Copyright Conference Speakers

David O. Carson J.D.

David O. Carson is Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office. The Copyright Office, part of the Library of Congress, administers the U.S. copyright law. As Associate Register, he is the head of the Office of Policy and International Affairs, which assists the Register of Copyrights in advising Congress and executive branch agencies on domestic and international copyright policy matters. He represents the Copyright Office in U.S. government delegations to meetings at the World Intellectual Property Organization, including its Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. From 1997 through the end of 2006, he was the Copyright Office General Counsel, where he had responsibility for the Office’s regulatory activities (including administration of the copyright statutory licenses), litigation, and providing liaison on legal and policy matters between the Office and Congress, the Department of Justice and other agencies of Government, the courts, the legal community, and other interests affected by the copyright law. Prior to joining the Copyright Office in 1997, he was in private practice, representing publishers, authors, motion picture and television production companies, recording artists, composers, record companies, computer software publishers and others in areas including copyrights, trademarks, defamation, rights of privacy and publicity, and publishing and entertainment contracts. He has written articles and lectured on issues in these fields of law. He is a former trustee of the Copyright Society of the USA, a former director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and former chair of its Committee on Copyright Law. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and received bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees in history at Stanford University.

Dwayne K. Buttler, J.D.

Dwayne K. Buttler serves as a Professor and the first Evelyn J. Schneider Endowed Chair for Scholarly Communication at the University of Louisville, University Libraries. Much of his work focuses on the complex interrelationship of copyright law, licensing, and activities at the core of the university and library mission-teaching, learning, and scholarly communication.

Professor Buttler earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and holds a BA in Telecommunications from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Before joining the University of Louisville faculty in early 2002, Dwayne served IU for over a decade in roles including Senior Copyright Analyst at the Copyright Management Center and Director of Information Science at the Advanced Research & Technology Institute.

Professor Buttler has published writings on copyright in higher education, including co-editing and authoring an article for a "perspectives" edition of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS) on fair use and contributing to Copyright Essentials for Librarians and Educators, Chicago, IL: ALA Editions, 2000, authored by Kenneth D. Crews with contributions from Dwayne K. Buttler.

Dwayne also teaches in other areas intellectual property and mass communication law as an adjunct at the University of Louisville, and he conducts numerous invited presentations on copyright for broad audiences of administrators, faculty, librarians, and scholars in the library and the higher education community.

Michelle L. Cooper, J.D.

Michelle Cooper is an attorney in the Education Law Group at Bose McKinney & Evans LLP. She focuses her practice working with educational institutions in the areas of education law, intellectual property law and employment law.

In the area of intellectual property law, Michelle assists educational institutions with technology licensing, trademark prosecution and maintenance and she counsels clients on general copyright and trademark issues.

Michelle is admitted to practice law in the state of Indiana, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

She earned her B.S. in Legal Administration for Public Law at Ball State University in 1995 and her J.D., cum laude, from Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis in 1999.

Michelle is a member of the Indiana State Bar Association, the Indianapolis Bar Association and the American Bar Association. She is also a member of Access Technology Across Indiana (ATAIN) and the National Association of College & University Attorneys (NACUA).

Kenneth Crews, J.D.

Kenneth Crews is the Samuel R. Rosen II Professor in the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and in the IU School of Library and Information Science. He is also Associate Dean of the Faculties for Copyright Management, and in that capacity he directs the Copyright Management Center based at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Dr. Crews is widely published and his recent 2006 book, Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators, published by the American Library Association, is a highly instructive overview of copyright law.

Dr. Crews has been an invited speaker on college and university campuses and at conferences in 39 states, D.C., and 7 foreign countries. Crews was during 2003 the Intellectual Property Scholar for the Center for Intellectual Property and Copyright
in the Digital Environment, University of Maryland University College, and he currently serves as a faculty member for the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center.

Dr. Crews was recently honored as the American Library Association's 2005 recipient of the L. Ray Patterson Award: In Support of Users' Rights.

Dr. Crews states, "My philosophy about copyright is the same as about a hobby: If I cannot reveal that it is intriguing, fun, relevant, and filled with surprises, I am not doing my job."

James R. Williams

James R. Williams is an attorney at DeFur Voran LLP. His primary practice areas are litigation, mediation, banking law, and education law. Jim is Ball State University's legal counsel for education law.

Jim practiced law with White & Raub in Indianapolis from 1991 through 1994. He joined DeFur Voran in 1994 until 1997. Jim then served as judge of the Union County Circuit Court from 1998-2004 and since then continues to serve as Senior Judge. He returned to DeFur Voran in January of 2005. Jim is both a certified Civil Mediator and is registered as a private judge by the Indiana Division of State Court Administration.

Jim has written many articles and lectures quite frequently. He is the lecturer and contributing author for "Judges in the Historical Arena," Indiana Judicial Center, 2004; "Indiana's Landlord-Tenant Law-A Survey," ICLEF Seminar, 2003; "Conflicts of Interest and a Brief Survey of Other Ethical Considerations for Indiana Lawyers," ICLEF Seminar, 2002.

Jim earned his A.B., summa cum laude, from Wabash College in 1988 and his J.D., cum laude, from Indiana University in 1991 and received the Forrest E. Jump Memorial Scholarship.

Jim is admitted to practice law in the Supreme Court of Indiana, the U. S. District Court, the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana, and the U. S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a member of the Muncie Bar Association, Indiana State Bar Association and Indiana Judges Association.

Locally, Jim is active in the Rotary, the United Way of Delaware County, and is a Board Member for the Habitat for Humanity.