Prospects list grows for job of intellectual property czar

Academics, industry executives, congressional aides and high-profile attorneys are among those whose names are swirling as potential candidates for the high-level White House job to oversee government-wide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting efforts in the Obama administration. The position was written into a broader intellectual property bill sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Arlen Specter along with Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio. President Bush signed the legislation last month.

Comment on this article in The Forum.Leahy will offer a list of names to Obama's transition team, but the post is viewed as "second-tier" -- one that will be addressed after Cabinet and other major nominations are made. Leahy's picks will be "pretty weighty," one source said, noting that he was one of several senators to endorse Obama over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., early in the Democratic primaries.

Victoria Espinel, a Democrat who served as the first assistant trade representative for intellectual property, a position created by Trade Representative Schwab in 2006, is a likely contender. Espinel was the chief U.S. trade negotiator for IP issues, leading World Trade Organization talks, free trade deals and bilateral discussions worldwide.

"She's relatively well respected by industry and very respected on the Hill," a source said. A handful of entertainment industry officials have been mentioned. They include Shira Perlmutter, a former associate general counsel for Time Warner Inc. who now oversees legal issues for a global music trade group; Michele Ballantyne, the Recording Industry Association of America's Democratic lobbyist who worked for Obama transition chief John Podesta in the Clinton administration; the American Federation of Musicians' Hal Ponder, and NBC Universal government relations chief Alec French. Some industry candidates, however, might be ineligible if they run afoul of Obama's lobbying restrictions, sources said.

Capitol Hill names include Jennifer Duck, chief counsel and staff director for the Senate Judiciary Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security Subcommittee and the key intellectual property aide for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Jayme Roth, a staffer who handles those issues for Bayh; and Shanna Winters, chief counsel to Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who chairs the House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Berman plans to leave that post in the 111th Congress to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Neil McBride, vice president of anti-piracy and general counsel at the Business Software Alliance -- who formerly served as Vice President-elect Biden's chief counsel in the Senate -- may also receive consideration for the IP coordinator position, sources said. Both the Commerce and Justice departments opposed the congressional effort to create the IP position in the executive office of the president, called it "legislative intrusion" and warning that it could "pose significant and unnecessary challenges." However, the proposal was backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and representatives of music labels and movie studios.