Besek Named Chair Of Copyright Task Force

COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL’S JUNE M. BESEK NAMED CHAIR OF
NEW COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM TASK FORCE
 
Press Contact: Sonia von Gutfeld, 212-854-1453, [email protected]
 
July 3, 2008 (NEW YORK) – June M. Besek, executive director of the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts at Columbia Law School, will chair the new Copyright Law Reform Task Force of the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law.
 
The task force, whose establishment was announced July 2, will make recommendations to Congress on proposals to change existing copyright laws and to create new domestic and international mechanisms to enhance compliance with copyright and other intellectual property law standards.
 
The task force forms at a critical time in Congress. Both the House and the Senate Judiciary Committees are now addressing copyright matters after postponing consideration of those concerns to concentrate on patent law reform during the first 16 months of the 110th Congress. 
 
Besek has been an active member of the ABA Intellectual Property Section for more than 20 years and is a member of council for the section.  She joined Columbia Law School’s Kernochan Center in 1999, where she oversees studies on national and international intellectual property issues. She was formerly Director of Intellectual Property at Reuters America Inc. and, before that, a partner at Schwab Goldberg Price & Dannay in New York. She also is an active member of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. and serves on the editorial board of its Journal. She received her B.A. from Yale and J.D. from New York University.
 
Columbia’s Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts was established to contribute to a broader understanding of the legal aspects of creative works of authorship, including their dissemination and use. The Center has encouraged the development of instruction at the Law School in topics such as intellectual property, copyright, trademarks, the regulation of electronic media, and problems arising from new technologies.
 
The 22,000-member ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law provides the highest quality information, analysis and practice tools to intellectual property lawyers, and serves as the thoughtful source of information and commentary for policy makers as they consider legislation affecting the law and regulations in intellectual property matters. The section is respected and known as the premier resource for knowledge in this increasingly important and complex area of law.
 
With more than 413,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.
 
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School joins traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law, business law and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, and criminal law.