[A2k] Maria Pallante is new LOC Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs

[James Love]

DATE: December 16, 2008

FROM: Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights

TO: COP_all


RE: Announcement

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Maria A. Pallante to the
position of Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs,
effective December 21, 2008. Pallante brings extensive experience to the
position, having worked as a copyright lawyer for more than 18 years in
Washington, DC and New York City, in both the public and private
sectors. She succeeds David O. Carson, who on December 21, 2008 will
return to his former position as general Counsel of the Office.

For the past two years, Pallante has served as Deputy General Counsel of
the Copyright Office, where she has helped shape a wide range of
domestic and international copyright issues. She has been the Office=E2=80=
=99s
lead counsel on orphan works legislation during this time, working with
numerous stake holders and advising key offices of the Senate and House
on an array of complex issues. She was with the Copyright Office
previously, in 1996 and 1997, as a Policy Planning Advisor in the office
of the Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs. In that
position, she contributed to the Report on the Protection of Databases,
advised on TRIPS compliance, and provided policy advice to executive
branch agencies during several bilateral negotiations.

>From 1999-2006, Pallante served as the chief intellectual property
counsel for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, where she
was responsible for the auditing, enforcement and licensing of
intellectual property assets. She advised on worldwide governance and
programmatic initiatives, including branding and overseas expansion,
collections and exhibitions, architectural commissions, book publishing
and distribution, product development and retail operations, strategic
planning and ethics. She formulated and implemented intellectual
property policies for the Guggenheim Museums in New York, Venice,
Bilbao, Berlin and Las Vegas, including for the acquisition, display,
performance and preservation of multimedia artworks. She structured and
negotiated major joint ventures and content partnerships
internationally, including with governments of Russia, Taiwan, Brazil,
and the United Arab Emirates. From 2004-2006, she held dual legal and
business positions for the Foundation, serving as both Associate General
Counsel and Director of Licensing.

Pallante began her legal career in copyright in 1991 as a staff attorney
with the Authors Guild (Authors League of America), and later served as
Executive Director of the National Writers Union, where she supervised
the electronic rights case, Tasini v. the New York Times. She was
associated with the D.C. law firm and literary agency of Lichtman,
Trister, Singer & Ross, and completed a federal clerkship in
administrative law for the Honorable G. Marvin Bober, Associate Chief
Judge, U.S. Department of Labor. Pallante has held numerous committee
and faculty assignments, including serving as chair of the New York
State Bar=E2=80=99s Committee on Literary Works, serving on the executive
committee of the U.S. Chapter of Association Litt=C3=A9raire et Artistique
Internationale, (ALAI), and serving as a member of the Librarian of
Congress=E2=80=99 Advisory Committee on Copyright Registration and Deposit.=
 She
has testified before Congress on copyright issues several times and is a
frequent speaker before lawyers and non-lawyers alike. She earned her JD
in 1990 from the George Washington University Law School

--
James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International
http://www.keionline.org | mailto:james.love at keionline.org
Wk: +1.202.332.2671 | US Mobile +1.202.361.3040 | Geneva Mobile +41.76.413.=
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