BroadbandBreakfast.com to Hold Intellectual Property Breakfast Club on Music Performance Rights for Radio Broadcasting tomorrow, Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

WASHINGTON, Monday, June 13th, 2011 – The internet and intellectual property policy news and events service BroadbandBreakfast.com will hold its June 2011 Intellectual Property Breakfast Club event, “A Performance Right for Broadcasting: Will Radio Begin to Pay?” on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 from 8 am – 10 am at Clyde’s of Gallery Place, 707 7^th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001.

When a song airs on the radio, who should get royalties? Songwriters already get paid, but performers and record companies don’t get anything.

The U.S. stands alone among industrialized nations in not recognizing such a performance right for over-the-air broadcasting.

Will this change? Last year, the House Judiciary Committee passed such legislation by a 21 to 9 vote margin. (The bill never went to the floor of Congress.) And now the White House has recommended that Congress create this new right.

Will radio begin to pay? Join the Intellectual Property Breakfast Club for a showdown on this vital copyright question.

Intellectual property advocates, attorneys, broadcasters, artists, journalists, government officials and the general public, all seeking to trade insights on this important issue, are invited to attend this event, which includes full American and Continental breakfasts, for as little as $45.00, plus a modest registration fee. This event is on the record and open to the public.

Panel:

Ryan Clough, Legislative Counsel, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (San Jose, CA)

Ryan Clough handles intellectual property, telecommunications, technology policy and issues within the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee.  Previously, he was an associate in the Washington office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, and he has also practiced criminal law and appeals in California, including the representation of several death row inmates in post-conviction proceedings.  Ryan has a B.A. from Emory University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Brian Gantman, Counsel, Educational Media Foundation, KLOVE and AIR 1 Radio Networks

Brian Gantman is currently the Government Relations Director and In-House Counsel for Educational Media Foundation (EMF), which operates the non-commercial K-LOVE and Air 1 Radio Networks.  EMF currently operates over 650 FM radio stations in 47 states and is the only non-commercial broadcaster in the Triton Media (formerly Ando Media) Top 20 Ranker for internet streaming.  Brian is on the executive committee for the NRB’s non-commercial music licensing committee and was one of the negotiators in the 2009 webcaster streaming deal with SoundExchange for non-commercial broadcasters, as well the music licensing agreements with BMI, ASCAP and SESAC for the 2008-2012 royalty period and the upcoming 2013-2018 royalty period.  Brian also negotiates financial and tax-exempt bond transactions with lenders on behalf of EMF for the acquisition of new stations and real estate transactions, including the purchase of EMF’s headquarters in California.  He also negotiates EMF’s leases for office space, broadcast tower sites, ground leases, satellite and other vendor agreements.

David Oxenford, Partner, David Wright Tremaine

David Oxenford represents broadcasting and digital media companies in connection with regulatory, transactional and intellectual property issues. He has represented broadcasters before the Federal Communications Commission, the courts and other government agencies for over 30 years, regularly counseling clients on all aspects of broadcast. He also negotiates purchase and sale agreements and other broadcast transactions.He also works with many others involved in the industry, including broadcast associations, media brokers, bankers, private equity funds, programming consultants, and technology companies.David also represents digital media companies, including a number of Internet radio companies. He represents these companies before the Copyright Office, the Copyright Royalty Board, and other government agencies, and advises them on music royalty issues and other copyright issues, as well as general business and regulatory matters.  He represented webcasting groups that negotiated the Small Webcaster Settlement Act in 2002, the Pureplay Webcasters Agreement in 2009, and in 2010 represented the only commercial webcaster to litigate the Webcasting III case before the CRB. David is the editor and principal writer of DWT’s BroadcastLawBlog.com. His updates and advisories on broadcast and digital media topics are regularly published by various associations and trade publications, and he’s a regular speaker at state and national broadcasting, webcasting, music and digital media conferences and conventions.

Michael Petricone, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, Consumer Electronics Association

In his position, Michael has been responsible for representing the CE industry position before Congress and the FCC on critical issues such as digital television broadband, privacy and home recording rights. Mr. Petricone is a frequent speaker on policy issues impacting the consumer electronics industry. Mr. Petricone received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and his undergraduate degree from Tufts University.

John L. Simson, President, John Simson Consulting

John L. Simson has been involved in the music industry since his 1971 signing with Perception Records as a recording artist. His career has included a ten year partnership in Studio One Artists, managing country superstar Mary Chapin Carpenter (1988-1995), and others. Simson has practiced entertainment law since 1980, and most recently was of counsel to the firm of Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe from 1990 through 1999.  Simson joined SoundExchange in March of 2000 and served as its Executive Director from June of 2001 until December of 2010. Simson was elected to the Recording Academy Board of Governors in 1997 for the Washington, D.C. Branch, and served three years as a National Trustee of the Academy (1997-2000), served as Chapter President from 2003-2004 and finished an additional term as National Trustee in May (2006-2010). Simson was an adjunct professor of Entertainment Law at American University’s Washington College of Law from 2002-2006 and has lectured frequently on entertainment law, intellectual property and business issues.

Sylvia Strobel, Executive Director, Alliance for Community Media

At the ACM, Strobel directs national public policy initiatives, and works with a diverse membership base to provide nonprofit management training, advocacy support and strategic planning resources. Before joining the ACM, Strobel served as President and General Manager of the Pennsylvania Public Television Network Commission, where she restructured network operations, served as the liaison to the Governor’s Office and Pennsylvania General Assembly, and oversaw funding and grants for the state’s eight public television stations.  In 1996, Strobel co-founded the law firm Lehmann Strobel PLC, where she is a partner providing legal and business consulting services to the nonprofit arts, cultural and media communities.  Previously, she served as Deputy General Counsel/Director of Business Affairs for Twin Cities Public Television and in Business Affairs for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  She was as an adjunct professor of Entertainment Law at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, and chaired the Art and Entertainment Law Committee of the Minnesota State Bar Association. Strobel received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from St. Olaf College, a Juris Doctor from Wm. Mitchell College of Law and a Masters in Business Administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

The event will be moderated by Drew Clark, Founder and Publisher, BroadbandBreakfast.com, a news and events company building a community around broadband stimulus, the national broadband plan, and intellectual property.  Drew Clark has a long-standing reputation for fairness and depth in his reporting. He worked for the National Journal Group for eight years, ran the telecommunications and media ownership project of the Center for Public Integrity, and was Assistant Director of the Information Economy Project at George Mason University. He has written widely on the politics of telecom, media and technology for a variety of publications, including the Washington Post, GigaOm, Slate, and Ars Technica. Drew launched BroadbandCensus.com in January 2008 as a means of providing objective information about broadband speeds, prices, availability, reliability and competition.

The Intellectual Property Breakfast Club is sponsored by the Intel Corporation, The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and Public Knowledge.

The Intellectual Property Breakfast Club series meets on the second Tuesday of each month (except for August). Registration for this event can be found at

The Club schedule can be viewed at http://ipbreakfastseries.eventbrite.com.

For More Information Contact:

Sylvia Syracuse
Director of Marketing and Events
BroadbandBreakfast.com
Sylvia@broadbandcensus.com
646-262-4630