Bernard Knight (second from left), general counsel for the United States Patent and Trademark Office, served as the keynote speaker for the 56th Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference hosted the Center for Intellectual Property Law at The John Marshall Law School. He is joined by (from left) United States District Court Chief Judge James Holderman; William McGrath, acting directory of the Center; and John Marshall Professor Daryl Lim.
The Center for Intellectual Property Law at The John Marshall Law School welcomed more than 200 attorneys from around the country for the 56th Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference, “Hot Topics and Current Developments in Patent, Trademark, Copyright and Trade Secrets Laws” on Feb. 24, 2012.
Keynote speaker for the event was Bernard Knight, general counsel for the United States Patent and Trademark Office, who addressed the new America Invents Act, considered one of the most important pieces of legislation affecting patent law in the last 50 years.
U. S. patent laws will change so that by the spring of 2013, there will be new issues and new proceedings for patent practitioners, inventors and businesses to consider. Included in the changes is a move to a first-to-file system rather than the current first-to-invent system. This will put the U.S. in closer alignment with its global partners in determining priority of invention based on the earliest date a patent application was filed with a patent office. There is a limited one-year grace period related to public disclosures made by the inventor.
In addition, the America Invents Act will be replacing the long-standing procedure to prove a prior invention, i.e., interference proceedings, with “derivation proceedings” to determine whether an inventor of a first-filed patent application derived the claimed subject matter without authorization from an inventor named in a later-filed application.
Guest presenters at the Center for Intellectual Property Law’s 56th Annual IP Law Conference were (from left) Kevin C. May of Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg; R. Mark Halligan of Nixon Peabody LLP; William T. McGrath, acting director of the Center; William Frankel of Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione; Mark V.B. Partridge of IP Law; and Chief Judge James F. Holderman of the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois.
The program also featured a corporate panel discussion with executive counsel. The panel gave practitioners the chance to hear the inside perspective and network with the client side of their legal business.
The Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference demonstrates John Marshall’s commitment to being on the cutting-edge of emerging IP law and the Center’s deep involvement with the IP practitioner community.
The conference is designed to give practitioners and students the opportunity to learn about the most recent trends and developments in IP law from leaders in the field. The program also helps participants network with colleagues from across the IP legal sector.
