By Ann Nicholson
March 30, 2001
Three major figures at the core of U.S. intellectual property policy and business practices will deliver keynote addresses at the School of Law's "2001 Heart of America Intellectual Property Law Conference: Intellectual Property, Digital Technology and Electronic Commerce."
The conference will run from 1-5 p.m. April 6 and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. April 7 in Anheuser-Busch Hall. The event coincides with the law school's inauguration of its new Master's Degree (LL.M.) Program in Intellectual Property and Technology Law at 5:15 p.m. April 6.
Conference headliners are Marybeth Peters, register of copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office, 2:15 p.m. April 6; Mozelle Thompson, commissioner , Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 9 a.m. April 7; and Stephen Kunin, deputy commissioner of patent policy and projects, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 1:30 p.m. April 7.
Peters is at the center of the U.S. Copyright Office's recent controversial policy requiring radio stations to pay royalties for streaming music over the Internet, even though they pay record labels nothing for broadcasting identical content over the airwaves. Thompson is involved in domestic and international consumer protection enforcement, and Kunin oversees U.S. patent examination policy.
Panel discussions and presentations by business leaders, practicing attorneys and leading academics in the intellectual property field are also part of the program. Topics range from legal issues in the world of "smart goods," to protecting genetic knowledge in the new field of bioformatics (the convergence of biotechnology and digital technology), to the controversial anti-device provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Other topics include the effectiveness of a new commercial contract law for cyberspace, deciphering trade usages in software packages and the latest developments in business method patents.
"The conference is designed to promote a dialogue among these key government officials involved in U.S. patent law, patent law academics researching and writing about major policy issues, and those from the private sector, including patent attorneys and representatives from private industry," said conference co-organizer Charles McManis, J.D., professor of law and director of the new LL.M. program in intellectual property.
The law school's Intellectual Property and Technology Law Program, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, St. Louis Technology Gateway Alliance and Thompson Coburn LLP are sponsoring the conference. It is the second in a series of law school conferences tackling intellectual property issues. Last year's program addressed the challenges that new technologies bring to patent law. Next spring, the intellectual property program will team up with the law school's Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and the School of Medicine to host a conference on "Regulating New Forms of Life --The Human Genome Project."
Presentations from next week's event will be published in the law school's Journal of Law and Policy, which is available online (http://ls.wustl.edu/Journal/index.html). Last year's conference on patent law, published as Volume 2, 2000, is also available online.
Tuition is $240 ($20 for students) and includes the course handbook, lunch and receptions. For more information, call the law school at 935-7244 or 935-6448, or visit the law school's Web site (http://ls.wustl.edu).
| Medical News |
Washington People |
Calendar | More Campus News |
Campus Watch |
| Sports | Email Us! |
Record Staff |
Front Page | WU Home Page |