Washington College of Law, American University
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 – Room 603
Lunch Served 12:45pm;  Introduction 1:00pm

A live webcast of the event will be available on this page.

Trade and intellectual property law converged in the World Trade Organization’s path-breaking agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (1994). Since then, dominant direction of U.S. foreign policy has been to advocate for foreign countries to adopt increasingly higher standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement, including in the recently negotiated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and in the current negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). There is debate within U.S. technology and media industries, however, about how far this trend should continue, and whether it will impair important U.S. commercial interests.

Come hear a debate between two leading industry advocates of divergent visions of U.S. trade policy on intellectual property and technology matters:

  • Matt Schurers, Vice President for Law & Policy, Computer & Communications Industry Association. CCIA members include Google, Facebook, Oracle, ebay, Nividia, and AMD
  • Steve Metalitz, Partner, Michell Silberberg & Knupp LLP.  MS&K clients include Sony, RIAA, MPAA, and ASCAP