Media alert: The Next Generation of Performing Rights, Streamlining of Music Licensing Process to be

The Next Generation of Performing Rights, Streamlining of Music Licensing Process to be Discussed at GW University Symposium, Audio Teleconference Wednesday, June 18, 2008

UC Berkley Professor Robert Merges, BMI VP Richard Conlon, GW University’s Robert Brauneis To Lead Conference Call Surrounding Release of IP Rights White Paper

What:  Copyright symposium and audio teleconference discussing points raised in the white paper The Continuing Vitality of Music Performance Rights Organizations presented by University of California, Berkeley Law Professor Robert P. Merges. In the document, Professor Merges warns that proposals to change the existing music IP rights system could stunt creativity in the United States and around the world.  Merges warns that the more radical proposals would eviscerate or eliminate performing right organizations, which could weaken all of the gains songwriters have made over the past century.

When: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
- 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. EDT – Symposium (includes keynote address luncheon)

- 3 p.m. EDT - Audio conference
US Callers: 1-800-377-8846
Outside the US: 1-312-709-8424
Participant Code: 92893365#
*This call was original scheduled for June 17

Who: Symposium honored guests:
Congressman Howard Coble (R-NC): ranking member of the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and IP
Robert Brauneis: Co-Director, GW Law IP Program
Robert Merges: Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosarti Professor of Law and Technology, University of California, Berkeley
Dennis Morgan: Grammy Award-winning BMI songwriter and CEO, Morgan Music Group, Inc. (Aretha Franklin, George Michael, Rod Stewart, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill)
Ralph Oman: U.S. Register of Copyrights, U.S. Library of Congress, 1985-1993; and Pravel Professorial Lecturer and GW fellow
The Honorable Marybeth Peters: U.S. Register of Copyrights
Gigi Sohn:  President, Public Knowledge

Audio conference guests:
Robert Brauneis - Co-Director, GW Law IP Program
Richard Conlon - Vice President, New Media and
Strategic Development, BMI
Robert Merges - Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosarti Professor of Law and Technology, University of California, Berkeley

Where: Moot Court Room
GW University Law School
2000 H St. NW, Washington, D.C.
Foggy Bottom Metro (Orange and blue lines)

A copy of Merges’s paper is available here.

Background:

The George Washington University Law School Intellectual Property Law Program has been a leader in intellectual property education for over a century, and offers education for J.D., LL.M, and S.J.D. students in Washington, D.C., and Munich, Germany.

The George Washington University Law School’s Creative and Innovative Economy Center faculty believe creativity and innovation are critical tools in fighting poverty around the world, eradicating disease, and improving the quality of human life through the arts and technology.  The center conducts research and organizes educational programs that demonstrate how creativity and innovation drives global economic and cultural development and contributes to breakthroughs in healthcare.

For more news about the GW Law IP Program, visit www.law.gwu.edu/tech.
For more news about the Creative and Innovative Economy Center at GW Law School, visit www.law.gwu.edu/ciec.
For more news about GW, visit the GW News Center at www.gwnewscenter.org.