Part of a national series of hearings on "Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-based Economy. " these events on the UC Berkeley campus are jointly hosted by UC Berkeley's Competition Policy Center and the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology at the School of Law (Boalt Hall). They are organized around the theme, "Economic Perspectives and Real-World Experience with Patents." Thirteen UC Berkeley professors will be presenting at the hearings.

For four days, national leaders in academia and industry will present their experiences and findings to the commission. Thirteen UC Berkeley professors will be presenting at the hearings. Daily sessions will focus on business and other testimony regarding the "real world" experience with patents and competition, and explore economic and business perspectives on intellectual property, competition, and innovation.

UC Berkeley faculty hosts to the conference are:

*Joseph Farrell, chair of the Competition Policy Center and professor of economics
*Peter Menell, executive director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and professor of law at the School of Law (Boalt Hall)
*Carl Shapiro, director of the Institute of Business and Economics Research and Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy at the Haas School of Business

Both Farrell and Shapiro have previously served as deputy assistant attorney general for economic analysis at the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.

Individual sessions are tentatively scheduled on the following topics:

* Economic perspectives on intellectual property, competition and innovation
* Business perspectives on patents: biotech and pharmaceuticals
* Business perspectives on patents: software and the Internet
* Diverse perspectives on patents
* Economic and other perspectives on patent standards and procedures
* Business perspectives on patents: hardware and semiconductors