Pitt to Hold Lecture on Intellectual Property Law April 8

PITTSBURGH-Barton Beebe, professor of law in the New York University School of Law, will deliver the University of Pittsburgh School of Law's 2010 Distinguished Property Law Lecture, to be held at 3 p.m. April 8 in the Barco Law Building, Room 111, 3900 Forbes Ave., Oakland.

Beebe's talk is titled "The Expansion of Antidilution Law Beyond Trademark Law." The event is free and open to the public, but preregistration is requested. To register or for more information, visit www.law.pitt.edu/ip2010 or call 412-648-1490.

According to Michael J. Madison, Pitt professor of law and associate dean for research, intellectual property law has traditionally focused on preventing unauthorized substitutive copying-copies that substitute for the sale of authorized copies of an intellectual work. In recent years, the focus has shifted to the prevention of unauthorized dilutive copying-copies that dilute the distinctiveness and uniqueness of a work. The lecture will address expansion of the law and seek to assess its economic and cultural implications.

Beebe specializes in the doctrinal, empirical, and cultural analysis of intellectual property law. He was a special master in 2007 for Judge Shira A. Scheindlin in "Louis Vuitton Malletier v. Dooney & Bourke, Inc.," a trademark infringement case in the Federal District Court Southern District of New York. In 2002, Beebe clerked for Federal District Court Judge Denise Cote, also in New York's southern district.

Beebe's publications include the 2010 "Harvard Law Review" article "Intellectual Property Law and the Sumptuary Code," the 2008 "University of Pennsylvania Law Review" article "An Empirical Study of U.S. Fair Use Opinions, 1978-2005, " the 2006 "California Law Review" article "An Empirical Study of the Multifactor Tests for Trademark Infringement," and the 2005 Michigan Law Review article "Search and Persuasion in Trademark Law."

Beebe earned his JD at Yale University Law School, his PhD in English literature at Princeton University, and his BA at the University of Chicago.

This event has been approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Board for 1.5 hours of substantive CLE credit. A fee of $25 will be collected at the door for CLE credit.

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