The American Law Institute - American Bar Association Committee on
Continuing Professional Education's 25th annual Course of Study on Legal
Problems of Museum Administration, cosponsored by the Smithsonian Institution
with the cooperation of the AAM, will hold three sessions on intellectual
property issues Saturday, March 22, 1997.

1.  9:00 a.m.  Intellectual Property:  Copyright, Trademark, and Beyond:
Role and Authority of the Copyright Office and the United States Patent
and Trademark Office

-Bruce A. Lehman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of
Patents and Trademarks, Washington, D.C.

-Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, Copyright Office, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C.

2.  9:45 a.m.  Intellectual Property:  Recent Developments in Fair Use

-Stephen E. Weil, Emeritus Senior Scholar, Center for Museum Studies,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

-Beverly M. Wolff, General Counsel and Secretary, The Museum of Modern
Art, New York

3.  11:15 a.m.  Trademark of Museum Names and Buildings and the New
Trademark Dilution Act

-Lauryn Guttenplan Grant, Assistant General Counsel, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C.

-Stephen E. Weil (see above)

The "course" will be held Thursday-Saturday, March 20-22, 1997, at the
Smithsonian Institution.  Tuition for the course is $575.

According to the program:  "Legal Problems of Museum Administration is
intended to provide museum directors, administrators, trustees, legal
counsel and others who are concerned with museum operations, with an
awareness of the legal problems and issues they will encounter."

For more information, ALI-ABA's web site is www.ali-aba.org.  I haven't
visited, but the entire program should be available.  If not call (215)
243-1630 or (800) CLE-NEWS (253-6397).

Barry G. Szczesny
AAM Government Affairs
[log in to unmask]
(202) 289-9125

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On Thu, 20 Feb 1997, Laura Roberts wrote:

> I have found that the single best, short, accessible summary of copyright
> (although primarily dealing with text, not such things as costumes and
> needlepoint) is the appropriate chapter of the Chicago Manual of Style,
> which is probably in your museum's library, publications office, etc.  It
> covers many of the fundamentals.
>
> The recent discussions - and a similar conversation I just had with someone
> off list about copying a haute designer's early 20th century dresses in the
> collection - suggest that ALI-ABA ought to develop a session on these
> collection-specific questions.  Anyone from ALI-ABA lurking out there?
> Andy Finch - can you pass the idea along?
>
> Laura Roberts
>