#iplspring2014

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#CLE Preview: ITC in Flux: Learning from Recent Developments

By: Stacy Yae

The International Trade Commission (ITC) recently issued new rules and regulations that may pose challenges to ITC practitioners. One such regulation is a pilot program to expedite initial determination on issues like domestic industry, importation, and standing through fact discovery and limited hearings.

The White House has also issued executive actions and proposals to undercut frivolous, abusive litigation with the goal of protecting innovation and improving the U.S. patent system.

Panelists will reflect on these recent developments and discuss the merits and drawbacks of the new rules and regulations. ITC practitioners will especially find this a helpful presentation. A major topic of discussion will be what challenges ITC practitioners should expect to face and how best to prepare for them.

"This year has been an exciting one at the ITC!" says panelist Kim Parke, "The President, the Federal Circuit and the Commission have been very active in several substantive areas of the law. Presidential review, public interest, and domestic industry have all been in flux this year. Please join us to learn about all of these exciting developments."

We hope to see you at this highly anticipated CLE presentation on Friday, April 4 at 1:45 PM - 3:15 PM. I will also be there live-Tweeting (#IPLSpring) during the event.

Moderator:

Pallavi Seth, The Brattle Group, Washington, DC

Speakers:

Lynn Levine, Former Director of the Office of Unfair Import Investigations, Inc., Alexandria, VA

Eric Namrow, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Washington, DC

Karin Norton, Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Washington, DC

Kimberly Parke, Former Attorney-Advisor at the ITC

If you cannot make it to the 29th Annual ABA Intellectual Property Law Section Spring Conference this year, you can still follow all the action by following the tweets and blog entries of the ABA-IPL’s Law Student Reporters, who will be covering all the events of the Conference on Twitter. You do not have to sign up for Twitter to follow the Law Student Reports. Just bookmark this blog and revisit this link from April 2-4, 2014 to follow all the action.

Stacy Yae (@stacypyae), a first-year law student at UCLA School of Law in Los Angeles, California will cover this CLE presentation, along with Michal-Ane McIntosh (@IP_Michal-Ane), a third-year at University of Florida Levin College of Law.

PHOTO: FLICKR / ep_jhu

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#CLE Preview: IP Law #Scholarship #Patent Symposium

By:  Dana L. Broughton, Ph.D. 

Professor Gaia Bernstein of Seton Hall University School of Law has written an article entitled, “The Rise of the End User in Patent Litigation.”  The main players of focus in the current patent system are typically the patentee and the patentee’s competitor.  It is often assumed that the end user will be represented by the competitor.  However, there have been an increased number of end users as central players in patent lawsuits filed by non-practicing entities.  “End users” are typically smaller players such as customers and small companies.  Unfortunately, the America Invents Acts did not predict the growing role of end users in patent litigation.  Unluckily, the end users lack the technical sophistication and end up in dispute during the later stages of the patent life when it is essentially more expensive to litigate.  Bernstein’s article “argues for the need to equip end users with tools to defend their interest in this new litigation landscape.” 

Attorney Phillip Swain of Foley Hoag LLP “has represented “end users” and customers who have had to deal with the problem of patent litigation initiated by patent trolls, as well as many clients who received licensing demand letters from patent trolls.”  Swain suggests that “one tool that customers of patented products can employ, when targeted by an infringement lawsuit, is to seek indemnification from the manufacturer of the product, if possible.”  He also suggest that, “it may also be possible to seek a stay of patent litigation against the customer under a doctrine called the ‘customer suit’ doctrine, which provides that where there are infringement lawsuits against both the customers and the manufacturer of a patented product, the court may stay the lawsuit against the customer in favor of allowing the suit against the manufacturer to go first.”

Professor Bernstein will present her paper at the Patent Symposium on Wednesday, April 2nd and Attorney Swain will comment on End User Issues from a practicing attorney’s perspective.  The symposium will be beneficial to “anyone who represents parties who are involved in patent litigation, including patent litigation attorneys, but also attorneys who are not litigators but who have clients that become involved in patent litigation, as well as the clients themselves.”

Presenters

Author:  Gaia Bernstein, Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark, NJ

Commentator:  Philip C. Swain, Foley Hoag LLP, Boston, MA

If you cannot make it to the 29th Annual ABA Intellectual Property Law Section Spring Conference this year, you can still follow all the action by following the tweets and blog entries of the ABA-IPL’s Law Student Reporters, who will be covering all the events of the Conference on Twitter. You do not have to sign up for Twitter to follow the Law Student Reports. Just bookmark this blog and revisit this link from April 2-4, 2014 to follow all the action.

Photo Credit:  Dana L. Broughton

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#CLE Preview: Professional Skills: ABA-IPL Skills Academy: Fitting Business Development into Your IP Practice

By:  Dana L. Broughton, Ph.D.

How do I get clients if I start my own firm?  How do I bring in more business to my firm once I make partner?  How do I replace the “big” client that I just lost?  These are all frequently asked questions of law practitioners and these questions spark a much needed conversation on law practice business development.

At this year’s ABA-IPL 29th Annual Intellectual Property Conference in Arlington, VA a professional skills/ business development will take place on Wednesday, April 2nd.  Richard Goldstein states, “A session on business development at an IP conference is extremely rare, and practically unheard of.  And yet, to may practitioners it is one of the most important skills they would hope to learn.” 

Goldstein along with top notch marketing experts, Carol Greenwald, Ph.D.  and Jeri Quinn, will spearhead a much needed conversation on business development in the Intellectual Property World. 

Quinn states, “If the client isn’t satisfied with his/her experience, it will end badly and there will be no referrals which then increases the cost of client acquisition. . . . Emotional intelligence, empathy, great communication, and real authentic caring are the keys for growing a following of clients with extraordinary lifetime value and building a sustainable expanding firm.” 

This professional skills workshop will cover a plethora of guidelines including: 

How to create a carefully focused Marketing Action Plan [MAP]

The six critical conversations necessary to create relationships

Creating “touch points” that will provide an outstanding customer experience.

Goldstein will touch upon networking techniques, Greenwald will touch upon marketing techniques, and Quinn will touch upon designing an excellent client experience. 

Goldstein is the Vice Chair of the AIPLA Law Practice Management section and serves on the editorial board of Law Practice Magazine and the Law Practice Today webzine.  Greenwald is a member of the Women Rainmakers Board, Legal Marketing Association, and the past president of the Legal Marketing Association.  Quinn is the president of Driving Improved Results and is the author of “The Customer Loyalty Playbook:  12 Game Strategies to Drive Improved Results in Your Business.”

Speakers

Richard Goldstein, Goldstein Patent Law, New York, NY

Carol Greenwald, Marketing Partners, Inc., New York, NY

Jeri Quinn, Driving Improved Results, New York, NY  

If you can’t make it to the 29th Annual ABA Intellectual Property Law Section Spring Conference this year, you can still follow all the action by following the tweets and blog entries of the ABA-IPL’s Law Student Reporters, who will be covering all the events of the Conference on Twitter.  You do not have to sign up for Twitter to follow the Law Student Reports. Just bookmark this site and revisit the link from April 2-4, 2014 to follow all the action.

Image Credit:  Dana L. Broughton 

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4th Annual Law Student Reporters Program

The Law Student Action Group of the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law presents the 4th Annual Law Student Reporters Program

  The Law Student Action Group (LSAG) is excited to announce the return, for the fourth year in a row, of the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL) Law Student Reporters Program.  The Law Student Reporters (LSR) program was created to provide an opportunity for law students to attend ABA-IPL's IP programming while engaging and interacting with IP practitioners from around the world at the largest ABA-IPL event of the year -- the Intellectual Property Law Conference in Washington, D.C. The conference will take place April 2nd - April 4th at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Crystal City, VA. You can find out more information about the conference at the official website, located here. This year will mark the the 29th anniversary of the conference and we want you to be a part of it!

APPLY:

We will begin accepting applications on January 8th, 2014. The deadline to return your completed application for early decision is Monday, January 27th, 2014. Applications will be accepted until February 24, 2014 although preference will be given to early applications, so get your application in as soon as possible. Download the application.

ELIGIBILITY:

- Applicants must be a member of the ABA-IPL and its Law Student Action Group. Membership for both groups is free, with your paid ABA law student membership.

- Applicants must be currently enrolled at an ABA-accredited law school.

LSR REQUIREMENTS:

Applicants must be available to attend and report on all three days of the conference.

Reporters are expected to prepare a minimum of three pre-conference posts that provide a preview of their assigned events.

Reporters must have a Twitter account and Tumblr account. You can create them for free when you apply.

Post a professional biography to the LSAG Tumblr account.

Attend and tweet during assigned CLE programs using the #IPLSpring hashtag.

Attend and tweet during assigned Non-CLE Events using the #IPLSpring hashtag.

Attend assigned ABA-IPL committee meeting(s).

Author “CLE Recap” blog articles for LSAG’s blog (sample: http://lsag-aba-ipl.tumblr.com/post/47966953610/cle-review-copyright-infringement-in-patent)

*Please  note that travel and accommodations are not provided for participants; however, most past participants have successfully received funding from their respective law schools to cover travel and accommodations in connection with the program.  Read more about getting funding from your school.

Have any questions? Feel free to reach out to Heather Schubert ([email protected]).