Copyright Fellowship Information

AI’s copyright team relies heavily on the work of the Copyright Fellows. Copyright Fellows get hands-on experience reviewing course materials (commonly images and other graphics found in lecture slides) for copyright issues, work that is integral to the completion and launch of AI’s online learning initiatives. Copyright Fellows support a variety of massive open online courses, online credit bearing courses, and other online learning initiatives. They also have the opportunity to research different areas of copyright law that affect the work of AI and the university.

Current Fellows

Emily Liu

Emily Liu is a law student from Los Angeles. She finally left California when she started college at Rice University, where she completed a BA in Computer Science. Emily pursued work as a Copyright Fellow because of her general curiosity about IP law, desire to hone research skills, and interest in contributing to CAI’s mission of designing innovative learning experiences and making them widely accessible.

So far, Emily has conducted research exploring the intersection of educational opportunities incorporating Extended Reality technologies (encompassing Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality) and rights of publicity or privacy under state or federal law. In addition to working at CAI, Emily was a student attorney in the Zell Entrepreneurship Clinic her second year of law school and serves as an Articles Editor for the Michigan Technology Law Review.

Previous Fellows

Taylor Faires (May 2021-May 2022)

Taylor Faires is a master’s student in the School of Information from North Carolina. After graduating from Barnard College with a B.A. in Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Taylor pursued a fellowship with Barnard’s Digital Humanities Center. It was there she gained an interest in public facing scholarship and education. This interest in public facing educational resources drew her to the Center for Academic Innovation.

As a Copyright Fellow, Taylor focuses on researching laws that govern online content including laws relating to web-scraping, APIs and databases. This research culminated in creating a guide for educators to help navigate the often complex and ambiguous laws surrounding hacking, copyright, and data online. In addition to this research, Taylor reviews online educational content for compliance with copyright law.

Corinne Fombelle (May 2021-April 2022)

Corinne Fombelle is a law student from central Illinois. She joined Michigan Law’s Class of 2022 after graduating from Vanderbilt University with her Bachelor of Music. She was drawn to the Copyright Fellowship at the Center for Academic Innovation to get hands-on intellectual property work experience, to hone her skills in legal research, and to join the positive and dynamic team environment at CAI.

In her work so far, she has conducted research on the copyright statutes of thirteen different countries to compile a comparative resource of fair use and educational provisions. This project aims to give educators the tools to navigate various copyright laws in a globalized online learning world. She also spends time performing copyright review work for University of Michigan professors to recommend copyright statute-informed actions for the professors’ class content.

Maggie Mantel (October 2019-April 2021)

As a law student, Maggie was interested in corporate and intellectual property law. In addition to her copyright fellowship, Maggie was a student attorney in the International Transactions Clinic, a legal associate for the Ross School of Business Social Venture Fund, and an editor for the Michigan Technology Law Review. Maggie received her B.A. in Radio/Television/Film from Northwestern University. Maggie was attracted to AI’s fellowship program because of the unique opportunities to experience in-house legal work, meet U-M colleagues outside the law school, develop substantive legal skills in copyright law, and hear from innovative speakers in various fields.

In her fellowship, Maggie most frequently reviewed online materials for compliance with copyright law. The most challenging legal questions in copyright often involve whether the fair use doctrine applies. Learning to apply the doctrine’s four-factor balancing test to various media forms was been a highlight of the copyright review process. In addition, Maggie has written two memos on the intersection of contract and copyright law, assisted in the drafting of terms of use for a U-M developed software, and written scripts for short copyright educational videos. For CAI’s 2020 student showcase, Maggie presented research on how universities can use open educational resources to help address unequal textbook access.

Tim Williams (May 2020 - August 2020)

Tim was initially drawn to the Center for Academic Innovation because of their commitment to making higher education more accessible and affordable through online learning. As a student who heavily relied on free materials for college preparatory work and a higher education professional committed to equality/accessibility, AI's principles and mission aligned with his almost perfectly. During Tim’s time at AI, he was able to unite two passions; his commitment to providing equitable education and promoting ethical conduct, ensuring all authors’ and content creators’ work was being used appropriately.

Tim’s work at AI focused on providing copyright clearance to slide decks and videos for online course materials. It involved recording all instances of potential copyright infringement, and selecting replacement images/text when appropriate to ensure the courses were using material in a manner appropriate under copyright law. Tim was also responsible for conducting market research into the available copyright learning experiences currently offered in future hopes of creating a U-M focused course devoted to intellectual property. Working at AI allowed Tim to focus on big picture projects while conducting the necessary day-to-day work that makes online education possible.

How to Apply

The copyright team typically hires copyright fellows for the summer at the beginning of each year, with the potential for the fellowship to continue throughout the school year. Current open positions are posted on the AI website and various university job boards.