Career series: Regan Smith, US Copyright Office

06-10-2020

Muireann Bolger

Career series: Regan Smith, US Copyright Office

Regan Smith, general counsel and associate register of copyrights at the US Copyright Office, tells WIPR about how an earlier venture into the entertainment field led to IP, and how important it is for women to support each other.

Tell us about the course of your career.

After studying philosophy and politics at the University of Michigan, I moved to New York in 2000 to work in the film industry, right as the dotcom boom was cresting and the city’s independent filmmaking was arguably at its zenith.

While in New York, I spent a few years working at a startup on projects related to business affairs, production issues, and what was then called “convergence” in the media world (and is now just called “tech”).

It is funny to look back and see how far things have evolved. At a startup, it was easy to develop experience in lots of areas, including the creative development of music and live projects, yet I became drawn to the business and distribution sides.


US Copyright Office, general counsel, diversity and inclusion, University of Michigan, startup, Harvard Law School, copyright, patent, DoJ

WIPR