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NEWS RELEASE
July 22, 2003
CONTACT: David Fish
(202) 289-8928
   

Digital Content Distribution
a Topic of Aspen Summit
Top Corporate and Government Officials to Discuss Piracy and New Business Models

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Executives of AOL Time Warner, EMI Group, Movielink, Universal Pictures and the Interactive Digital Software Association will join U.S. Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters in a discussion of a front-burner business and policy issue that seems to have flummoxed many experts – the distribution of digital content in the age of Napster-type piracy. Their moderated panel, “The Digital Content Marketplace – Prospects & Challenges for Online Distribution,” will be a highlight of the upcoming Aspen Summit sponsored by The Progress & Freedom Foundation.

An annual gathering of prominent business leaders, policymakers and thinkers in the communications and technology sectors, the Summit opens August 17, with remarks by a surprise guest, and closes August 19, with remarks by Mel Karmazin, president and COO of Viacom. The content panel meets August 19 at 10:45 a.m. (Mountain). In addition to Peters, panelists include: Jim Ramo, CEO of Movielink, LLC; John Rose, EVP of EMI Group; Jerry Pierce, SVP of Technology at Universal Pictures, Shira Perlmutter, VP and Assoc. Gen. Counsel at AOL Time Warner; and Doug Lowenstein, President of the Interactive Digital Software Association.

Other confirmed participants in the annual Aspen Summit include FCC Chairman Michael Powell and FTC Chairman Timothy Muris, executives from such companies as AOL Time Warner, Allegiance Telecom, Autodesk, BellSouth, Comcast, Covad, EMI Group, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Movielink, Qwest, Red Hat, Salesforce.com, SBC, Sybase, Universal Pictures, Verizon and Viacom. Other high-level participants include FCC Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy and Kevin Martin, and FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle. Registration information: http://www.pff.org/aspen2003/aspen03.htm.

Following its 1995 debut, the Aspen Summit earned a reputation as one of the most interesting events of its kind. (Wired compared it to the Davos summit in Switzerland and the famed Renaissance Weekend.) Recent speakers include industry leaders Jeff Bezos, Carly Fiorina, Peter Chernin, Ivan Seidenberg and Les Vadasz. Senior policymakers and noted academics have also taken part. Members of the audience – who often include the likes of Michael Eisner and John Doerr – also contribute mightily to the annual discussions. 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 Progress & Freedom Foundation