Public lecture celebrates opening of new design center at Chicago-Kent

Chicago-Kent's new Center for Design, Law & Technology (cDELTA or c∆) celebrated its launch on Feb. 21 with a public lecture by Chicago-Kent professor Graeme Dinwoodie on “The Future of Design Copyright after Star Athletica?,” followed by a reply from Notre Dame law professor Mark McKenna, a research affiliate of the new center. 

Founded by professors Dinwoodie and Edward Lee, director of Chicago-Kent’s Program in Intellectual Property Law, the new center will promote research, scholarship and instruction at the intersection of design, creativity, technology and the law.  

“The center is the first of its kind in the country,” said Professor Lee. “Design is on the minds of everyone, not just designers and businesses, but now also lawyers.  Delta means change.  Our mission at c∆  is to bring together in Chicago experts in design, business and the law from around the world, to better understand the changes and challenges in design they face today.” 

Research will address legal protections of design in the United States and internationally, creativity and innovation in design, and design thinking and problem solving. The center will host talks, workshops and conferences and, in tandem with the Chicago-Kent Center for Empirical Research of Intellectual Property, confer grants to fund research related to innovation and creativity. 

Future events include a March 19 lecture on “Intelligent Design” by University of Chicago law professor Jonathan Masur and Cardozo School of Law professor Christopher Buccafusco; a March 22 book talk by University of San Diego law professor Orly Lobel, author of You Don’t Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie’s Dark Side; and an April 1 book talk by attorney Christopher Carani, editor-in-chief of Design Rights: Functionality and Scope of Protection, along with attorney Dunstan Barnes, who contributed a chapter to the volume.