FTC/DOJ Hearings on Patent Law

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-------- Original Message --------
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 14:07:53 -0800
From: Robert Cannon <rcannon100@YAHOO.COM>


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For Release: January 30, 2002
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/01/iphearings.htm

FTC/DOJ Hearings to Focus on the Implications of Competition
and Patent Law and Policy

Initial Hearing Scheduled for February 6, 2002

The Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of
the Department of Justice today announced that their joint
hearings on "Competition and Intellectual Property Law and
Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy" will begin on
Wednesday, February 6, 2002 at 2:00 p.m. The primary focus
of the hearings will be to examine the implications of
competition and patent law and policy for innovation and
other aspects of consumer welfare. The general public and
press are invited to attend and view the proceedings.
Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis with an
overflow room provided for hearings at the FTC. Written
comments from interested parties may be submitted to the
FTC. Available information on the initial hearing sessions,
scheduled for February and March, follows below:

February 6:
Welcome and Overview of Hearings

2:00 p.m.
FTC - Room 432

Timothy Muris, Chairman, Federal Trade Commission
Charles James, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust,
Department of Justice
James Rogan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
Property and Director of the U. S. Patent and Trademark
Office
The Honorable Pauline Newman, U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit
Robert Pitofsky, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law
Center, and former Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission
Q. Todd Dickinson, Howrey, Simon, Arnold & White, and former
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Gerald Mossinghoff, Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier &
Neustadt, and former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks
Richard Gilbert, Professor of Economics, University of
California, Berkeley, and former Deputy Assistant Attorney
General for Antitrust, Department of Justice
Richard Levin, President, Yale University

February 8:
Patent Law for Antitrust Lawyers (FTC - Room 432)
Antitrust Law for Patent Lawyers (FTC - Room 332)

9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Concurrent Sessions
These sessions will lay the foundation for all future
hearings discussions. They will provide essential background
information and identify critical issues.

February 20: Economic Perspectives on Intellectual Property,
Competition and Innovation

9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and
2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
FTC - Room 432

These sessions will explore what economic learning reveals,
and does not answer, regarding the relationships between
intellectual property and innovation, and between
competition and innovation.

February 25 - 28:
Business and Economic Perspectives on Real-World Experience
with Patents

Thanks to the Competition Policy Center and the Berkeley
Center for Law & Technology of the University of California
at Berkeley, hearing sessions will take place at the Haas
School of Business on the Berkeley campus.

Daily sessions will focus on business and other testimony
regarding the "real-world" experience with patents and
competition, as well as explore economic and business
perspectives on intellectual property, competition, and
innovation.

March 19 - 20:
Business and Other Perspectives on Real-World Experience
with Patents
(FTC - Room 432)


Similar to the Berkeley sessions, these sessions will focus
on testimony regarding the "real-world" experience with
patents and competition.

Further information about these and subsequent hearings,
expected to extend through June, will be posted on the FTC
web site www.ftc.gov/opp/intellect/index.htm as it becomes
available.

MEDIA CONTACT
Cathy MacFarlane
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-3657
STAFF CONTACT:
Susan DeSanti
202-326-2167
Robin Moore
202-326-3133

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Received on Friday, 1 February 2002 13:48:11 UTC