This month, we are excited to present a fireside chat with two senior executives from Verizon: Executive Vice President Tom Tauke and Assistant Vice President Link Hoewing. Among other topics, Tom and Link talk about the role ISPs should play when it comes to discouraging copyright infringement online, and the federal regulations that are today both encouraging and constraining innovation in wireless and wireline service. UCLA Law Professor Doug Lichtman hosts.

The Federal Trade Commission just released its much-anticipated second report on patent system reform. And, on this edition of the IP Colloquium, two of the principal drafters of that report – Suzanne Michel of the Office of Policy Planning, and Deputy General Counsel William Cohen – join UCLA Law Professor Doug Lichtman to talk about its specific reform recommendations.

Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu has been one of the leading voices in the debate over network neutrality. He is a scholar of both copyright and telecommunications law; and, over the years, he has developed some pretty influential views about how legal rules impact innovation. Tim just wrote a summary of his views in the form of pop-press book entitled, The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires. On this edition of the IP Colloquium, he joins UCLA Law Professor Doug Lichtman to talk about that book, and the ideas it articulates about innovation and competition.

In this edition of the IP Colloquium, we present a conversation with the chief legal officers from three of the major video game studios: Steve Bene of Electronic Arts; Seth Krauss of Take-Two; and Chris Walther of Activision Blizzard. Among other things, we’ll talk about the complicated relationship between game manufacturers and the big three console producers; and we’ll think about the licensing arrangements under which video game companies make games based on intellectual property like the Harry Potter characters or the names and likenesses of NFL players. Closet video game fan and UCLA Law Professor Doug Lichtman hosts.

In this edition of the IP Colloquium, the Honorable Randall R. Rader, Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, joins us to discuss a wide range of legal and policy issues related to the nation’s patent system. The conversation is a frank and open discussion, with exchanges about (among other things) the need for Federal Circuit judges to experience district court proceedings in order to meaningfully evaluate them, and the possibility that independent creation is in fact evidence of patent obviousness. UCLA Law Professor Doug Lichtman hosts.

In this edition of the IP Colloquium, we tackle the contentious question of whether Google should be held responsible for the copyright infringement that its YouTube website facilitates. We engage the issues by drawing on excerpts from the voluminous materials filed over the past three years in the Viacom/Google litigation. Specifically, we’ll consider how both Viacom and Google frame the basic case; and we’ll critically explore each side’s position with respect to the storage, knowledge, and control issues raised by section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. UCLA Law Professor Doug Lichtman hosts.

Copyright law has long recognized in authors an unwaivable right to terminate certain contracts and licensing agreements. A handful of high-profile cases have already called substantial attention to this termination provision, with disputes touching such iconic characters as Superman, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Lassie, and Winnie the Pooh. In this edition of the IP Colloquium, copyright guru David Nimmer joins UC Berkeley Professor Peter Menell and UCLA Professor Doug Lichtman in an informal conversation about the termination right, its controversies, and the implications for modern copyright practice.

Copyright law's first sale doctrine might seem straightforward. On its face, it tells us that, after the first sale of a particular object that embodies a copyrighted work, the copyright holder's rights are exhausted, and the relevant embodiment is therefore free to flow in the stream of commerce. But what happens if the original buyer agrees by contract not to resell? And what if the original sale is not a sale at all, but instead is characterized by the parties as a license? And what if that embodiment is not physical but instead digital? On this edition of the IP Colloquium, we set out to understand the first sale doctrine, tracing its public policy justifications and comparing copyright's approach to that of antitrust. Guests include UC Irvine's Tony Reese, Boston University's Michael Salinger, and George Mason Law Professor Josh Wright. UCLA's Doug Lichtman hosts.

The Bilski case has understandably generated an enormous wealth of commentary, including eighty-plus amicus briefs, dozens of thoughtful articles, and hundreds of blog posts, CLE seminars, and the like. Here at IP Colloquium, we therefore thought that the best way for us to add value would be to do something admittedly unconventional. Specifically, the Supreme Court has released a transcript of the Bilski oral argument but has not yet released actual audio of the event. Our thought was that one of the best ways to learn about the case would be to listen to the arguments the parties actually made and to hear the questions that Chief Justice Roberts and his colleagues actually posed. So, this month, we stage a reading of the transcript, with a dozen UCLA law students lending their voices for each relevant attorney or Justice. UCLA law professor Doug Lichtman hosts.

The music, publishing and motion picture industries are each today struggling to identify new business models that might replace existing mechanisms for funding professional content. In this edition of the Intellectual Property Colloquium, we consider the legal and strategic roadblocks that might be standing in the way. Guests include: Brad Smith, General Counsel, Microsoft; Scott Martin, Executive Vice President, Intellectual Property, Paramount Pictures; and Dan Cooper, Vice President, Legal & Business Affairs, MySpace. UCLA law professor Doug Lichtman hosts.