Michael C. Donaldson

On April 2, 2014, Donaldson testified before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC on behalf of the Independent Documentary Association and Film Independent on the subject of orphan works. Orphan words are copyrighted works whose owners cannot be contacted or found despite a diligent search. Donaldson’s testimony urged Congress to consider documentary and independent filmmakers when crafting new legislation on orphan works since, under current law, filmmakers are at risk of being hit with huge damages when using unlicensed material, no matter how diligent a search for the owners.

On May 5, 2013, Los Angeles Review of Books – an online literary review journal that covers the American and international book scene – published Donaldson's review of the book Reason and Imagination: the Selected Correspondence of Learned Hand, a collection of Judge Learned Hand's personal letters. Aside from a few members of the US Supreme Court, Hand is the most-quoted judge in American history. In his extensive, 2700-word review, Donaldson describes the book as "a sweeping retelling of American history from one of its most intelligent, dispassionate participants."

Escape from Tomorrow premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. The film was shot entirely guerilla-style at Disney World and Disneyland without obtaining permission from the parks. The issue with getting the movie insured was not merely that it was shot secretly inside the parks, but that the movie is a parody of Disney that portrays a “darker” side, which goes against the company brand.

In order to get the movie insured, Donaldson issued an opinion letter to the insurance company presenting a case for fair use, trademark, public domain, and access issues. The opinion letter was the longest that his office had ever written; it took 4 months to assemble. The E&O insurance policy was issued in the standard time of one week. The film was released to theaters and video on October 11, 2013.

Donaldson fought for the filmmakers, arguing that preservation of journalistic privilege is essential in order for documentarians’ work to be effective, despite how the story was discovered or how passionately they advocate for their subjects. On February 19, 2013, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis ruled in favor of the documentary filmmakers preserving their journalistic privilege.

The exemption was in effect through October 28, 2012. On October 26, 2012, the Librarian of Congress published a new set of exemptions, effective October 28, 2001 through October 28, 2015, that provide substantially the same filmmaker rights.

On Thursday, April 19, 2012, U.S. Tax Court Judge Diane L. Kroupa recognized documentary filmmaking as a legitimate business and ruled that Storey can write off the entirety of her filmmaking losses, which were in the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On January 2, 2011, the FCC ruled in favor of net neutrality in a 3-to-2 vote.

During Storey's March 2011 trial, a judge expressed an inclination to hold that documentaries are intended to “educate and expose” rather than make a profit.

On April 20, 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of voiding a 1999 animal cruelty law in favor of free speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

On July 26, 2010, the United States Copyright Office ruled that documentary filmmakers would be exempt from the provisions of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998) that criminalize the act of circumventing electronic and digital copyright protection systems when ripping material from DVDs. The exemption was the result of an action spearheaded by Donaldson who assembled a coalition of award-winning documentarians and filmmaker organizations and provided pro bono legal council for the legal request.

Donaldson's Clearance & Copyright: Everything the Independent Filmmaker Needs to Know is used as a textbook in over 50 college and university film schools across America. He is also the author of Negotiating for Dummies, which has been translated into 9 languages, as well as Do It Yourself! Trademarks & Copyrights and Fearless Negotiating: The Wish, Want, Walk Method To Reaching Agreements That Work. In 2010, Donaldson released The American Bar Association's Legal Guide To Independent Filmmaking, which he co-authored with his partner Lisa A. Callif.

Donaldson was honored with the International Documentary Association's Amicus Award in 2009. He was included in The Hollywood Reporter's "Power Lawyers" list in 2010 and 2011. In 2012 he was included in Variety's Legal Impact Report 2012: Game-Changing Attorneys. And he was selected as a Super Lawyer in 2009, 2012 and 2013.

In addition to serving as general dounsel to Film Independent (home of the Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival) and the Writers Guild of America/West Foundation, Donaldson practices at his Beverly Hills law firm, Donaldson & Callif, where, in 2008, entertainment attorney Lisa A. Callif became a partner.

The Central Park Five chronicles the story of five men wrongfully accused of raping a Central Park jogger in 1989. They were later exonerated after another man confessed and provided DNA evidence. Eight years later the wrongfully accused filed a 50 million dollar lawsuit against the state of New York, claiming their confessions were coerced and their case was mishandled. In its defense, the state of New York attempted to obtain outtakes from the film, claiming the documentarians forfeited their journalistic privilege because they advocated on behalf of the subjects of the documentary.

Michael C. Donaldson (born October 13, 1939) is an American entertainment attorney, independent film advocate and a recipient of the International Documentary Association's Amicus Award, an honor bestowed upon only two others, Steven Spielberg and John Hendricks, in the 25-year history of the awards. He is a proponent of the 165-year-old fair-use doctrine and, through its use, is known for saving documentarians hundreds of thousands of dollars while preserving their First Amendment rights.