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NEWS RELEASE
June 5, 2003
CONTACT: David Fish
(202) 289-8928
   

The Future of Online Music, Movies & Games
National Experts Tackle the Digital Content Debate June 10

WASHINGTON, D.C. - What should industry, consumers and government do to promote vibrant markets in online digital content and reduce piracy? Are Steve Jobs and other innovators rendering these questions moot? Should Washington weigh-in or bug out? Such billion dollar questions surrounding the future of online music, movies and games are the focus of a Tuesday, June 10 conference, "Promoting Markets for Creativity: Copyright in the Internet Age."

The daylong event will be held at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the Courts, Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee in the House, will deliver the luncheon keynote at noon. Co-sponsored by The Progress & Freedom Foundation and George Mason University’s Tech Center, the conference will feature leading national scholars in intellectual property and law and economics, including Richard Epstein, University of Chicago; Scott Kieff, Washington University at St. Louis; Edmund Kitch, University of Virginia and Stan Liebowitz, University of Texas. Those interested in attending should contact Eileen Goulding at 202-289-8928 or egoulding@pff.org.

Commenting on the various presentations, to be released later as a book, will be top experts, including 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.

 

 

The Progress & Freedom Foundation