IIT Chicago-Kent launches Supreme Court IP Review
IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law has assembled an impressive group of scholars, practitioners, and members of the judiciary and of the U.S. Supreme Court bar for its inaugural "Supreme Court Intellectual Property Review." The Honorable James B. Zagel, judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, will be a featured panelist. The program, which begins at 1 p.m. on September 30, will be held in Chicago-Kent's Governor Richard B. Ogilvie Auditorium, 565 West Adams Street (between Clinton and Jefferson streets) in Chicago. A reception will immediately follow the conference.
The U.S. Supreme Court's 2010-11 term begins October 4 with newly sworn justice Elena Kagan taking the bench. The Chicago-Kent conference will present a timely review of important IP issues that have come before the court. Leading members of the Supreme Court bar, intellectual property practice, and academia will review the Supreme Court IP cases decided this past term—American Needle, Inc. v. NFL, Bilski v. Kappos, and Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick. Participants will also preview cert petitions to watch and cases on the docket for the next term, including Costco v. Omega, S.A, and Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n, a First Amendment case involving California's restrictions on violence in video games.
"In the last term, the Supreme Court decided major IP cases involving patentable subject matter, copyright registration in class-action copyright lawsuits, and the treatment of NFL teams as a single entity when it comes to selling trademarked merchandise," said Professor Edward Lee, director of Chicago-Kent's Program in Intellectual Property Law. "We are pleased to launch our annual review of Supreme Court IP cases with leading Supreme Court litigators, including some of the attorneys involved in the important IP cases from this past year and upcoming in the court in 2010."
Speakers include the Honorable James B. Zagel, judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois; Donald Chisum, author of Chisum on Patents, Patent Law Digest and Chisum Patent Law Reference Guides; Roy T. Englert, Jr., of Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber LLP (counsel for Costco); Randal C. Picker, Paul H. and Theo Leffmann Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Chicago Law School; and Paul M. Smith of Jenner & Block LLP (counsel for Entertainment Merchants Association and Entertainment Software Association).
Speakers also include Thomas C. Goldstein of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and publisher of SCOTUSblog; Deborah Jones Merritt, John Deaver Drinko-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law at Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University (court-appointed amicus in Reed Elsevier); Jeffrey M. Carey, general counsel of American Needle, Inc.; and Scott E. Gant of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP.
The program is free of charge, although registration is required. For more information or to register, please visit the conference website or contact Patricia O'Neal at (312) 906-5128 or ipconference@kentlaw.edu.
Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. Chicago-Kent currently offers a J.D. certificate program in intellectual property law and in 2002 became the first American law school to offer a one-year LL.M degree in International Intellectual Property Law.
