Me and the boys at Mt. Vernon -- Aug. 2000.

About this web site

I once read that there are two stages in the life cycle of a web site: under construction or out of date. Alas, much of this website has fallen into the second category (with the notable exception of the materials on pending copyright legislation, which I've kept current since January 97, and use on a daily basis).  I started this site in March of 1995.   The entire website was initially made up of hand-coded HTML.  Eventually, I broke down and purchased a web-creation tool -- Microsoft FrontPage® 98 -- and used it to completely revamp the site.  I've recently upgraded to FrontPage 2000.

Most of the material on this website has something to do with copyright law -- I am, after all, a copyright lawyer (see below).  For example, since January '97 I've been maintaining a list of all pending copyright legislation in Congress, with links to the bills themselves.  I try to update this item within a week of any new bill's introduction.

I've greatly expanded the "photo gallery" with the addition of a number of photos from recent trips, as well as some pictures closer to home.

I've also added Daniel Feder's Web Page -- a collection of my oldest son's stories and pictures.

A little about me

Up until early 2001 I was a Policy Planning Advisor in the Office of Policy and International Affairs of the U.S. Copyright Office (PIA).  I currently head up PIA as the acting Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs.

Our work in PIA is partly legislative, partly international, and partly public outreach (the Office frequently provides speakers (like me) for continuing legal education programs, seminars, symposia, etc.).  On the legislative side, our office works closely with the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property of the House Judiciary Committee in crafting bills.  In addition, the head of our agency, Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters, typically is called on to testify when hearings are held on copyright bills.  On the international side, our office acts as technical advisors to the USTR, State Department, and other Executive Branch agencies in matters relating to protection of intellectual property rights abroad.  In this capacity, I've had to do a great deal of foreign travel (21 countries since I started the job back in '96).

From 1991 to 1996 I was with Schwab Goldberg Price & Dannay, a small firm in New York City. I left the firm in July 1996 to take up my current post. Schwab Goldberg merged with Cowan Liebowitz & Latman in January 1998.

Before joining Schwab Goldberg I was a real estate associate at Shearman & Sterling for several years.

My wife Carol and I have three super kids -- Daniel (8), Andrew (7) and Joshua (3).

I have a longstanding interest in computers and programming. It was my interest in computers that led me away from real estate law and into IP several years ago. My particular specialty in the copyright field is software protection.

Getting in touch with me

My personal e-mail address is jesse@panix.com. My business e-mail address is jfed@loc.gov.

Click here for a binary version of my PGP public key, making sure that your browser is set to save to disk mode.