News

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will commence at noon in the Law Library. A brief reception will follow on the third floor loggia of the Law School.

A webcast of the lecture will be available as of noon, Thursday, Feb. 27 at www.law.duke.edu/webcast/.

A former aide to U.S. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Valenti was appointed chief executive of the movie industry's trade association in 1966 and has led the group ever since, turning it into one of the most powerful forces on Capitol Hill. Throughout his tenure at the helm of the MPAA, Valenti has championed the film industry's unified self-censorship against local and religious censoring groups while simultaneously heading the Motion Picture Export Association, which assertively protects the interests of the American studios at home and abroad, fighting local production quotas, taxation and other restrictions on trade. For the last several years, Valenti has increasingly focused his efforts on the dangers of Internet piracy to Hollywood's products.

Mr. Valenti, who holds an MBA from Harvard University, is the author of four books - three non-fiction works and the political novel Protect and Defend - and numerous essays for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek and other publications.

The Meredith and Kip Frey Lecture in Intellectual Property is a lecture series that was established in 2000 by Duke Law alumnus Kip Frey '85 and his wife, Meredith, to increase discussion about emerging issues in the areas of intellectual property, cyberspace, and science and technology law. Noted intellectual property law scholars Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford University, and Yochai Benkler, professor of law at New York University, delivered previous lectures in this series.