Events

In Bilski v. Kappos, the U.S. Supreme Court will address limitations on patentable subject matter in the context of a business method invention, analyzing a body of case law in such a way that some say could call into question the validity of many other patents and types of claims, while others argue it is not restrictive enough. PIJIP and the FCBA will host a panel of experts to discuss the case shortly after the Court hears the oral argument.

IP owners and many governments advocate tougher enforcement of intellectual property than is currently required by the TRIPS Agreement. Critics warn that it risks upsetting the TRIPS Agreement’s balance between the protection of IP-owners’ and IP-users’ rights. On November 5, PIJIP will bring together leading academics and civil society actors to discuss international enforcement of IP.

On October 20, NYU Law Professor Rochelle Dreyfuss will deliver the Fifth Annual Finnegan Distinguished Lecture on Intellectual Property. Professor Dreyfuss directs the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy, and her scholarship covers areas of intellectual property, privacy, the relationship between science and law, and civil procedure. Her talk's topic will be “What the Federal Circuit Can Learn from the Supreme Court-and Vice Versa.”

PIJIP and Prescription Policy Choices will co-host an October 16 event to discuss actions state governments have taken to control pharmaceutical costs. Topics will include: innovative state legislation; federal appellate litigation by the pharmaceutical industry asserting a First Amendment right to access prescription records for marketing purposes; and the implications of health care reform for access to medicines and the use of health information.

Monday, September 21 at 2pm, Room 516. WCL alumnus Mark Lerner is Senior Vice President for Law and Government, Secretary, and General Counsel for Bally Technologies, a gaming company that designs, manufactures, operates and distributes slot and video machines. As General Counsel, he supervises all intellectual property and related matters for the company.

As part of International Week, PIJIP will host a panel on international copyright. Professors Michael Carroll and Peter Jaszi will be joined by Michele Woods, Senior Counsel for Policy and International Affairs at the Office of Policy and International Affairs of the U.S. Copyright Office. They will discuss the role of the Copyright Office in setting international policy, and current issues affecting copyright around the world.

Kickoff event for the Intellectual Property Program. This is your opportunity to learn about the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, IP Law Society, IP Brief, and IP Clinic. Come meet the IP faculty, staff and student leadership.

PIJIP and the Dance Heritage Coalition celebrate the release of the “Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use of Dance-Related Materials.” This is the culmination of our work with dance librarians, curators, and archivists on limitations and exceptions to copyright.

The Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors (PIIPA) and PIJIP hosted a conference on April 25 on the past, current, and future needs for pro bono intellectual property services. It focused on the need for assistance in developing countries, and the opportunities for law firms, law school clinics, and other legal service providers to engage in pro bono work in the intellectual property law and policy space.

The 7th Annual Symposium on “IP/Gender: Mapping the Connections” invites proposals for papers on gender issues relating to the production and use of inventions, broadly defined. Appropriate topics might include: gendered patterns in the history of invention or creation; gendered regulation of inventive activities; gendered models of individual and collective inventive activities; gendered aspects in licensing or assignment of technologies; and related subjects.

A screening and discussion of the award-winning, acclaimed documentary by Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno and Jerome Bongiorno that chronicles the 1967 six-day Black urban rebellion in Newark, NJ.

Stanford Professor John Barton and Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler recently outlined a proposed global framework on medicine pricing to protect research and development incentives while promoting greater access to drugs in low and middle income countries. It calls for measures to restrain developed countries from excessive use of price controls, while promoting price discrimination in middle income countries. PIJIP and Knowledge Ecology International will co-host a discussion of this proposal with Professor Barton on February 19 at WCL.

Entertainment industry lawyer Michael Donaldson, author of Clearance and Copyright: Everything the Independent Filmmaker Needs to Know has worked with PIJIP and the AU Center for Social Media on projects promoting the fair use of copyrighted materials. He will discuss the IP issues involved in making movies.

In this meeting with students, professors, and members of the bar, Chief Judge Michel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit discusses the precedents at play within the areas of the law known as “business method” and “software” patents.

Professor Daniel J. Gervais will be the 4th annual Finnegan Distinguished Lecturer in Intellectual Property at American University Washington College of Law. The lecture will be titled “TRIPS 3.0,” and will be held October 21. Professor Gervais is the author of the leading treatise on the history and interpretation of the TRIPS agreement and Editor in Chief of the Journal of World Intellectual Property. He is currently a Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School, previous to which he was professor of law and Acting Dean of the Common Law Section at the University of Ottawa.

WCL grad Theresa Swinehart has served as Vice President, Global and Strategic Partnerships, for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) since 2004. On Thursday, October 2, she will discuss career path after leaving WCL, recent developments in international and domestic law that affect her work in intellectual property law for ICANN, and more.

2008 International Arbitration Summer Session Seminar. Sponsored by the Washington College of Law in cooperation with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. A group of leading practitioners and academics will discuss 1) disputes under the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Rules and 2) current issues regarding the arbitration and mediation of international IP disputes.