First-Ever Virtual Law Conference Schedule and Speakers Announced (New York City, April 3-4)
February 19th, 2008 by Benjamin Duranske
The schedule and speakers for the first-ever Virtual Law Conference are now posted, and registration is open.
The conference will be keynoted by Steve Mortinger (IBM Systems and Technology Group VP and Associate General Counsel), who will be discussing “The Top Ten Things a Brand Should Know about Virtual Worlds.” Other speakers and panelists include practicing attorneys, law professors, marketing strategists, and executives. I’m moderating a couple of panels, and also presenting “Virtual Law for Non-Lawyers,” a fast-paced overview of hot issues in virtual law for non-attorneys and lawyers new to this stuff.
The conference will be held at the Javits Center in New York, April 3-4. It will feature eight one-hour presentations on a wide range of topics including intellectual property enforcement, license agreement best practices, litigation strategies, virtual property, virtual currency, and more. Early registration ($595) is less than half the cost at the door, and is open until February 29, 2008. Registration also covers entrance to the “Virtual Worlds 2008” conference (which runs concurrently) and all associated events.
Virtually Blind is a media partner for the conference (hence, the advertisement you’ve seen running in the right column the last month or so) and I am one of the conference advisors and co-chairs, along with attorney Sean Kane. I look forward to seeing many VB readers in New York in April.
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5 Responses to “First-Ever Virtual Law Conference Schedule and Speakers Announced (New York City, April 3-4)”
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Wasn’t “State of Play” the first ever “virtual law” conference, or are you referring to the fact that it’s the first “virtual law conference”? Quotation mark placement matters! :)\
Glad to see something like this back in NYC.
I’ve always thought of State of Play as more broadly focused on governance and legal questions that arise within virtual worlds, and not so much on litigation and legal matters that involve virtual worlds — which is the focus of what I’ve been referring to as “virtual law.” This is more nuts and bolts. I see this as an area of law, like “intellectual property law,” and in that sense, this is the first. But you’re definitely right, one could make a good case for State of Play being the first. It is certainly the intellectual grand-daddy of this field.
Dang. I actually could have stopped in! I would have laid over in New York for about 12 hours, but opted instead for a shorter layover elsewhere… if only I had known.
Oh, and ‘State of Play’ doesn’t count, I think, for reasons that Benjamin pointed out *as well as* the fact that it is US-centric. Like many other virtual world discussions.
Perhaps this conference will be different. Perhaps not.
@4 – we are trying really hard to get an international focus but it’s tough to get practitioners from overseas to speak. I’m going to be moderating a few panels though, and I’ll try to direct some discussion that way.
Also, we’re already talking about the next one, and I suspect we’ll have a few internationally-focused panels there, whether we’re able to for this one or not.