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“It
should come as no surprise that from its humble beginnings
in 1971 among a few gifted practitioners able to see the
need for and promise of such an organization, the growth and
history of the Computer Law Association pretty much tracks
the growth and history of technology, especially
computer-communications technology, in the U.S. Initially,
issues and CLE programs reflected the mainframe world and
vendor-supplied software dominating the scene -- liability,
regulation, proprietary rights by contract, office
automation, databases, carrier competition, taxation and
contracting, among others. But it fairly promptly evolved
beyond that into the issues and programs focused on a
mainframe vendor-independent software industry (due to the
"unbundling" of software post 1969) and onward to
microcomputers and pre-packaged, even consumer, software for
so-called personal computers - involving many of the same
issues, but from the very different perspective of multiple
independent vendors and many, many more users, so copyright
and licensing tended to become the focus, not large systems
and general contracting.”
(--Daniel Brooks)
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You will see that our timeline bears out
Dan’s comments. As the computer industry developed so too
did the CLA whose members served its legal needs. The
topics discussed at its conferences changed to reflect
changes in the IT industry and in methods of distribution.
So too as Silicon Valley developed the Association came to
have a larger base there and many programs were held there.
As the industry grew so too did the CLA and as the industry
became more international again the CLA followed suit.
Dan Brooks
himself is worthy of a brief note. One past CLA president,
Richard (“Dick”) Bernacchi recalls that in
the 1970s and early 1980s “Dan was the "backbone" of the
organization. Without his tireless efforts I'm sure that
many of us that served in various capacities on behalf of
the CLA would have struggled mightily and the organization
would not have operated as smoothly and as effectively as it
did.” Another past president, Paul Bent notes that “during
the late 1970s and early ‘80s, there’s no question that he
held the organization together in many of the most
fundamental ways. He did so with no thought of promoting
himself, and he gave tirelessly of his time and personal
resources month after month and year after year. (It should
be remembered that CLA had no professional administrative
help at that time; Dan was the one who, from his own house,
managed the lion’s share of our administration,
organization, and planning.).”
IT
Industry Timeline
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1970-1974:
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Era of the Mainframe but Beginnings of the Licensing of
Software
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1975-1979:
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Rise of the Minicomputer and Dedicated Word Processors
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1980-1984:
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The personal computer receives Time Magazine’s “Man of
the Year” Award. Beginnings of Mass Marketing of
Software
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1985-1989:
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Visionary Jaron Lanier coins the term “virtual reality”
and produces the equipment to experience it.
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1990-1994:
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ARPAnet ends. Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide
Web.
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1995-1999:
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Wi-Fi protocol 802.11b is published. CDs outsell vinyl
records. 44 million Internet users surf the net.
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2000-2005:
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Approximately 1 billion PCs have been shipped worldwide
since the mid-‘70s. U.S. broadband subscribers reach 28
million. Google goes public.
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