IIT Chicago-Kent to participate in the 40th annual Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition
Samuel Cook and Sarah Riess, third-year students at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, will represent the law school in the 40th annual Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition's Midwest regional tournament March 15 to 17 in Chicago. Sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the competition focuses on patent and intellectual property law issues. Winners from four regional competitions will advance to compete in the national tournament April 17 to 19 in Washington, D.C.
The competition is named for the late Giles Sutherland Rich, who served as a judge on the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals from 1956 to 1982. Judge Rich was named to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1982 and remained on the bench until his death in 1999 at age 95. Judge Rich's judicial opinions include some of the most groundbreaking, influential and controversial in modern U.S. patent law.
This year, students will argue a hypothetical patent infringement case involving software applications that run on smartphones. IIT Chicago-Kent team member Samuel Cook received a bachelor of science degree in biology and public policy analysis from Pomona College. Teammate Sarah Riess majored in biomedical sciences with a minor in chemistry at Western Michigan University. She earned graduate degrees in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University. The team is coached by IIT Chicago-Kent Professor Mickie A. Piatt, deputy director of the Program in Intellectual Property Law.
Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is celebrating "125 years of distinctive legal education." IIT 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. IIT 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.
