The Annual Report Working Group is an Ad Hoc Committee and is responsible for the preparation, composition, printing and distribution of an Annual Report by LES International within an approved budget. The Annual Report is to be used as a marketing tool internally - "why am I a member of LES?" - and externally - "why should I become a member of LES?" The Report should give a global overview of the activities within the societies and within the committees of LES International during the proceeding period and in the near future.

AUDITORS

The functions of the LES International Auditors are to:

• Review the financial records and reports of the Society at the end of each fiscal year;
• Report to the Board of Delegates on the results of its annual review;
• Advise the Treasurer and the Board of Delegates with regard to modifications and improvements to the financial record-keeping and reporting systems of the Society.

ASIA PACIFIC COMMITTEE

The Asia-Pacific Committee promotes the participation and activities of both current LES members in the Asian region and prospective members from the Asian countries where LES society has not yet been established. Under this mission, the Asia-Pacific Committee is committed to achieve the following objectives:-

1. To attract LES members from the Asian countries where LES society has not yet been established;
2. To assist small, emerging LES societies in the region;
3. To increase communications and exchanges and foster friendship and cooperation among LES societies in the region;
4. To gather and coordinate common concerns of societies in the region and to communicate to and take up these concerns with appropriate international officers or other relevant committees of LES; and
5. To organize the LES Inter-Asian Conference.

AWARDS COMMITTEE

The Awards Committee reviews the qualifications of candidates for the gold medal award of LESI and makes recommendations to the Board of Delegates each year as to whether and to whom a gold medal award should be granted that year. The Committee also makes recommendations to the Board of Delegates as to whether and to whom other awards of honor or appreciation should be granted by LESI.

BIOTECHNOLOGY

Aims and Goals:

1. To address the aspects of the range of enabling technologies in this industry which present particular problems requiring solutions in the field of licensing.
2. To provide a support mechanism for various groups concerned with the development and use of biotechnology, such as, universities, hospitals, government funded research, small and large biotech businesses, venture capitalists in addressing their special needs.
3. To address strategic alliances which drive the industry and encourage symbiotic relationships in this field.
4. To encourage participation from all disciplines of the industry including human and animal therapeutics, agriculture, animal husbandry, plant and crops, basic research, bioinformatics, gene therapies, DNA and monoclonal diagnostics.

Implementation:

1. Seek committee membership from registrants in Cancun and Edinburgh LESI Annual Meetings.
2. To consider and work with the Healthcare Products committee to address potential overlap and ensure synergistic relationship in respective committee endeavors.

CHEMICAL ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE

The Chemicals, Energy and Environmental Committee serves as a focal point for the members of the petrochemical, chemical, polymers, and associated industries. The committee will promote networking among its members, sponsor appropriate educational activities such as, but not limited to, workshops, lectures, and seminars. It will aggressively pursue recruitment of business-oriented members on a worldwide basis.

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

The committee examines and develops ways of improving communications between LES International and national Societies, as well as between Societies, and implements those measures thought best. Inter alia the Committee is to:

• Arrange for a wide dissemination of the discussions and deliberations of LES International and its committees.
• Facilitate the exchange of information on matters of mutual interest between chapters.
• Promote and encourage contacts and cooperation between chapters of LES.
• Sponsor the LES International "Who's Who".
• Promote, encourage and coordinate communication between the Committees of LES International, with the aim of ensuring that their work is complementary, not in conflict.

CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE

The Constitution Committee shall review the Articles of Incorporation, the corporate Bylaws and the Rules of Conduct of LESI and the Constitution, By-laws and Rules of Conduct of Member Societies from time to time and shall give its comments and recommendations to the Board of Delegates. The Committee shall have at least five members and the term of office of the Chairman shall ordinarily be two years. The Constitution Committee works closely with the Membership Committee in order to study the Bylaws and other aspects of the incoming member societies.

COPYRIGHT LICENSING COMMITTEE

The committee provides a forum for study, reflection and discussion among members of LESI of issues relevant to copyright licensing generally, but it focuses on questions of interest to all participants in the computer and information systems sector, with a particular emphasis on the issues which affect the licensing and, more generally, the diffusion of computer technology. An additional particular interest is the application of copyright and other similar and associated forms of protection to the area of industrial designs. In the context of its overall objective as set out above, the Committee has the following specific objectives:

• Obtaining and distributing information on, and providing a forum for discussion of, issues related to the protection of the rights of licensors and licensees in transactions involving licensing of intellectual property rights for computer technology and industrial designs, particularly international transactions;
• Understanding the rules and the institutions which can have an impact in different countries on the protection and diffusion of computer technology, particularly between countries;
• Obtaining and distributing information on current statutory, regulatory and judicial developments throughout the world which are related to the activities of the Committee;
• Making recommendations to LES International concerning the positions which would be appropriate for LES to take in matters related to the Committee's field of interest;
• Collaborating with other committees of LES International, with individual LES societies and, where appropriate, with other organisations concerning matters within the Committee's field of interest.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION (20)

The Dispute Resolution Committee undertakes to monitor what is going on in Dispute Resolution, both concerning ordinary civil disputes and alternative dispute resolution, e.g. Arbitration and Mediation and shall study and report on developments in practice in litigation and arbitration as well as a comparative study of civil disputes and arbitration in various legislations. The committee shall educate the membership through workshops and articles in les Nouvelles as to the changes and effective use of civil courts and arbitration as well as in Dispute Resolution practice.

EDUCATION COMMITTEE (5)

The Education Committee's mission is:
To accumulate, develop, catalog, inventory, and distribute educational materials that are useful to the member societies and to the public at large. Inter alia, the Committee will collect and index copies of workshops, seminars, and speeches given at society meetings around the world. Provide the index to member societies and other interested parties. Provide copies of the materials to member societies. To develop educational programs and courses that can be used by member societies. To produce or sponsor (or co-sponsor) the production of printed materials, audio-tapes, and videotapes of educational or training material for use by, or sale to, LES members and the public at large. To develop and manage a Speakers' Bureau for member societies and other organizations. To co-operate with other institutions in the development of educational materials.

ENDOWMENT

The Endowment Fund Committee considers funding from the LESI Endowment Fund special projects which would be beneficial to the membership in general of the LES member societies and recommends approval of the funding of such projects to the Board of Delegates.

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE

The Committee aims to keep abreast of developments and anticipated future developments of laws, cases, regulations, trade agreements and other matters which are important for technology transfer in or involving the European Union. The identification of these and their relevance are canvassed and discussed by correspondence or at Committee Meetings. Where possible and appropriate the Committee makes submissions to the European Commission or other appropriate authorities. The Committee aims also to collaborate with other Committees of LES International where their interests overlap. Mainly the other Committees will be the Patent and Technology Licensing; Copyright Licensing; and Trade Mark and Character Licensing Committees.

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES

The Environmental Technologies Committee provides a forum for discussion of environmental issues across several technological disciplines. The activities of the Committee are expected to grow as environmental issues and legislation become more important in the next millennium. The committee will monitor legislation on environmental issues and provide a reference source for LES members by forming a database of LES members involved in environmental issues.

EXTERNAL RELATIONS (International Affairs Committee) (8)

The External Relations mission is to determine which international agencies and organizations may be of interest to LESI regarding furthering goals of LESI, and to ensure that the appropriate Committees of LESI are made aware of opportunities for cooperation. External Relations will carry out this mission in the following manner:

• Determine the international organizations which might be of interest to LESI
• Arrange high-level meetings between the President of LESI and the officers of such
• organizations, usually on a yearly basis.
• Determine areas where cooperation between LESI and each organization might be possible.
• Inform the appropriate LESI Committee of the needs of each organization to see if they are willing to cooperate with the appropriate organization.
• Ensure that communication lines are open on a continuous basis.
• Provide local ambassadors for each such organization to aid in communication.
• Provide NGO as appropriate on a volunteer basis.
• Provide speakers for international organizations as appropriate.

HEALTH CARE PRODUCTS COMMITTEE

The Health Care Products Committee is a forum for airing issues common to all licensors and licensees. Programs are sponsored under the umbrella of LES International that enable the health care community to cope in a united way with issues that come before us all. The Health Care Products Committee "monitors and reports developments in law and business of health care products, technology transfer, identifies problems and recommends solutions".

IARS, Intellectual Asset Reporting System

Statement of Purpose

Intellectual Asset Reporting Systems (IARS) is an evolving area of both practical experiments in the form of capital market communications from companies attempting to meet reporting demands of the investing public, and the internal enunciation of value and measurement to meet the information demands of management. Licensing Executives find that the financial contributions of licensing and intellectual asset management may be the sole source of measured contribution to their enterprise, and therefore represent a useful reporting model from which to expand and standardize.

The field of IARS is dynamic and evolving. At the foundation, the failure of so many businesses at the end of the "dot com" cycle, and several globally significant accounting reporting scandals have raised demand for better and more comprehensive reporting systems. Forces driving the current evolution of trusted reporting systems are multiple: academic, commercial, government, regulatory, and professional. The frameworks and methods of IARS will take on more unity in the future, and are predicted to converge as an extension of general accounting protocols. At the same time, automation means are being tested to help reduce accounting reporting costs and strengthen the trace-ability of measures. These developing frameworks will affect Licensing Executives and functional operations.

There is also another perspective on IARS: the software codification means of the practical intellectual assets subject to license. These are often client/server solutions sold to licensing departments to help manage the licensing process. While this is not the focus of this Committee, knowledge of these systems among LESI members is high, and advise where needed is readily available.

The purpose of this Committee is to provide both a source of information and a discussion forum for current issues relating to IARS.

INDUSTRIAL SECTORS (ad hoc)

The Industrial Sectors Committee will study the evolution of industrial sector activities within LES member societies, and will recommend actions by LESI to encourage the expansion to other sectors and to other member societies those activities which support the continued growth and effectiveness of LESI in meeting the needs of its members.

INVESTMENT COMMITTEE

Advises the Officers and Delegates of LES International on investment of the international society funds.

IP MANAGEMENT

The committee shall collaborate with the attorneys charged with the registration and maintenance of the trademarks and other intellectual property of LESI, shall devise and recommend to the Board of Delegates standards for the use of the trademarks and of the logo of LESI and shall monitor compliance and, in the case of infringements of the intellectual property rights of LESI, shall recommend suitable action to the Board of Directors and/or the Board of Delegates, as appropriate

IT and E-commerce

The objective of the LESI IT and E-commerce Industries group is to provide members with a business networking forum within LESI and with other multimedia industry associations. This is accomplished by establishing regional multimedia industrial groups which will attract high quality members from business as well as maintaining an annotated worldwide directory. Workshops or seminars are conducted every year at LESI annual meetings, and news about the group is published frequently in the Blue Pages of les Nouvelles. The fields of interest of the LESI IT and E-commerce Industries Group include Interactive Electronic Products; CD ROM Development and Royalty Structure; Digital Information Communications; Entertainment, Sports & Character Licensing; Software; Copyrights & Trademarks; Electronic Commerce; Music Motion Pictures and Television and Virtual Reality

LEGAL (ad hoc)

The Committee advises the officers and delegates regarding legal matters relevant to the business and programs of LES International and makes recommendations to the Board of Delegates

LONG-RANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE (9)

The Long-Range Planning Committee has the responsibility: to undertake a permanent and continuous study of the goals, objectives, roles and activities of LES International, as well as on the needs of the Member Societies and to make recommendations to the Board of Delegates as to changes that the committee recommends be introduced in the structure and functions of the organization.

MEETINGS COMMITTEE (12)

The Meetings Committee is charged with the responsibility of recommending International conference meeting sites, as well as any other meetings designated by the International President to the Board of Directors and delegates for their advice and consent. In addition, the Meetings Committee is responsible for setting forth guidelines as to how International meetings should be organized and conducted. The Meetings Committee also assists the individual societies in connection with the planning, organizing and running of International meetings.

MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE (31)

The Committee is responsible for the update, production and distribution of LESI publications designed to streamline procedures within LES and/or to inform the public (organisations, government bodies) about LES. Such publications are the Who's Who, the Style Manual, the Operational Manual, the Annual Report, the Meetings Manual and any other management and/or organisational publications.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE (13)

The Membership Committee reviews the qualification of societies applying to become a member society and makes recommendations to the Board of Delegates. Factors which the Membership Committee take into consideration include the number of individuals in the applying society and the overall composition of the applying society, i.e., the number of private lawyers, corporate lawyers, businesspersons, etc. In addition, the committee will help regions (countries) to form chapters in order to apply to become a member society from those regions where LES International has received inquiries. The Membership Committee also reviews the activities of societies and offers to assist those societies which are not sufficiently active

NOMINATING COMMITTEE

The Nominating Committee has the following responsibilities:

1. Evaluating the candidates for officers of the Society;
2. Nominating the candidates for officers of the Society, as well as an auditor, all to be elected each year at the last meeting of the Board of Delegates;
3. Helping and advising the President and the President-Elect in the selection of committee members and chairpersons.

COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAS (24)

The mission of the Committee of the Americas is to keep abreast of the developments and the anticipated future developments of the intellectual property laws, antitrust laws, cases, regulations and other matters, of the countries party to the Pan-American treaty. The identification of these and their relevance will be canvassed and discussed by correspondence or at Committee meetings. Where possible and appropriate, the Committee will consider submissions to the appropriate authorities in the relevant countries regarding Pan-American matters. The Committee also intends to collaborate with other committees of LESI where their interests overlap. Those other Committees will include the European; Patent and Technology Licensing; Copyright Licensing; and Trademark and Character Licensing Committees.

PATENT AND TECHNOLOGY LICENSING COMMITTEE (15)

1. To prepare papers and undertake studies on matters relevant to patent and technology licensing as requested by or agreed with the officers of LES International.
2. To suggest speakers and workshop leaders on subjects pertaining to patent and technology licensing as requested by the officers of LES International or third party organisations.
3. To promote the publication in les Nouvelles of papers and reports on matters relevant to patent and technology licensing.

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE (16)

The Publications Committee seeks, through the publication and dissemination of articles, treatises and other materials, to inform industry, government and other affected parties of the significance of licensing in domestic and international technology transfers, to educate the Society's membership in current legal and business issues affecting the licensing of technology, and to provide for the exchange among the Society's membership of legal and business ideas relevant to the licensing of technology.

TRADEMARK AND CHARACTER LICENSING COMMITTEE (17)

The purpose of this Committee is twofold:

1. To collect and disseminate information regarding trademark and character licensing, including know-how and techniques of licensing trademarks as assets; and
2. To cooperate with the Trademark Administration Committee of LES USA/Canada in the protection and administration of the LES trademarks, including matter of use, registration, maintenance and policing.