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The New Media Darr-ling Of Harvard
by Heather Greenfield
Carol Darr, the director of George Washington University's Institute for Politics Democracy and the Internet, said a teaching opportunity at Harvard University is something she just couldn't reject. Darr will be taking a yearlong appointment to teach new media, contemporary American politics and new communications technologies at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
She has served as IPDI's director since 2001 and has co-authored several publications, including the groundbreaking study "Political Influentials Online in the 2004 Campaign." She plans to update that report later this summer.
F. Christopher Arterton, dean of GWU's Graduate School of Political Management, will serve as interim director of IPDI when Darr leaves in September. "During Carol Darr's six-year tenure as director of IPDI, the institute has become a world-class leader in promoting the best uses of technology in campaigns and political advocacy," he said.
"My stepping in as interim director demonstrates how strongly we at the GSPM feel about the importance of IPDI," Arterton added. "The institute's research and advocacy of new communications technologies in politics is a key part of what keeps GSPM on the cutting edge of graduate political education, and I want to make sure that the institute continues to grow."
Arterton said he would consult IPDI's advisory board about seeking a permanent director and hopes to have someone in place by the end of the year.
NAM's 'Blogger-In-Chief' To Join PR Team
After 10 years as the communications guru at the National Association of Manufacturers, Pat Cleary soon will have a new post as director of digital public affairs at Fleishman-Hillard.
Cleary, who calls himself the "blogger-in-chief," started NAM's blog more than two years ago and said he "never expected it to have the impact it's had." One of the first policy-focused blogs in Washington, the site has become the biggest part of NAM's Web site and a key part of its communication strategy.
In an announcement at the blog last week, Cleary wrote, "We thank God that our readers didn't demand quality writing; we were lucky. Carter Wood has stepped up to the plate (a great writer, by the way) and will continue to do so, with an assist from Bill Canis, Dave Huether and some other new NAM bloggers. It's been fun and we enjoyed it, but new challenges await."
Cleary said in an interview that he plans to blog at the new job, too, and find ways to encourage other businesses and associations to use blogs as a communications tool. He said the medium is free, and he is astonished that more associations are not using blogs. He praised Fleishman's "enormous digital media team."
ITI Gets A New Communications Director
James Ratchford has become the new communications director for the Information Technology Industry Council.
Ratchford worked for the consulting management firm Westhill Partners for four years, which later became Financial Dynamics. He has been a speechwriter for the South Korean Embassy in Washington and was the communications director for Georgia Democrat Mark Taylor during his unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor.
ITI also has a new chair for its intellectual property committee: Stacey Stern Albert of Hewlett-Packard. Albert has been active in the committee and at HP's Washington office, where she handled global policy issues including intellectual property and telecommunications.
Before joining HP, Stacey was in the government affairs office of Compaq Computer for five years. She previously practiced telecom law in the Washington office of a national law firm.
Prominent IP Attorneys Join Morrison & Foerster
A merging of intellectual property minds and practices has occurred. IP attorneys L. Scott Oliver and James Pooley have joined the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Morrison & Foerster as partners in the firm's global IP group.
Pooley has practiced IP law in Silicon Valley since 1973. In addition to handling complex patent, copyright and technology cases, he is especially well-known for his work in trade secrets, having also authored one of the definitive treatises. He also has written extensively on trade theft issues for more than 25 years.
Pooley's successful defense of Adobe Systems was chosen by the National Law Journal as the only IP case among its top defense verdicts of 1997.
Oliver has practiced law with Pooley for the past seven years. He has argued cases for a wide range of technologies, including digital-content distribution cases like the one involving the Napster music-sharing service. He also has handled cases about telecommunications switching, video-on-demand systems, host software-processing modems, videogame software, flash memory products and more.
"We've wanted to practice together for some time, and we could not be happier to have them on board," Harold McElhinny, co-chair of Morrison & Foerster's intellectual property practice, said of Oliver and Pooley. "They are a team of outstanding lawyers who share our values and understand what it means to deliver world-class legal services."
Before starting their own, practice Pooley and Oliver were at Milbank, Tweed.
In the same field of law, the technology IP consulting firm IPotential has hired Steve Knauer as chief patent counsel.
Knauer brings 15 years of experience in analyzing and prosecuting tech-related patents. As IP counsel for Gemplus, Knauer managed all of the company's IP matters in the Americas, including arguing patent litigation, defending the company against patent assertions, analyzing the infringement of the company's patents, creating assertion-based patent-licensing programs, and managing patent and trademark prosecution.
Before working at Gemplus, Knauer was a partner at Flehr, Hohbach, Test, Albittron & Herbert, where he prepared and prosecuted hundreds of patent applications.
"IPotential's compelling business model, which is markedly different from typical patent licensing and brokerage firms, attracted me to the company," Knauer said. "By focusing on patents as a business asset, not just a strategic asset, IPotential excels at recognizing the true value of intellectual property and is therefore enabling greater monetization of patents for clients."
Quote Of The Week
"This party of ours must be pruned, and it must be pruned by those of us who care about it before meeting the butcher's sheers in the hands of the voters again in 2008."
-- RedState blogger Erick Erickson, asking readers to pressure House Republican leaders to remove Ken Calvert, R-Calif., from the Appropriations Committee.
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