23 January 2000

Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 22:15:05 -0700
From: Carl Oppedahl <carl@OPPEDAHL.COM>
Subject: Re: Free career advice for future cyber-lawyers
Comments: cc: singletonc@PROBONO.LAW.UTAH.EDU
To: CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

At 09:27 PM 1/22/2000 , Christian Singleton wrote:

>So, would it be outside the prime directive of this listserv for me to ask
>for some free career advice?
>
>I am sure that there are other law students participating in this listserv
>that could benefit from a little wisdom from the experts.

"Cyber-lawyer" is not a job description for those seeking employment, it is a marketing category used by lawyers seeking to bring in business.

Look in places where law firms advertise to hire law school graduates.  You will find that there are few if any job openings for "cyber-lawyers".

There are lots of lawyers who hope potential clients will think of them as "cyber-lawyers".

For one perspective on all of this, see "Career opportunities in intellectual property law" at http://www.patents.com/opportun.sht .

Carl Oppedahl
Oppedahl & Larson LLP

Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 12:35:32 -0500
From: John Young <jya@PIPELINE.COM>
Subject: Copyright Economic Engine
To: CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (Law & Policy of Computer Communications)

A note on Christian Singleton's career inquiry and Carl Oppedahl's suggestions to look into the future of IP law:

One of the reasons Judge Kaplan gave in the MPAA New York hearing for "the likelihood the plaintiff will prevail," is that copyrighted industries are vital to US foreign policy and economic health, and that First Amendment rights must be set aside for the sake of the national interest in copyright protection before freedom of expression.

Judge Kaplan has been presiding over copyright cases for some time, thus is broadly knowledgeable well beyond the MPAA case. Many such cases are filed in New York federal courts, which are perceived to be sympathetic to *corporate* copyright holders, and not least because of  the city being home to the international legal and financial interests which have a global stake in *corporate* copyright protection of intellectual property.

While it may have been previously mentioned here, we call attention to a study released in December by the International Intellectual Property Alliance which sets out the case, if you will, for "the copyright industries" (innovative terminology) outpacing all other industries in economic benefits to the United States. Here are excerpts from a press release by the IIPA on the study.

From: http://www.iipa.com/html/latest_news.html

[Excerpt]

New Study Reveals Copyright Industries
Are Engine Driving the U.S. Economy

Copyright Industries Lead the Economy in Contribution to GDP,
Jobs and Foreign Sales

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. copyright industries contribute more to the nation’s economy and employ more workers than any single manufacturing sector including chemicals, industrial equipment, electronics, textiles and apparel, food processing and aircraft, according to a new economic report released today by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA).

The 1999 Report details the economic contributions of U.S. creative industries including movies, television programs, home videos, business and entertainment software, books, music and sound recordings to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment and trade.

Key findings of this year’s report include:

• The U.S. copyright industries accounted for 4.3% of U.S. GDP or $348.4 billion in value-added in 1997.

• In the last 20 years (1977-1997), the core copyright industries’ share of GDP grew more than twice as fast as the remainder of the economy (6.3% vs. 2.7%).

• From 1977 to 1997, employment in the U.S. copyright industries more than doubled to 3.8 million workers (2.9% of total U.S. employment) and increased nearly three times as fast as the annual rate of the economy as a whole (4.8% vs. 1.6%).

• The U.S. copyright industries achieved foreign sales and exports of $66.85 billion in 1997, more than all major industry sectors including agriculture, automobiles and auto parts and the aircraft industry.

"As we witness the dawn of the Information Age, the information and entertainment industries lead the way in economic growth and trade," said Eric Smith, IIPA President. "That growth will accelerate into the next century provided that piracy is significantly reduced, other market access barriers are eliminated and the Internet is made secure for the transmission of valuable copyrighted material. If we succeed with this agenda, global e-commerce can realize its full potential."

"There is no question that, as we enter the next century, and the Internet brings new ways to transmit copyrighted goods, we will see a whole new set of challenges," U.S. Commerce Secretary William M. Daley said. "I am delighted to announce that a special government council, created recently by the President to better coordinate copyright enforcement among federal agencies, will meet for the first time in January. The council will improve our fight against copyright piracy, and, with your cooperation, it will also strengthen ties with industry."

...

IIPA is a coalition of associations representing U.S. copyright-based industries in bilateral and multilateral efforts to open up foreign markets closed by piracy and other market access barriers. IIPA’s member associations are the Association of American Publishers (AAP), AFMA (formerly the American Film Marketing Association), the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA), the Motion Picture Association of American (MPAA), the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA).

These associations represent over 1,350 U.S. companies producing and distributing materials protected by copyright laws throughout the world all types of computer software including business and entertainment software (such as videogame CDs and cartridges, personal home computer CDs and multimedia products); motion pictures, television programs and home videocassettes; music, records, CDs and audiocassettes; and textbooks, tradebooks, reference and professional publications and journals (in both electronic and print media).

[End excerpt]

We appreciate US Federal Judge Kaplan, California State Judge Ervling, the International Intellectual Property Alliance and the Department of Commerce forging an unbroken chain from exemplary corporate profit making to national economic security, and in that innovative way justify limitation on freedom of expression for the sake of stockholder and corporate officer betterment and the well-being of political office holders who must return to the job market afterwards (as with the MPAA's Jack Valenti and unbroken links of others).

Hail to the Copyright Industries for their redefinition of where the top places are begging.

Now how about the interests of the persons who created the goods in the first place -- those who thrive on freedom of expression -- not those organizations listed in the IIPA membership who most profit from that ill-paid, ofttimes stolen, intellectual hard labor?

Presumbably, those who currently benefit from the copyright industry are here on Cyberia-L awating an opportunity to clearly state the grounds for the opposition's sacrifice for their country.

More on MPAA's "innovative and creative" IP partners at:

http://www.mpaa.org:80/relatedsites/