Head of U.S. Copyright Office to Present 2007 Mervis Lecture in Intellectual Property
Marybeth Peters, the United States Register of Copyrights, will deliver the second annual Stanley H. Mervis Lecture in Intellectual Property on Tuesday, November 13, 2007. The lecture will be held at 1:00 p.m. in Room 127 of the Law School. Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.
A frequent international speaker on copyright issues and the author of The General Guide to the Copyright Act of 1976, Peters has served as the head of the United States Copyright Office since 1994. She is the eleventh individual to be named to the post since its inception in 1897. Prior to her appointment as Register, Peters served for twenty-eight years in the U.S. Copyright Office and was one of its principal authorities on international copyright law, holding a variety of positions including policy planning advisor to the Register, acting General Counsel, Chief of the Examining Division, and Chief of the Information and Reference Division.
Peters received her law degree, with honors, from the George Washington University Law Center. She has been a lecturer at the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law and the Georgetown University Law Center. From 1989 to 1990, Peters was a consultant on copyright law for the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. An active member of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., Peters is also a member of the Intellectual Property Section of the American Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar Association, the D.C. Computer Law Forum, and the Computer Law Association, where she is a member of the board of directors.
The Stanley H. Mervis Lectureship in Intellectual Property was created in memory of Stanley Mervis in 2003 by his family and friends. Mervis, a member of the William & Mary Law School Class of 1950, was patent counsel for Polaroid Corporation for most of his career and was actively involved in important patent and intellectual property issues.
For more information on the lecture, please call 757-221-1840 or e-mail lawcom@wm.edu.