights of free speech and equal protection due to the city's denial of a parade permit to ILGO. ILGO sought to hold a protest march in advance of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, from which the parade organizer excluded ILGO. Federal Judge John G. Koeltl of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied ILGO's application for a preliminary injunction and later dismissed the case on mootness and other grounds after the parade date passed. On appeal, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court in part, holding that ILGO was entitled to maintain its as-applied challenge to the 1996 permit denial.

In 2001, Charlesworth accepted an in-house position at the Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA), a music licensing entity, where she served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. She was later promoted to Senior Vice President and General Counsel of HFA's parent entity National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), a trade organization representing the interests of music publishers and songwriters. She departed NMPA in 2008 to join the law firm, Morrison & Foerster.

Charlesworth represented musicians Don Henley, Mike Campbell, and Danny Kortchmar in a 2009 lawsuit against California politician Charles Chuck DeVore and campaign aide Justin Hart. DeVore and Hart produced two online political ads incorporating Henley's hit songs, The Boys of Summer (written by Henley and Campbell) and All She Wants to Do Is Dance (written by Kortchmar) without permission, altering the original lyrics to target Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. Judge James V. Selna of the U.S. District Court for the Central District held that the defendants' use of the songs to promote DeVore's campaign for the U.S. Senate did not qualify as protected parody or constitute fair use. The case was later settled, with Henley receiving an apology from DeVore.

In 2012, Charlesworth joined the U.S. Copyright Office as Senior Counsel to the Register of Copyrights under Register Maria A. Pallante. In 2013, Charlesworth was appointed to the position of General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights. During her tenure at the Copyright Office, Charlesworth oversaw the hearings for and preparation of two reports submitted to Congress: Copyright Small Claims (2013), which proposed legislation to create a small claims tribunal for adjudication of small copyright claims that claimants cannot afford to litigate in federal court; and Copyright and the Music Marketplace (2015), which reviewed the U.S. system for licensing of musical works and recommended that it be modernized by implementing a new centralized blanket license process. Charlesworth also represented the views of the Copyright Office in matters before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the case ABC, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. concerning the correct interpretation of the Copyright Act's public performance right. In July 2016, Charlesworth departed the Copyright Office to return to private practice in New York City.

In the fall of 2016, Charlesworth served as counsel for the songwriter advocacy group Songwriters of North America (SONA), assisting SONA in suing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over a 100% song licensing policy adopted by the DOJ's Antitrust Division. According to Charlesworth, the DOJ rule turned songwriters' world upside down. Three days later, in a second lawsuit brought by the licensing organization Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), the DOJ's policy was overturned by Judge Louis Stanton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, a ruling upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

In 2017, music publishers, songwriters, and others in the music industry began working with Congress on proposed legislation to modernize the music licensing system by creating a new blanket license for digital services. Charlesworth was brought in to draft the complex bill called the Music Modernization Act (MMA), which drew on recommendations from the 2015 music licensing report she had overseen at the Copyright Office. The landmark legislation was unanimously passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law on October 18, 2018.

In July 2020, Charlesworth testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Intellectual Property about the concerns of artists and songwriters whose music is used by political campaigns without permission, including their frustrations in attempting to have infringing materials removed by online platforms under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

On December 27, 2020, Congress passed the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act), which tracks model legislation included in the 2013 small claims report prepared by Charlesworth while at the Copyright Office. The small claims tribunal created under the CASE Act, called the Copyright Claims Board, began hearing cases in June 2022, and almost 300 claims were filed by the year's end.

On January 1, 2021, Charlesworth opened her law firm in Los Angeles, California, Charlesworth Law, focused on copyright, music, film, and policy work.

Recognition and Awards

Charlesworth is widely recognized as a leading authority on music and copyright law and is frequently cited in the media on these topics.

In 2018, Charlesworth was honored by Billboard Women in Music Executive of the Year for her contributions to the enactment of the MMA.

In December 2021, Charlesworth received the Apollo Award from the California Copyright Conference for her work as a copyright advocate.

Charlesworth has repeatedly been honored as a Top Music Lawyer by Billboard magazine.

In October 2022, Charlesworth was named to the 2022 Forbes 50 Over 50 list in recognition of her career achievements, including her work in the copyright and entertainment field and on the Music Modernization Act.