Leaders in the Silicon Valley Legal Community Come to Stanford to Discuss E-commerce Best Business Practices Project

On September 15, following an invitation from the Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology and its Stanford Center for E-Commerce, a group of Silicon Valley key players came to Stanford to discuss a collaborative project focusing on Silicon Valley best business practices.  The Center for E-Commerce originally proposed this project to further their mission of assisting in and coordinating the efforts of the business community to proactively address the many pressing legal questions surrounding online business activity. The goal of the project is to find some practical answers and solutions by bringing the Silicon Valley legal and business community together with other professionals from around the globe, so that these individuals can share their ideas and strategies for dealing with the legal uncertainties that arise when doing business online.

The Center for E-Commerce plans to launch this ongoing project with a one-day kick-off conference on best practices associated with the online distribution of software and other digital media. The program, tentatively scheduled for next spring, will address the question of how companies develop best practices and then focus on specific topics, such as globalization, security, piracy, taxation, and privacy.

The Center for E-Commerce and the Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology are striving to expand their role as the preeminent sites for intellectual exchange between leading experts in the field of law and technology.  This September luncheon enabled us to gather the unique insights of a number of legal pioneers in the e-commerce business community.

We thank the following individuals for providing invaluable input during the meeting:

Marc Berejka -- Senior Director of Public Policy & Communications, Microsoft Corporation

Jim Brelsford --  Jones Day

Andrew Bridges -- Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati

Dan Cooperman -- General Counsel, Oracle Corporation

Bill Cosden -- Vice President & General Counsel, Active Technologies, Inc.

Reggie Davis -- Senior Litigation Counsel, Yahoo! Legal Department

Keith Gottfried -- Senior Vice President-Law and Corporate Affairs, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Chief Legal Officer, Borland Software Corporation

Michael Jacobson -- General Counsel, eBay, Inc.

Paul Jahn --  Morrison & Foerster, LLP

Theodore Jones -- Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP

Ken Kaufman -- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Ron Laurie --  Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Heather Rafter -- Director of Legal Affairs, Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc.

Michael Shpizner -- General Counsel, Fujitsu America, Inc.

Ross Veltman -- Ivy Associates

Also contributing to the meeting were Ian Ballon, who is the Executive Director of the Center for E-Commerce and a partner at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP, Prof. Margaret Jane Radin, who directs the Program in Law, Science and Technology, and Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen M. Sullivan.


Ian Ballon Prof. Margaret Jane Radin Dean Kathleen Sullivan