51st Annual Conference on Intellectual Property Law

Overview

The Center for American and International Law presented its first conference on IP Law in 1963. In the early years, D. Carl Richards chaired the Institute on Patent Law (as the conference was called then). Later on, V. Bryan Medlock chaired or co-chaired the conferences for many years. Members of today’s Institute for Law and Technology are grateful to these leaders and to the many others who co-chaired conferences, organized sessions, or made presentations.

ILT will celebrate its 51st Annual Conference on Intellectual Property Law this November. This conference is free to ILT Advisory Board Members. 

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Highlights

Download the Brochure (pdf)

For more details, download the online brochure.

Conference Co-Chairs 

Lawrence J. Bassuk
Deputy General Patent Counsel
Texas Instruments, Inc.
Dallas, Texas

David Taylor
Assistant Professor
SMU Dedman School of Law
Dallas, Texas

Tuition

Schedule and Faculty

Monday, November 11

7:45 am

Networking Breakfast
(presented by the Women in IP Task Force - State Bar of Texas: Pioneering Women in IP)

All conference delegates are welcome to attend this breakfast session presented by the Women in IP Task Force.

Our panelists will discuss ethical and professional challenges encountered by women lawyers during the last 30 plus years, what they did to address them, and what advice they would give to help other women lawyers successfully practice law with professionalism and integrity. Situations discussed will include the following:

• Maintaining professionalism and integrity in the practice of law despite situations, unprofessional comments, and questions presented to female lawyers based strictly on the fact they are women. Guidance on how to handle these situations effectively while maintaining legal and professional duties towards clients, the courts, and other lawyers.
• Common mistakes women lawyers make that diminish their effectiveness and adversely impact their professionalism, and rectifying mistakes once they are made. Strategies for maintaining integrity of the legal profession and practicing law with the highest level of professional conduct.

Moderator

Megan Dredla Hoyt, Thompson & Knight LLP, Dallas, Texas

Panelists

• Hilda Galvan, Jones Day, Dallas, Texas
• Wei Wei Jeang, Andrews Kurth LLP, Dallas, Texas
• Betty Ungerman, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Lennox International, Dallas, Texas

Patent Litigation

Module Chair: Theodore Stevenson III

9:00 am

Stewardship of Patent Law - The Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit

This panel will explore the roles of the Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit with respect to the development of patent law in this country.

Moderator

David O. Taylor, Assistant Professor of Law, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, Dallas, Texas

Panelists

• The Hon. S. Jay Plager, Circuit Judge, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Washington, D.C.
• John M. Golden, The University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas
• Gregory A. Castanias, Jones Day, Washington, D.C.

10:00 am

Cutting Edge Issues in Patent Litigation

Our judge/practitioner panel will discuss ideas for change in processes and procedure for patent litigation.

Moderator

Theodore Stevenson, III, McKool Smith, Dallas, Texas

Panelists

• The Hon. Leonard Davis, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler, Texas
• The Hon. Lee Yeakel, District Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
• Douglas A. Cawley, McKool Smith, Dallas, Texas

11:00 am

Break

11:15 am

How to Deal with Patent Trolls

How should Congress address the increasing number of patent law suits filed by non-practicing entities? How should potential infringers deal with patent trolls? Should we feed or starve patent trolls?

Moderator

Scott Breedlove, Vinson & Elkins, Dallas, Texas

Panelists

• Scott Burt, SVP, Chief Intellectual Property Officer, Conversant Intellectual Property Management, Inc., Ottawa, Ontario
• Derek Gilliland, Nix, Patterson & Roach, L.L.P., Daingerfield, Texas
  
• Sharon A. Israel, Mayer Brown LLP, Houston, Texas
• Eric Olsen, Vice President, Acquisitions, RPX Corporation, San Francisco, California
• David Pridham, Co-Chairman, IP Navigation Group, LLC, Dallas, Texas

12:00 pm

Lunch

12:15 pm

Ethics Presentation: Understanding and Applying (1) the Strategies and Implications of U.S. Patent Law Amidst the Chaos Caused by the Newly Arising But Long Ranging Coexistence of pre-AIA, AIA, and Jedi-Master Mixer and (2) Post-Therasense Duty of Candor: Ethical Imperatives?

Well, here we go for at least the next 21 years. AIA, pre-AIA, and a strange hybrid of AIA and Pre-AIA that Tom Irving calls the Jedi-Master Mixer will all exist simultaneously. We will examine traps for the unwary. And we will also look hard at where we are post-Therasense, looking at recent court holdings of inequitable conduct and possible back-door approaches to 103 invalidity based on non-disclosure of prior art.

Bryan C. Diner, Finegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, Washington, D.C.

1:15 pm

Break

Trademark & Copyright Issues

Module Chair: Allen Lineberry

1:30 pm

The Year in Copyright Law

A review of 2012-13 cases and controversies involving copyright law, including issues related to fair use, digital media, remedies, and ethical considerations facing copyright practitioners.

Kevin J. Meek, Baker Botts, LLP, Austin, Texas

2:30 pm

What We Can Learn from an Empirical Study of Copyright Infringement Litigation

What does an examination of pleadings and dockets from four hundred copyright lawsuits filed from 2005 through 2008 show?  Lots.  Come hear about various insights, including the success of various claims and defenses and the nature of remedies sought and awarded. 

James Gibson, Professor of Law, Director – Intellectual Property Institute, University of Richmond School of Law, Richmond, Virginia

3:15 pm

Break

3:30 pm

Growing a Brand in the Era of Globalization

Practical and cost-effective strategies for pursuing international protection for your client’s trademarks.

Shannon T. Vale, Pirkey Barber PLLC, Austin, Texas

4:00 pm

The Year in Trademark Law

An overview of precedential 2012-13 cases from the TTAB and important civil cases involving trademarks.

Molly Buck Richard, Richard Law Group, Dallas, Texas

5:00 pm

Networking Reception

6:00 pm

Dinner

Functional Patent Claims and the Government’s Approach to Shutting them Down

One of the most vexing problems in intellectual property law is the ambiguity in the scope and coverage of exclusive rights. In the patent sphere, claim construction is of critical importance because of the wide variance in potential rulings and in whether any district court ruling will stand on appeal. One common form of ambiguity arises when a patentee claims an apparatus by its function rather than by affirmatively listing the parts that make-up the invention. The Supreme Court first addressed this issue in the 1854 telegraph case of O'Reilly v. Morse, 56 U.S. (15 How.) 62 (1853) (holding Morse's functional claim of generally transmitting signals using electro-magnetism to be unpatentable). Since then, we have passed through a number of cycles that involve legislative or judicial shifts to limit functional claiming followed by creative responses by patent practitioners that revive that claim scope. We are once again hearing a drumbeat of approaching policy changes to limit functional and ambiguous claims with action threatened by Congress, the Courts, and the Administration (through both the USPTO and FTC). This presentation will walk through this history, but will focus primarily on the most recent rise of functional claim language during the past decade and how detractors are responding to that shift. As part of the presentation, I will also present, for the first time, a new set of empirical results that graphically chart these changes. 

Featuring
Dennis Crouch, University of Missouri

Tuesday, November 12

7:45 am

Guides Ethics Roundtables

Join one of our guided roundtable discussions addressing modern-day ethical issues confronting intellectual property attorneys.

Moderator:

Bill McSpadden, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Dallas, Texas

Panelists:

• Kelly Kubasta, Klemchuk Kubasta LLP, Dallas, Texas
• Paul Lein, Locke Lord LLP, Dallas, Texas
• Paul V. Storm, Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, Dallas, Texas

Patent Prosecution: A Deeper Dive

Join our experts as they discuss some advanced patent prosecution issues.

Moderator:

Brian Carlson, Slater & Matsil, L.L.P., Dallas, Texas

Panelists:

• Jody Bishop, Associate General Counsel - IP, GENBAND, Frisco, Texas
• John R. Pessetto, Patent Attorney, Texas Instruments, Inc., Dallas, Texas
• Terry J. Stalford, Fish & Richardson, Dallas, Texas

8:45 am

Break

Patent Prosecution

Module Chair: Ira Matsil

9:00 am

The Year in Patent Law

A review of 2012-13 patent law decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit

Gale R. "Pete" Peterson, Cox Smith Matthews Incorporated, San Antonio, Texas

10:00 am

Section 101: What's a Practitioner to do?

Recent court decisions seem to have raised as many questions as they have answered. Despite this uncertainty, however, patent prosecutors must continue to draft claims with the hope that they will survive eventual challenges. Here is a discussion of how to proceed in this ever changing world.

Colin Cahoon, Carstens and Cahoon, LLP, Dallas, Texas

10:30 am

Break

10:45 am

Changing Patent Prosecution Strategies after the AIA

How are corporate clients changing their patenting and prosecution strategies and procedure in response to the AIA? What differences, if any, are being observed based on the size of the client and the technologies being protected?

Moderator:

Richard F. Phillips, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, Houston, Texas

Panelists:

• Jonathan Geld, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Austin, Texas
• Rob L. King, Silicon Laboratories, Austin, Texas
• Michael W. Piper, Conley Rose, P.C., Plano, Texas

11:30 am

Fun with Post-Grant Proceedings

This presentation will be a detailed look into the new world of inter partes review and covered business method post-grant proceedings. We’ll cover the rules and procedures, how discovery works at the PTAB, what the PTAB judges like (and don’t like), and the inter-play between the post-grant proceedings and corresponding district court litigation.

Andrew S. Ehmke, Haynes and Boone, LLP, Dallas, Texas

12:15 pm

Pick up Boxed Lunch

12:30 pm

The World of Litigation, Some Thoughts on Where We Are Today

The Hon. Patrick E. Higginbotham, Judge, 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals

1:15 pm

Break

Technology, Licensing, & IP Rights

Module Chair: Marc Hubbard

1:30 pm

Managing a Patent Prosecution Team

This program will provide best practices and relate experiences and solutions for recruiting and training patent prosecution team members, communication within a patent prosecution team, maintaining quality control and meeting client standards and expectations, and business models for scalability in patent prosecution.

• David Divine, Lee & Hayes, PLLC, Spokane, Washington
• Richard Goldstein, Goldstein Patent Law, New York, New York
• Richard LaCava, Dickstein Shapiro LLP, New York, New York

2:30 pm

Recent national and international issues affecting licensing

This presentation will focus on the latest cases involving an exclusive licensee's prudential standing to bring an infringement suit as well as bankruptcy and tax issues in IP licensing.

Xuan-Thao Nguyen, SMU Dedman School of Law, Dallas, Texas

3:15 pm

Break

3:30 pm

Drafting and Negotiating Technology Transaction Agreements

What are the key contract terms in technology and IP-focused deals? This interactive discussion reviews important key clauses that are found in technology contracts in a point/counterpoint format and provides tips for effectively drafting and negotiating them.

• Edward A. Cavazos, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, Austin, Texas
• Keith Witek, AMD, Austin, Texas

4:30 pm

Ethics Session: Avoiding Ethical Landmines in Patent Prosecution

The Patent Office has recently implemented new rules for professional conduct that align with the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. This presentation will discuss the new rules, the most common ethical issues that result in discipline from the Patent Office, tips for avoiding subject matter conflicts, and other ethical issues facing patent prosecutors.

Darryl J. Adams, Baker Botts LLP, Austin, Texas

5:00 pm

Adjourn

Overnight Accommodations

CLE Credits

This program is approved by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization for 16.5 hours in the following areas: Civil Appellate Law and Civil Trial Law

Other Information

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