[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 125 (Thursday, September 23, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1949-E1950]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               LEWIS FLACKS OF THE U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HOWARD COBLE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 23, 1999

  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, Lewis Flacks, who was employed nearly 25 
years in the U.S. Copyright Office, died on July 23, 1999, in London. 
As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, I 
have come to rely on the technical expertise on copyright matters that 
are available through the auspices of the Office. The men and women who 
work there provide a great and needed service to the Congress and the 
American public, and their contributions should be recognized with 
greater frequency. In this regard, while I was saddened to learn of 
Lewis' death, I am honored to have this opportunity to acknowledge his 
life and his work.
  I wish to enter in the Congressional Record the following article 
regarding Lewis Flacks' accomplishments. It originally appeared in the 
August issue of Copyright Notices, the staff newsletter of the 
Copyright Office.

    [Reprinted from Copyright Notices, Vol. 47, No. 8, August 1999]

                     Lewis Flacks, An Appreciation

                           (By Ruth Sievers)

       Lewis Flacks, 55 whose career at the Copyright Office 
     spanned over 20 years, died of cancer in London on July 23, 
     where he had lived for the past 6 years since leaving his 
     position as a policy planning advisor to the Register. He was 
     the director of legal affairs for the International 
     Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

[[Page E1950]]

       Known for his brilliance, his wit, and his devotion to his 
     family, Lewis (also known as Lew in the Office) played major 
     roles in the revision on the Copyright Act in 1976 and in the 
     decision for the United States to adhere to the Berne 
     Convention in 1988. He was the senior copyright advisor to 
     the U.S. delegation during the TRIPS negotiations at the 
     Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Traffics and Trade 
     (GATT). He served on virtually every Committee of Experts 
     convened by the World Intellectual Property Organization 
     (WIPO) from 1984 to 1992 to deal with the Berne Convention 
     and the Universal Copyright Convention, and he was 
     influential in negotiating the final texts of the Geneva 
     Phonograms Convention and the Brussels Satellite Convention. 
     More recently, his work was critical in the adoption of two 
     important intellectual property treaties in December 1996, 
     the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and 
     Phonograms Treaty.
       It was not only the incredible depth of his knowledge of 
     copyright law that made him an important resource in 
     negotiations, but his role as a ``peacemaker,'' as former 
     Register of Copyrights Barbara Ringer characterized him.
       During the revision process, the lengthy period leading up 
     to the passage of the 1976 Act, Lewis came up with 
     ``brilliant solutions'' enabling ``innumerable compromises,'' 
     said Ringer. He was essential ``in putting out all those 
     brush fires.''
       ``He was a man of ideas,'' said Register of Copyrights 
     Marybeth Peters. ``He was brilliant at strategies. He could 
     talk about any subject in a way that bound his audience to 
     his ideas.''
       ``Because of his unsurpassed copyright expertise, his deft 
     diplomatic touch, and his legendary ability to forge 
     compromises, the United States spoke with a strong voice at 
     the international bargaining table,'' said Ralph Oman, a 
     former Register of Copyright.
       A native New Yorker, Lewis was a 1964 graduate of the City 
     College of New York and a 1967 graduate of Georgetown Law 
     School. That was the same year he began his career in the 
     Copyright Office, when Barbara Ringer hired him as an 
     examiner, though she says her primary purpose in bringing him 
     on board was to get a project underway at the Library for the 
     preservation of motion pictures. A mutual friend had 
     recommended him to Ringer, who talked with him twice before 
     passing him along to Former Examining Division Chief Art 
     Levine for the actual hiring interview. ``As I recall, we 
     talked nothing but movies,'' she said. ``Nobody knew more 
     about movies than he did.''
       He served the Office in various positions: senior examiner, 
     attorney-advisor in the General Counsel's Office, special 
     legal assistant to the Register, International copyright 
     officer, and policy planning advisor.
       In speaking with his friends and colleagues to write this 
     piece, what comes across in his complete uniqueness.
       ``I've never known a more brilliant person, but he covered 
     it with his wild, modant humor,'' said Ringer. ``That's what 
     people remember him for, but he had a great deal of depth.''
       ``The most remarkable thing about Lewis was that time was 
     of no relevance to him,'' said Neil Turkewitz of the 
     Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) who has 
     known him since 1987. ``It was the real genius of him; it 
     allowed him to explore the very details of things. He learned 
     from everything, because he was so patient. . . . What really 
     set him apart was his ability to learn.''
       ``He would recognize the little nugget tucked away'' that 
     others overlooked, said Ringer. ``He was a fantastic legal 
     technician; he could grasp things that would take others 
     weeks to see, and he could see all the ramifications.''
       Furthermore, she said she knew she could rely on him to 
     ``tell things like they are. He'd tell you if he thought you 
     were off on the wrong track. . . . So many people have their 
     own agendas or they just tell you what they think you want to 
     hear. You could always trust what Lewis said--he always saw 
     both sides of the picture.''
       Said his wife, Frances Jones, who was his partner for 31 
     years, ``He had a strong sense of ethics . . . a sense of 
     fairness.''
       To a person, everyone mentioned his wit. ``He had keen 
     insights into people, and he was always a wonderful and 
     entertaining person to be around,'' said Art Levine. ``I'd 
     introduce him to some of my clients at WIPO [meetings], and 
     they would always be eager to get together with him again.''
       ``He could be very funny, trotting out a variety of voices, 
     especially Yiddish ones, that left his listeners laughing in 
     the aisles,'' said David Levy, former attorney in the 
     Examining Division.
       ``He was the funniest person I ever met,'' said Eric 
     Schwartz, a former policy planning advisor who worked with 
     Lewis. Schwartz recounts a story of how Flacks met comedian 
     and actor Jerry Lewis in Paris--where Jerry Lewis is 
     revered--in 1987 at a meeting on moral rights. ``Lewis 
     (Flacks) approached Jerry Lewis and introduced himself as 
     Jerry Lewis' `only American fan,' since only the French 
     really appreciate Jerry Lewis' films. Jerry Lewis thought it 
     was the funniest thing he'd heard.''
       ``He was a perfect colleague--smart, funny, and bluff; a 
     much sought-after dinner companion, he always had the best 
     jokes, the hottest news, and the latest photographs of his 
     beloved son, Paul,'' said Ralph Oman.
       His love and devotion to his son Paul, who is now 14, is 
     something else that no one failed to mention in talking about 
     Lewis. As Peters said, ``His son was one of his greatest 
     joys.''
       His wife mentioned another important role that Lewis played 
     in private life and in the Office--that of teacher. Said 
     Schwartz: ``He was a great teacher. He taught me 
     international copyright law in a series of long talks in his 
     office, which, combined with our love of films and his sense 
     of humor, made it fun to come to work.'' Said Peter 
     Vankevich, head of the Public Information Section, ``Lewis 
     made copyright come alive, after talking with him, you felt 
     really proud to work in the Office.''
       Lewis had many passions--among them books, wine, theater, 
     and more recently, music. He was teaching himself to play the 
     guitar, Chicago-style blues. But above all, he was passionate 
     about movies.
       ``He knew more about film and film preservation than anyone 
     I've ever met, except for Barbara Ringer,'' said Schwartz, 
     who served as the Library's counsel to the Film Preservation 
     Board. ``I incorporated many of his ideas about film 
     preservation into the legislation creating and reauthorizing 
     the National Film Preservation Board (1988 and 1992) and 
     Foundation (1996). His suggestions really helped the cause of 
     film preservation, and he was very highly regarded in the 
     Motion Picture and Recorded Sound Division.''
       Admittedly, Lewis was not perfect. He was famous--or 
     notorious--for not meeting deadlines. ``People had to flog 
     him to get him to finish,'' said Ringer. ``It could be 
     infuriating,'' said Levin, ``because he'd never get anything 
     done on time. But then, when he finally produced a piece, it 
     would be so brilliant, he'd get away with it.''
       ``Lewis did everything slowly,'' said Turkewitz. ``He even 
     walked slowly. You had to be careful or you'd be three blocks 
     ahead of him. . . . He was someone who just decided that the 
     decline of western civilization was being caused by its 
     frantic pace, and he wasn't going to live that way.'' 
     Turkewitz said you might think that would mean Lewis was, in 
     terms of technology, a dinosaur, ``but he was just the 
     opposite. He was very interested in technology. . . . He was 
     a true renaissance man. He was complete sui generis.''
       Or, as Ringer said, ``I never met anyone like him. He was 
     utterly unique.''
       Or, as Jason Berman, head of IFPI said, ``The legacy of Lew 
     Flacks remains the legions of friends and admirers he made 
     around the world in a distinguished 30-year career.''
       The Copyright Office is holding a memorial program for 
     Lewis Flacks on September 24 in the Mumford Room of the James 
     Madison Memorial Building.

     

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