An In Memoriam for the Copyright Community

Tomorrow, David Lammy, Stephen Timms, Lord Drayson, copyright creators, content owners and copyright disseminators and licensees should perhaps spend a few moments in private contemplation to mark the anniversary of the birth of the late Robert Norton Noyce (12, December 1927 - June 3, 1990).

Noyce (right), founder of Fairchild and Intel, was the co-creator, with Jack Kilby, of the integrated circuit or microchip. (Noyce's development actually pre-dated Kilby's, but both men embraced the co-creator credit).

In contrast to Noyce's nickname as the Mayor of Silicon valley, remembrances of him inevitably include the fact that he eschewed the trappings of office such as corporate jets, swanky cars and other perquisites. Media moguls take note.

In a move that pre-dates by decades the content industries' efforts at finding consensus to address the on-line distribution of copyright works, Noyce was, at the time of his death, President and CEO of Sematech, an Austin-based research consortium. Sematech describes itself as " an influential collection of relationships with the top semiconductor suppliers, universities, government labs, industry organizations, and other consortia bring additional resources and creativity to technical challenges and setting industry direction." Now, there's an idea!