FC: Software patent debate in Washington DC, October 2

[Declan McCullagh <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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