Upcoming Workshops and Conferences

["Olga Francois" <ofrancois@xxxxxxxx>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Symposium Announcement
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 18:22:04 -0400
From: "Fischer, Susanna F" <FISCHER@xxxxxxx>

You are cordially invited to a free symposium on October 9 & 10, 2002 at
The Catholic University of America School of Law in Washington D.C.  A
brief description follows and the full program is available at:
[<http://law.cua.edu/news/conference/informationage>] If you have any
questions regarding the symposium, please contact the symposium
organizers, William Wagner, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the
Interdisciplinary Program in Law and Religion, The Catholic University
of America School of Law  (wagner@xxxxxxx) and Susanna Frederick
Fischer, Assistant Professor of Law, The Catholic University of America
School of Law (fischer@xxxxxxx).  We hope that you will be able to join
us at this exciting event.

Symposium: The Rule of Law in the Information Age: Reconciling Private
Rights and Public Interest 

sponsored by
 The Interdisciplinary Program in Law and Religion and
 The Institute for Communications Law Studies

On October 9, 2002, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral
argument in the case of Eldred v. Ashcroft on the constitutionality of a
congressional enactment extending the copyright term.  In deciding
Eldred, the Court confronts an apparent conflict between the public
interest in the free exchange of ideas and private property claims.
This case arises in the context of revolutionary developments in new
communications technologies that offer unprecedented opportunities both
for untrammeled creative exchange and also for the transgression of
intellectual property rights.  

These new technologies raise many new challenges for the law.  They
require it to revisit the nature and meaning of property in the context
of a digital world.  They generate new questions about the value of a
commons in an information age, as well as about the relationship between
the First Amendment and intellectual property rights.  As the law
grapples with these new challenges, it confronts the meaning of the rule
of law itself.  The questions raised invite a response at a
philosophical level.  American legal institutions must find a way to
reaffirm core concepts capable of sustaining the social order, while
avoiding premature or inadequate solutions that merely entrench private
interests at the expense of the common good.

The oral argument in Eldred v. Ashcroft offers an occasion to explore,
in a philosophical manner, the range of challenges posed by new
communications technologies to the rule of law.  This symposium seeks to
marshal the best contemporary scholarship in constitutional law, legal
history, comparative law, and the philosophy of law.  Its goal is to
contribute to a just and productive social order integrating the full
human potential of new communications technologies. 

The keynote address will be given by Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law
School.  The other confirmed speakers are: Edward J. Damich, Chief
Judge, United States Court of Federal Claims; Robert W. Hahn,
AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies; Margaret-Jane Radin,
Stanford Law School; Marybeth Peters, United States Register of
Copyrights; Shira Perlmutter, AOL Time Warner; Jonathan Zittrain,
Harvard Law School; Lillian R. BeVier, University of Virginia School of
Law; Oren Bracha, Harvard Law School; Daniel Gervais, University of
Ottawa; Jude P. Dougherty, The Catholic University of America; Amitai
Etzioni, The George Washington University; Peter Levine, University of
Maryland; Seana V. Shiffrin, UCLA.

	The Symposium will take place at the law school of  The Catholic
University of America, which is less than a five minute walk from the
Brookland/CUA stop of Metro?s Red line, two stops on the Red line from
the United States Supreme Court.  The Symposium is open to the public
and free of charge.  Parking is free.  Dining facilities are available
on campus and in the neighborhood.  For further information and to
reserve seating, please contact Mrs. Constantia Dedoulis:  tel. (202)
319-6081, fax (202) 319-4004 and e-mail dedoulis@xxxxxxxx Additional
information and the conference program is available at:
[<http://law.cua.edu/news/conference/informationage>] Support for the
symposium has been generously provided by Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP,
and its Intellectual Property Group.