[FYI] (Fwd) FC: Software patent debate in Washington DC, October 2

["Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Mon, 25 Sep 2000 13:47:57 -0700
To:             	politech@politechbot.com
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject:        	FC: Software patent debate in Washington DC, October 2
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com



*********

>From: "Skip Gain" <mail@sgain.com>
>To: <declan@well.com>
>Subject: Software Patent ISOC Meeting
>Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 22:13:46 -0400
>
>Mr. McCullagh,
>
>I'm helping to promote the next DC ISOC meeting on software patents
>and I wondered if you could send a notice out on the Politech mailing
>list.  The speakers are going to be Commissioner Dickinson, Tim
>O'Reilly, and Lawrence Lessig.  It's somewhat of a continuation of
>the debate Dickinson and O'Reilly had last May on the O'Reilly
>network
>(http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/patents/2000/05/24/PizzoFiles.html).
>
>I pasted the meeting announcement below, and any advice you have
>concerning promotion would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Skip Gain
>mail@sgain.com
>
>
>
>MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
>Washington, DC Chapter -- The Internet Society
>
>
>PATENTS AND THE INTERNET:
>Protection for, or roadblock to, innovation?
>
>
>SPEAKERS:
>Q. TODD DICKINSON: Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
>Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark
>Office
>
>TIM O'REILLY: founder and president of O'Reilly & Associates, a
>pioneer in the popularization of the Internet, and an activist for
>Internet standards and for Open Source software.
>
>LAWRENCE LESSIG: one of the nation's leading authorities on Internet
>law, author (Code, and Other Laws of Cyberspace), and Professor of
>Law at the Stanford Law School,
>
>
>The October meeting of The Internet Society, DC Area Chapter will
>bring together three special authorities to address the U.S. Patent
>Office and its attempts to keep in step with the increasing pace of
>technology, a topic that has significant short and long term impacts
>on the Internet.
>
>Many feel the Internet has become a world wide marvel because of an
>open environment with minimal regulation.  Others feel patent
>protection is needed in order to have continuous innovative
>development.  Are patents being granted for old ideas in "new
>clothing"; how easy is it to determine "prior art" vs uniqueness?
>Hear why patents for Internet related business processes and software
>have generated so much controversy.  Listen to what these experts
>have to say; ask your questions; do some networking.
>
>
>WHEN:
>Tuesday, October 3rd
>7:00-9:00 p.m.
>6:00-7:00 p.m.  for sign-in and networking
>
>
>LOCATION:
>Booz-Allen at Tysons Corner
>Allen Building, 8283 Greensboro Drive
>McLean, VA 22102
>Telephone: 703-902-5000
>
>Directions are at:  http://www.dcisoc.org/trav0001.html
>A map is at http://www.dcisoc.org/map0001.html
>
>There is no charge to attend this event, which is open to the public.
> While not required to attend, please RSVP to Terry Weigler
>tweigler@isoc.org if you plan to come.
>
>If your organization would like to sponsor this meeting, contact
>Marty Burack <burack@isoc.org>, tel.: 703-645-2468, cell:
>703-599-4344
>
>
>SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES:
>
>Q. TODD DICKINSON was appointed by President Clinton as Under
>Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the
>United States Patent and Trademark Office on March 29, 2000.
>Dickinson had served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and
>Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks since November 10, 1999, as
>Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Acting Commissioner of
>Patents and Trademarks since January 1, 1999, and as Deputy Assistant
>Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Commissioner of Patents and
>Trademarks since June 18, 1998. In addition to managing the United
>States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) operations, Dickinson
>serves as principal policy advisor to the Clinton Administration and
>Congress on all domestic and international intellectual property
>matters. He also serves as co-chair of the National Intellectual
>Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council, which coordinates
>domestic and international intellectual property enforcement issues.
>
>Under Dickinson's leadership, the USPTO is implementing the most
>sweeping reform in patent law in a half-century and is restructuring
>itself into a performance-based organization. Other initiatives he
>has undertaken include making more than two million patents and all
>registered trademarks and applications freely available on the
>Internet; implementation of the electronic filing of trademark and
>patent applications; creation of the Office of Independent Inventor
>Programs; and the establishment of the Office of Quality Management.
>
>Previously with the Philadelphia-based law firm of Dechert, Price and
>Rhoads and having served as Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property
>and Technology at Sun Company, Inc., Dickinson has more than twenty
>years of experience in the private sector representing a wide-range
>of clients, from individual inventors to major corporations, on
>intellectual property protection matters.
>
>A native of Pennsylvania, Director Dickinson earned a B.S. degree in
>Chemistry from Allegheny College in 1974 and a J.D. from the
>University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1977. He is a member of the
>bars of Pennsylvania, California and Illinois.
>
>
>LAWRENCE LESSIG is a Professor of Law at the Stanford Law School.  He
>is a renowned constitutional scholar and one of the nation's leading
>authorities on Internet law. Lessig teaches and writes in the areas
>of constitutional law, contracts, comparative constitutional law, and
>the law of cyberspace. His book, Code, and Other Laws of Cyberspace,
>published by Basic Books, explores how the architecture of computer
>networks affects basic liberties, and the implications of the use of
>code to either suppress or promote freedom. Lessig has paced the
>field in research about the development and regulation of the
>Internet.  He recently served in an advisory capacity to Judge Thomas
>Penfield Jackson on the Microsoft antitrust case, and his work has
>been cited in numerous media reports about societal issues raised by
>the Internet and electronic commerce.  In 1999-2000, he was a fellow
>at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
>
>Before coming to Stanford, Lessig was the Berkman Professor of Law at
>Harvard Law School. From 1991 to 1997, he was a professor at the
>University of Chicago Law School. He graduated from Yale Law School
>in 1989, and then clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the 7th Circuit
>Court of Appeals, and Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
>
>
>TIM O'REILLY is founder and president of O'Reilly & Associates,
>thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world. 
>O'Reilly has also been a pioneer in the popularization of the
>Internet. O'Reilly's Global Network Navigator site (GNN, which was
>sold to America Online in September 1995) was the first Web portal
>and the first true commercial site on the World Wide Web.
>
>O'Reilly continues to pioneer new content developments on the Web via
>it's O'Reilly Network affiliate, which also manages sites such as
>www.perl.com and xml.com. O'Reilly's conference arm hosts the popular
>Perl Conference, the Open Source Software Convention, and a Java
>Enterprise Conference.
>
>Tim has been an activist for Internet standards and for Open Source
>software. He has led successful public relations campaigns on behalf
>of key Internet technologies, helping to block Microsoft's 1996
>limits on TCP/IP in NT Workstation, organizing the " summit" of key
>free software leaders where the term "Open Source" was first widely
>agreed upon, and, most recently, organizing a series of protests
>against frivolous software patents. Tim received Infoworld's Industry
>Achievement Award in 1998 for his advocacy on behalf of the Open
>Source community.
>
>Tim has written numerous books on computer topics.  He has served on
>the board of trustees for both the Internet Society and the
>Electronic Frontier Foundation, two organizations devoted to making
>sure that the Internet fulfills its promise. He is on the boards of
>Collab.Net, ActiveState Tool Corp, Epit, Invisible Worlds, and
>IntellectMarket.
>
>Tim graduated from Harvard College in 1975 with a B.A. cum laude in
>Classics. His honors thesis explored the tension between mysticism
>and logic in Plato's dialogues.
>




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