Monday April 19, 2004
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Room 80 (Moot Courtroom)
Free and Open to all!
Lunch Served
Chris will speak about the conflict between two fundamental changes--one technological, the other legal--that have affected the ability of individuals to cultivate and spread culture.
The technological change is the birth and spread of the Internet. By reducing the cost of creating and disseminating expression, the Internet has profoundly affected the potential for democratic speech and the spread of knowledge.
The legal change is equally as profound. It is the radical shift in the nature and extent of copyright regulation. For the first 190 years of our Republic, copyright law was narrowly tailored to regulate extremely narrowly. But the traditional contours of copyright have now been changed. Whereas for most of our history copyright protection was the exception, it is now the rule. Whereas the burden of copyright previously was limited to works that had some continuing commercial value, copyright now applies broadly and indiscriminately to all creative works, whether or not the protections have any benefit to the author.
Chris will discuss a current legal challenge to these changes in copyright law. Chris will also discuss a number of strategies for reforming copyright to move it back toward its traditional focus and scope.About the Speaker
Chris Sprigman is a Residential Fellow at the Center for Internet and Society. Chris’s research focuses on the interplay of competition, technology, and intellectual property law.
Before coming to CIS, Chris was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of King & Spalding LLP, specializing in the areas of antitrust, intellectual property and appellate practice.
Prior to joining King & Spalding, Chris served as appellate counsel to the Antitrust Division of the U. S. Department of Justice. While at DOJ, Chris represented the United States in civil and criminal appeals to the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and, in conjunction with the Office of the Solicitor General, handled appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court. He worked extensively on post-trial and appellate briefs in United States v. Microsoft. His responsibilities also included filing amicus briefs in selected private antitrust and intellectual property cases, working with the Assistant Attorney General to help formulate antitrust and competition policy, and representing the United States in court proceedings to review orders of the Federal Communications Commission.
Chris received his J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School in 1993. From 1993-1994, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Los Angeles, CA. Chris also served as a law clerk to Justice Lourens Ackermann of the Constitutional Court of South Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa from 1998-1999. While in South Africa, Chris taught comparative law at the University of the Witwatersrand Law School, in Johannesburg.