Congratulations, Professor Michael Geist!

Prof. Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa is the Canada Research Chair in E-Commerce and Internet Law, an advocate for users’ rights in the copyfight, and the recipient of an EFF Pioneer Award:

Slaw

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Professor Geist rallied the Canadian public to let Industry Minister Jim Prentice know that he had not properly consulted a public that does not support his US-inspired/bullied copyright reform bill. Prof. Geist launched a Facebook movement and inspired a public showing in Calgary to demonstrate to Minister Prentice the errors of his presumptions.

I was introduced to Michael Geist at the University of Victoria’s Cyberlaw conference a couple of years ago by a mutual friend, my then-professor of many areas of information law and now friend, Ken Cavalier. Of course, Prof. Geist was friendly, and lived up to his offer to reply to any emails I might send him. But that is not what was unique about the day I met him:

There was to be a panel that afternoon of three intellectual property luminaries, Prof. Geist, Prof. Bob Howell of UVic, and Michael Manson of the IP firm, Smart & Biggar in Vancouver. A lunch engagement took Mr. Manson away from what would surely have been a fiery and fascinating panel discussion, but not before some argument ensued between him and a curly-haired gentleman sitting in front of me. I got into the heat of this argument, which was not about copyright, per se, but about consumer rights with respect to patent. We were discussing Sony v. Stevens, also known as the Stevens Playstation Chip Case, if I remember correctly, and I entered the fray suggesting that from Mr. Manson’s assertions it could be inferred that it had been illegal for me to sell my 1977 Volvo 242 with the ad I used (I mentioned in the ad that I had replaced the factory alternator with a much bigger one). Mr. Manson suggested that this was patent infringement. The curly-haired man in front of me would not let up in his defence of consumer rights to do as they please with that which has been lawfully and fully purchased and we had a good time. At lunch time, I was introduced to Prof. Geist, finally.

Congratulations, Professor Geist. Though you have said you are surprised by the recognition, those of us who read your work and know you (even if only barely) are not in the least. You are a leader for user rights advocates and IP/IT Law academics.