Intellectual property has assumed a leading role in the development of the Internet. Intellectual property commodifies the image, sound, and data files transmitted over the Internet. It also regulates ownership and availability of Internet technology and even defines the ways in which a presence can be maintained on the Internet. Increasingly, control of intellectual property means control over some aspect of the Internet.

The increased importance of intellectual property presents challenges to our legal system. We must consider how strong intellectual property must be in order to encourage beneficial use of the Internet. Society must also consider difficult questions of whether intellectual property or any other legal scheme can adequately govern a diffuse network like the Internet.

On October 18-19, 2002, Boston College Law School will host a symposium to consider these issues by presenting the ideas of 9 prominent new thinkers about the Internet. Each scholar will present a paper to be published in a symposium issue of the Boston College Law Review. A distinguished panel drawn from the academy and practicing bar will then offer comments on these papers.

For additional information about the conference, please contact the conference organizers, Professors Alfred Yen and Joseph Liu.

This symposium has been put together by the B.C. Law Emerging Enterprises Program and the Boston College Law Review, with assistance from the Boston College Intellectual Property Technology Forum, and with generous support from the following law firms:

Goodwin Procter, LLP
Hale and Dorr, LLP

B.C. Law Emerging Enterprises

The Emerging Enterprises and Business Law Program promotes the study and dissemination of knowledge about the legal, business, and ethical issues related to the creation, growth, and development of business enterprises. The Program offers a comprehensive curriculum in the theory and practice of business law, faculty research, scholarly symposia, and lectures. These activities reflect Boston College Law School's special concern for the ethical practice of law, the responsible construction of business enterprises, and the practice of law in service to others. The Program therefore operates with the conviction that the study of emerging enterprises offers a unique opportunity to positively affect the relationship between commerce and a just society.

PRESENTERS AND TOPICS

Stacey Dogan, Northeastern University
An Exclusive Right to Evoke

Michael Geist, University of Ottawa
Cyberlaw 2.0: New Laws and New Borders

Justin Hughes, Cardozo Law School
The Internet and the Persistence of Law

Joseph Liu, Boston College
Copyright Law's Theory of the Consumer

Michael Madison, University of Pittsburgh
Rights of Access and the Shape of the Internet

Michael Meurer, Boston University
Controlling Frivolous and Anti-Competitive Intellectual Property Litigation

Ruth Okediji, University of Oklahoma
Trading Posts in Cyberspace: Law, Custom and the Construction of Proprietary Interests in the Digital Economy

R. Anthony Reese, University of Texas
The First-Sale Doctrine in the Era of Digital Networks

Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard University
Legislating Code

COMMENTATORS

Dan Burk, University of Minnesota
Graeme Dinwoodie, Chicago-Kent
Andrew Feinberg, Lycos, Inc.
Wendy Gordon, Boston University
Thomas Hemnes, Foley Hoag, LLP
Andrew McLaughlin, ICANN & Berkman Center
David Perla, Monster.com
Mitch Singer, Sony Pictures
Alfred Yen, Boston College

MODERATORS

Ann Bartow, University of South Carolina
Shubha Ghosh, University of Buffalo, SUNY
Maureen O'Rourke, Boston University