WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, who Billboard Magazine describes as the gatekeeper for intellectual and copyright matters in the U.S. House of Representatives, will deliver the luncheon keynote address at a June 10 conference, “Promoting Markets for Creativity: Copyright in the Internet Age.” Co-sponsored by The Progress & Freedom Foundation and George Mason University’s Tech Center, the event will concentrate the brainpower of some of the nation’s foremost legal and economic experts on the debates over copyright and piracy of online music, movies and games.

As chairman of the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee, Smith handles legislative issues important to the content, technology and communications sectors, as well as to artists, creators and consumers. The daylong conference will be held at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. The luncheon featuring Smith begins at Noon. Those interested in attending should contact Eileen Goulding at 202-289-8928 or egoulding@pff.org.

Major presenters, whose original work will be published as a book, include Richard Epstein, University of Chicago; Scott Kieff, Washington University at St. Louis; Edmund Kitch, University of Virginia and Stan Liebowitz, University of Texas. Commenting will be Katherine Lawrence, University of Michigan Business School; Michael Einhorn, InteCap Inc.; Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises; Solveig Singleton, CEI; Adam Mosoff, Michigan State University, DCL College of Law; Greg Aharonian, Patent News; William F. Adkinson Jr., PFF; Bruce Kobayashi and Michael Abramowicz, both of GMU School of Law; James Burger, Dow Lohnes & Albertson; and Mike Godwin, Public Knowledge.

“New ventures like Steve Jobs’ iTunes Music Store and formats like Movielink, Rhapsody and Pressplay are stimulating great interest,” says James V. DeLong, a Foundation senior fellow and director of its Center for the Study of Digital Property. “And new business models are in the making elsewhere. Our speakers will explore the legal, economic, technical and policy aspects of the changing digital marketplace.”

“Our conference addresses the copyright and related enforcement issues that are fundamental to the continued growth of the networked economy,” says Bradford Brown, chairman of the Tech Center. “As more content is being digitized and distributed via the Internet, business has to have confidence in the system.”

The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the impact of the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1993. The Tech Center is a forward-looking research center and think tank that examines the relationship of the existing legal framework to the rapidly evolving information-based economy.