OSBC 2004 adds Larry Lessig to discuss open source legal issues

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Larry Lessig from Stanford Law School Added as Keynote at Open Source
Business Conference   Venture Capital Firms Accel, Greylock, Sierra also to
Speak

March conference to feature keynotes by author Clayton Christensen, Raymond
Lane of Kleiner Perkins plus global IT giants CA, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft,
Novell, Oracle and VERITAS 

 

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.   February 24, 2004    Open Source Business Conference
2004, the premier event for open source software and business, today
announced that Stanford Law School author and legal commentator Lawrence
Lessig has been added as an opening day keynote speaker. In addition,
partners from venture capital firms Accel, Greylock and Sierra have signed on
as new speakers. The event runs March 16 and 17 at the Westin St. Francis
hotel in San Francisco.

Lessig, Stanford Law School professor and author of The Future of Ideas and
Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, speaks on Tuesday, March 16 at noon. His
speech, "The Creators' Dilemma: Open Source, Open Society, Open Innovations,"
will sketch the boundaries of protection that intellectual property law
should set on software code. He argues that extremism is now defeating these
limits, just as perpetual copyright law wreaked havoc in the media world.

"The Internet succeeded because it was architected with freedom at the core
of the network," Lessig said.  "Software will thrive when open source and
open standards fuel its core.  I'm speaking at the Open Source Business
Conference to raise a warning cry to the IT industry: close off innovation
through excessive use of copyright, patent, and trademark law, and you will
stagnate with your media industry neighbors to the south."

Open Source Business Conference 2004 features more than 50 of the world's
leading business, investment, technology and legal experts speaking on open
source issues critical to computing today. The speaker and panel sessions are
tailored to meet the needs of enterprise CIOs and CTOs, users within large
enterprises, information technology vendors, venture capital and start up
executives, and companies examining issues around intellectual property and
open source.

Speakers just added to the venture capital and start-up sessions track
include:
 	Accel Partners, Peter Fenton
 	Greylock Partners, Aneel Buhsri
 	Sierra Ventures, Tim Guleri

In addition, top executives driving the open source strategies at some of the
world's computing giants will speak in keynote sessions that share their
insights into what market forces are reshaping the industry, including:
 	Computer Associates, Sam Greenblatt, SVP and chief architect, Linux
Technology Group;
 	IBM, Scott Handy, VP, Worldwide Linux Strategy and Market Development;
 	Intel, William A. Swope, general manager, Software and Solutions Group;
 	Hewlett-Packard, Martin Fink, VP, Linux;
 	Microsoft, Jason Matusow, manager, Shared Source Initiative;
 	Novell, Chris Stone, vice chairman, Office of the CEO;
 	Oracle, Ken Jacobs, VP, Product Strategy, Oracle Server Technologies
 	VERITAS, Mark Bregman, EVP, Product Operations.

Sponsors
Sponsors of Open Source Business Conference 2004 include Boston Consulting
Group, Computer Associates, Finnegan Henderson, Gluecode Software, Groundwork
Open Source Solutions, HP, IBM, Intel, Linux Networx, Metrowerks, Microsoft,
Novell, OSAIA, Sendmail, SGI, Summit Law Group, VERITAS, Wind River Systems
and Zope. 

Media sponsors include Business 2.0, Fortune, InformationWeek, Optimize,
OSDN, Red Herring, San Francisco Chronicle and ZDNet.

About Open Source Business Conference
The Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), the premier event for open source
and business, is the leading independent forum for addressing the business,
legal and financial issues facing technology vendors and organizations
deploying open source software. OSBC 2004 will be held March 16-17, in San
Francisco at the Westin St. Francis. View details and register at
www.osbc2004.com.

Open Source Business Conference is a trademark of Genus Group LLC. Linux is a
trademark of Linus Torvalds. Third party marks and brands are the property of
their respective holders.

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Editorial Contact:			
Bret Clement
Page One PR for OSBC 2004
Email: bret@pageonepr.com
Tel: 503.675.7988