ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University will host a forum on the controversial issue of digital copyright, titled 'The Download Debate Strikes Back,' April 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Call Auditorium of Kennedy Hall, on campus. The public is invited to attend.

The forum will be streamed live at: http://www.cit.cornell.edu/oit/UCPL.html .

Panelists from the recording, television and movie industries, plus lawyers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Napster will examine the complex issues related to the downloading of music and movies from the Web.

"We're watching the development of new relationships between artists and their audience, and our students are learning that the protection of intellectual property begins with the author," said Kent Hubbell, Cornell's dean of students. Hubbell's office, along with Cornell's Student Assembly and the University Computer Policy and Law Program, is sponsoring the forum.

The panelists will discuss the MGM v. Grokster case, which was heard in late March by the U.S. Supreme Court. In this case, entertainment companies brought suit against the developers of the Morpheus, Grokster and KaZaA software products, which facilitate the sharing of copyrighted materials online.

In order to provide an alternative for its students, Cornell began a one-year experiment in legal downloading of music last fall. A campuswide site license for Napster has provided students with free streaming and downloading access to the company's library of more than 750,000 songs. Next fall, the Cornell Student Assembly will decide if the program should be continued.

Forum panelists will include:

• Cary Sherman , president, Recording Industry Association of America;
• Fritz Attaway , executive vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America;
• Siva Vaidhyanathan , New York University assistant professor;
• Fred von Lohmann , senior staff attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation;
• Alec French , senior counsel, NBC/Universal; and
• Avery Kotler , senior director of business and legal affairs, Napster.