The Renewing American Innovation (RAI) initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Studies explores the policies and partnerships that will secure the United States’ role as a leading innovator while ensuring that all Americans have a shared stake in the innovation economy. By producing insightful analysis and convening stakeholders from across the innovation ecosystem, RAI seeks to foster a public appreciation for the networks and institutions we owe much of our prosperity today.

A senior lobbyist with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a quartet of former federal judges and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office leaders launched a new organization to influence U.S. intellectual property policy. The nonprofit group, the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP), said in an announcement that it aims to fend off threats to innovation with an “ambitious campaign to educate policymakers and the public about the importance of I.P. rights.”

Andrei Iancu is at the heart of both efforts. He sat down with me to share his insights on life and leadership.

1:38: – How Humira shows the patent system is working.
6:53:– What is driving anti-patent narratives?
8:12:– Does the U.S. government understand what’s at stake?
10:40:– What would you like to see the U.S. government do?
12:07:– Has the Biden administration veered off track?
14:02:– How does Israel fare on I.P.? Are patents for the weak?
18:58:– Thoughts on I.P. and A.I.
26:30:– The case for a cabinet-level position on A.I.
31:00:– On Congress and China.
33:05:– On non-competes and trade secrets.
36:40:– On Fintive and rulemaking.
41:10:– The press as a megaphone: Measuring impact.
43:16:– On the Council for Innovation Promotion.
45:28:– On leadership.

Delighted to join faculty, staff, and students in hosting Admitted Students Day at Penn State Dickinson Law this week. The program featured lectures and presentations on everything from property law to experiential learning and being a resident in Carlisle. Special thanks to Bekah Saidman-Krauss Rebecca Schreiber Lori Rogers Ellen Hanna Trish Prosser and their team for their hard work in making the event a success!

Photos (L-R): with Lori Rogers, with current students, admitted students, and Professor Katherine Pearson, with KC Read-Fisher (Class of 2025), Professor Alison Lintal, and Professor Samantha Prince.

Enjoyed warm southern hospitality in nippy North Carolina thanks to Arti Rai, Teresa Artis (Artis Neal), Keith Robinson, Simone Rose, and Shitong Qiao. Looking forward to catalyzing new collaborations and forging people-to-people ties between our schools, universities, and beyond.

Penn State Dickinson Law Wake Forest University School of Law University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Duke University School of Law

The Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ) was established to address the social justice implications of intellectual property law and policy domestically and globally. IIPSJ’s broad work includes the scholarly examination of intellectual property law from the social justice perspective; advocacy for social justice-cognizant interpretation, application, and revision of the intellectual property law; efforts to increase the diversity of the intellectual property legal bar; and programs to empower historically and currently disadvantaged and marginalized communities through the development, protection, use, and exploitation of intellectual property.
IIPSJ Founder and Director Professor Lateef Mtima and his team work to fulfill the social justice obligations of IP protection by embracing the principles of equitable access, inclusion, and empowerment. He sat down for a fireside chat with me to share his insights on life and leadership.
2:07: – Pioneering the social justice movement in IP.
11:33:– Inspiring collective success.
14:26:– Beyond the call of duty.
18:18:– Has the IP and social justice movement come of age?
21:26:– Institutionalizing progress and the Unleashing Innovation Act.
26:56:– The US IP Alliance
29:20:– What was most formative for you during your formative years?
31:55:– Amherst and Harvard
40:08:– Founding the Harvard Blackletter Journal and the ABA Landslide magazine
46:49:– Mentors and mentees
58:14:– The next chapter.

Pleased to be back in Washington, DC. The Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ) celebrated its 20th anniversary of advancing a worthy cause long before it became today’s mainstay. Warm congratulations to Professor Lateef Mtima, Esther Lim, and Tashia Bunch! Social justice is a core pillar of Penn State Dickinson Law’s mission. We are proud to count IIPSJ as our institutional partner and cooperate closely with them on several initiatives.

Over two days, we considered various issues, including how cutting-edge developments in ChatGPT, the metaverse, AI, data privacy and security impact society and legal practice. We also looked at “whole of society” innovative initiatives such as the Unleashing American Innovation Act and ‘innovator diversity pilot.’ programs.

Andrew Cooper (Meta), Claire Desmond (Under Armour), Izu Emeagwali (J.P. Morgan), Yen Florczak (3M Company), and Ankur Shah (Freddie Mac) shared brilliant and memorable insights on how each exemplified leadership in adding value through intangible assets to their respective corporations and their work in advancing social justice. Theirs was a discussion that was a pleasure and honor for me to moderate.

It was good to hear from Judge Len Stark (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit), Judge Scott Boalick (Patent Trial and Appeal Board), and Judge (ret.) Susan Braden (U.S. Court of Claims), Judge Bryan Moore (U.S. International Trade Commission), Chip Rettew, Professors Margo Bagley, Colleen Chien, and Sandra Aistars, and connect with a few of them on the sidelines of the event.

Meetings were an important part of this trip. I enjoyed catching up with Judge Pauline Newman (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit), Dr. Anu Sawkar (Federal Trade Commission), Rob Sterne (Sterne Kessler Goldstein and Fox), John Connolly (Senator Hirono), as well as Daniel Lee, Michelle Yang, and Jake Ewerdt (U.S. Trade Representative). We exchanged views on IP law and policy in the context of their respective responsibilities. Much remains to be done, and much can be done together.

Ended my trip by visiting the Lincoln Memorial. En route, I caught sight of a picture of Jim Thorpe, considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports. He was the first Native American to win Olympic gold for the U.S. He won two Olympic gold medals in the 1912 Summer Olympics, one in the pentathlon and the other in the decathlon. He also played football, baseball, and basketball professionally. Jim Thorpe and Penn State Dickinson Law share a connection. As a youth, he attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, also the home of Dickinson Law.

What I saw at the Lincoln Memorial sums up the spirit of what must be done. The first was an inscription marking where Martin Luther King Jr. stood when he gave his “I have a dream” speech. The speech is famous for its aspirational overtures, but what is less known but clear from the engraving was its very practical goal – jobs and freedom through ending segregation, securing fair wages and economic justice, voting rights, education, and overdue civil rights protections.

The second was President Lincoln’s second inaugural. After an entire generation of one-term presidents, he won a second term. His words on that occasion guide us still: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”