Chinese Blog Reports on 64th Annual IP Law Conference

Runhua Wang recently posted the second installment of her series reporting on the proceedings of our 64th Annual IP Law Conference @UICJohnMarshall. Non-Chinese readers can use the autotranslate feature on their browsers. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/egYnw3alWddZyY_HgtHXEQ

IP Adjunct honored as a 2020 Advocate for Diversity Award recipient

Delighted to learn that IP Center adjunct Alex Menchaca will be honored as an “Advocate for Diversity” at the virtual Diversity Scholarship Foundation 2020 Unity Award Gala on December 8.

Advisory board member Peter Yu named Regents Professor

Delighted to learn that Texas A&M University recently named Peter Yu as a Regents Professor. On my invitation, Peter joined our advisory board this year. Together with Hugh Hansen, Peter and I jointly organized a roundtable on legal realism in February. This Regents Professor designation is the most prestigious award from the Texas A&M System to highlight exemplary faculty. Peter is the first professor from the School of Law to receive this systemwide honor. As Dean Robert Ahdieh noted "Hard to imagine a better statement of Professor Yu's contributions and character than the introduction to a letter supporting his nomination to a distinguished society: Describing his productivity, the author wrote that 'if academics were a race, Professor Yu would be lapping us all without breaking a sweat.' Equally, though, the letter praises him as a 'paragon of kindness and colleagueship. He is never too busy or too important to ignore a colleague across the country.'" https://bit.ly/33GGlwN

Lisa Jorgenson (JD ’88) named WIPO Deputy Director-General

Delighted to learn the World IP Organization (WIPO) has just named Lisa Jorgenson (JD '88) as its Deputy Director-General overseeing patents and technology. Lisa was Executive Director of the American IP Law Association from 2014. Introducing Lisa and other senior leaders, WIPO Director-General Daren Tang noted that "[c]ollectively, and together with me, we set the tone at the top. As a team, we are responsible not just for strategy and leadership but also translating strategy into concrete plans, initiatives and actions.” https://bit.ly/36DE8UI

IPWatchdog Features Reflections from 64th Annual IP Conference

Today IPWatchdog featured reflections by speakers and attendees at our recently concluded 64th Annual IP Conference. Titled "Intellectual Property Policy: Four Observations, Five Questions, and a Warning," the post also features a summary of former Chief Judge Michel's keynote address. We appreciate IPWatchdog for memorializing and sharing key takeaways from our conference. Read it here: https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2020/12/03/intellectual-property-policy-four-observations-five-questions-and-a-warning/id=127789/

Discussion on Antitrust on IP with Qualcomm’s Mark Snyder

Looking forward to my discussion with Mark Snyder, Qualcomm's Deputy General Counsel and SVP, Litigation, on the interface of antitrust and IP in December.

Happy Thanksgiving & IPWatchdog Post on AI

Shared with IPWatchdog my thoughts on the progress on what we know about the law’s take on AI and what we don’t. Happy Thanksgiving!

US Bar – JPO Liaison Meeting

Glad to join officials from the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and members of the US patent bar for the US Bar JPO's annual Liaison Council Meeting. Representatives in the US came from state bars in the Carolinas, New York, Virginia, Wyoming, and the American Bar Association. Susumu Iwasaki, Deputy Commissioner of the JPO, and Kevin Kunzendorf, Chair of the US Bar/JPO Liaison Council co-chaired the meeting. US-Japan ties among the patent community continue to be strong. Our discussion was wide-ranging, covering topics including AI and 3D printing technology, patent subject matter eligibility, and the impact of Covid-19.

36th US Bar – EPO Liaison Meeting

Joined European Patent Office (EPO) officials and U.S. patent attorneys for the 36th US Bar EPO Liasion Council Meeting. Both sides discussed a wide range of topics, including Covid-19's impact and measures at the EPO, the Unitary Patent/Unified Patent Court, plant and animal patentability at the EPO, as well as artificial intelligence (AI) at the EPO and USPTO. I was honored to address the Council on AI and spoke about areas of convergence, divergence, and the importance of plurilateral and multilateral efforts to harmonize safe harbors, redlines, and regulatory sandboxes. Covid-19 has bolstered both the need for countries to work together as well as the means to do so early and often. Let's make the most of it. EPO's press release here: https://www.epo.org/news-events/news/2020/20201120.html

Thank you, sponsors and institutional partners!

UIC John Marshall Law School's 64th Annual IP Law Conference is a one-day, virtual event providing an exceptional opportunity to meet online with newsmakers and influencers, to learn and discuss the most exciting and important developments in the field, and to be empowered to help create better laws and policies that promote innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Featuring 14 sessions with more than 80 world-class faculty, this year’s conference embraces advances in video-conferencing technology to provide virtual networking receptions throughout the day. Given the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects across the globe, we gave this consideration particular attention and selected a virtual platform that provides presenters and attendees the same seamless transition between panel discussions and networking for which the conference has become known. We are pleased to welcome the keynote speaker for the 64th Annual IP Conference, Hon. Paul Michel (ret.), former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Chair of our Center’s advisory board. The title of his keynote is "The Arc of American Patent Law" Bloomberg, IPKat, and IPWatchdog will be onsite this year to report on the Conference. Hope to see you there! https://ipconference.jmls.uic.edu/2020/