>> 2002 Town Meetings >> Toronto

HEADLINE: TORONTO: Speaker Biographies

 

Browne | Gasaway | Hale | Pallante | Pantalony | Porter

Rachelle V. Browne
Rachelle V. Browne is Assistant General Counsel at the Smithsonian Institution. She previously served as: staff attorney and attorney advisor at the Federal Trade Commission; Legal Counsel to the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Commerce and the U.S. Virgin Islands Port Authority; and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Virgin Islands Legislature. Ms. Browne was graduated from Barnard College and Harvard Law School. She is a member of the Massachusetts, District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Third Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court bars.

Her published articles include: "Privacy in the Virtual World and the Real Museum Experience," in Spectra, The Journal of the Museum Computer Network, Spring 2002; "Copyright Developments in 2000: Looking Back and Looking Forward in Intellectual Property," Section Newsletter, National Bar Association, Winter, 2001; "Music: Licenses, Permission Forms, and Releases in the Digital Age," in Hoffman, Barbara, Ed., Exploiting Images and Image Collections in the New Media (London: Kluwer Law International, 1999); "What Building Owners, Artists, and Their Lawyers Need to Know About the Visual Artists Rights Act," in ALI-ABA's Practice Checklist Manual for Drafting Leases II (1997) and "Copyright Corner," in Smithsonian Education Update (bi-monthly column, 1994 - 1997). Ms. Browne is a former Adjunct Professor for the Business of Art in the Department of Fine Arts, Howard University, and a past Chair of the D.C. Bar Arts, Entertainment and Sports Law Section.

Laura Gasaway
Professor of Law and Director of the Law Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Laura Gasaway is a leader in the analysis and interpretation of copyright laws for libraries and higher education. She specializes in copyright law; copyright & technology; and cyberspace legal issues. Professor Gasaway is co-author of Librarians and Copyright: A Guide to Copyright in the 1990s, and editor of Growing Pains: Adapting Copyright for Education, Libraries, and Society. Among her recent articles are "Impass: Distance Learning and Copyright," and "Copyright Considerations for Electronic Reserves." Professor Gasaway received her A.B. and M.L.S. from Texas Woman's University, and her J.D. from the University of Houston. For more information see http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/gasaway.htm

Christopher Hale
Chris Hale is a partner with Blake, Cassels and Graydon, LLP, practising in their Intellectual Property Group. His interests extend to the full range of intellectual properties including trade-marks, copyright, patents, industrial designs, trade secrets and personality rights. Chris acts in the filing and prosecution of applications for protection of various forms of intellectual property; the licensing of such properties in a variety of commercial contexts including food products, pharmaceuticals, clothing, securities and financial instruments, real estate, electronics and software; the giving of intellectual property advice in commercial transactions including share purchases, asset purchases and secured financings; and litigation. Chris has participated in educational seminars offered by the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association (Ontario) and many industry associations and other providers of continuing education in Canada and the United States, speaking and writing on various intellectual property topics. Chris is a graduate of Dalhousie University with degrees in Chemistry and Law; a member of the Ontario Bar; and a registered trade-mark agent.

Maria Pallante
Maria Pallante is Associate General Counsel at the Guggenheim Museum/Foundation, where she provides general legal and business advice to a broad range of programming and administrative offices. She has primary responsibility for copyright, trademark and licensing issues within the Guggenheim network, which includes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, the Guggenheim Las Vegas and the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum. She is Chair of the Licensing and Quality Review Committee.

Prior to joining the Guggenheim, Ms. Pallante served as a senior policy advisor in the U.S. Copyright Office, Office of Policy and International Affairs. There she advised the Register of Copyrights and U.S. Congress on significant copyright developments (including the WIPO treaties and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and provided technical advice to the U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Department of State on piracy and enforcement matters. She is a principal author of the Office's 1997 Report on Legal Protection for Databases.

Ms. Pallante has served on various professional committees, including the Library of Congress's Advisory Committee on Copyright Registration and Deposit (ACCORD), and is a frequent speaker on intellectual property issues. In addition to being in private practice with the D.C. law firm Lichtman, Trister, Singer & Ross, she was formerly Executive Director of the National Writers Union and Staff Attorney and Assistant Director of The Authors Guild.

Rina Elster Pantalony
Rina Elster Pantalony is Legal Counsel for the Canadian Heritage Information Network. She obtained her undergraduate and law degrees from Dalhousie University at Halifax, Canada. She is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and practiced commercial law in Toronto. After studying art history in Paris, Ms. Pantalony joined the Canadian government as an analyst in copyright and arts policy. From 1997 to 2000, Ms. Pantalony was Senior Policy Advisor to the Canadian Heritage Information Network on intellectual property matters. In 2001, she was appointed intellectual property counsel to a joint Internet venture launched by the Tate Gallery, London and the Museum of Modern Art, New York and continued to work with the Museum of Modern Art on various commercial matters upon the dissolution of the partnership. In 2002, Ms. Pantalony joined the Canadian Department of Justice to represent the Canadian Heritage Information Network as General Counsel, carrying out her responsibilities by tele-commuting from her office at the Canadian Consul General, New York. She has published and spoken extensively on intellectual property issues affecting cultural heritage.

Brian Porter
Brian Porter joined the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in February 1999, after a 20-year career as a journalist and digital content producer with Southam Inc., formerly Canada's largest newspaper publisher. As Director of New Media Resources at the Royal Ontario, his mandate is to drive an integrated strategy for delivering the Museum's great stories and research through the synergies of several internal departments from Information Technology Services to the Library and its media convergence gallery. The division also has strategic alliances with external partners including Discovery Channel, Canadian Learning Television, McClelland and Stewart Inc., IBM, and the UK’s Wall to Wall Productions.

Brian has addressed annual conferences of the Museum Computer Network in the United States and the Canadian Museum Association in Ottawa. He also serves on the judging panel of the annual Canadian New Media Awards. Previous to joining the ROM, Brian was Executive Producer during the launch and start-up of www.canada.com, now the national Web site of CanWest Global Communications Corp. He holds a degree in journalism from Carleton University and worked as a reporter and editor at several daily newspapers including The Hamilton Spectator and The Windsor Star and The Canadian Press wire service.