Student Intellectual Property Law Association

The Duquesne Intellectual Property Law Association kindly invited us to join them for a discussion on professional experiences in the intellectual property law practice. The event will take place on Monday, April 16 from 5PM-6PM at Duquesne University School of Law, Hanley Hall, Room 310. Pizza and refreshments will be served. An informal reception will follow at the Red Ring.

The panel will feature:
Chip Dougherty, Esq. – Attorney at Reed Smith LLP
Tom Trempus, Esq. – IP Counsel at Alcoa, Inc.
Richard Ting, Esq. – Law Clerk for the Honorable Judge Cathy Bissoon

We look forward to seeing some of you there!

We are pleased to announce the 2012-2013 Student Intellectual Property Law Association Executive Board. Congratulations!

President – Dhairya Jani
Vice President – Dan Klodowski
Business Manager – Chaobo Jiang
Secretary – Allison Levinson
Communications Chair – Justin Saporito

For those who might be interested, George Washington University hosts a summer IP “study abroad” program in Munich and offers eight 1-credit IP related courses. The program runs from July 1-28. Chief Judge Randall R. Rader (Federal Circuit) and Judge Edward Damich (Court of Federal Claims) will also be teaching this summer. For more information, please visit:

SIPLA will be holding elections for next year’s SIPLA board members on Tuesday, April 10th in Room G13 at 12PM. The open positions for next year are: President, Vice-President, Business Manager, and Webmaster.

The ACBA Arts and the Law Committee has invited Pitt Law students to join them from a networking reception and meet members of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Allegheny County Bar Association, and other law students. The event will be held at Future Tenant on Friday, April 20, 2012 from 5-8PM.

Please come meet the local artists and members of the legal community. Exhibits will be on display from Broken Slogan, featuring work by Jonathan Chamberlain, John Phillip Abbott, and Arthur Mohagen III. Each artist’s work maintains a rich visual vocabulary incorporating the use of text, both as image and subject. Additionally, fun trademark law games will be provided by the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Arts and Law Committee.

Please RSVP by Tuesday, April 17 to Marlene Ellis at mellis@acba.org.

The Federalist Society and SIPLA are pleased to host Professor David G. Post (Beasley School of Law) and our own Professor Michael J. Madison to discuss the future of copyright law, and its potential consequences for the internet as we have come to know it. This lunch discussion will take place on Tuesday, March 27th at Noon in Room 111. Sandwiches, chips, and refreshments will be served.

Recent IP-strengthening bills like SOPA and PIPA were met with much public outcry, and they resulted in a mass coordinated “black-out” of many websites in protest. Professor Post believes that bills like these represent a turning-point for the internet which, if passed, could do substantial damage to not only the internet infrastructure, but most importantly, to freedom of speech and expression itself. Following Professor Post’s presentation, Professor Madison will share his thoughts.

Co-sponsored by The Federalist Society and SIPLA.

SIPLA will be having its March meeting this Friday, March 16th from 5-7PM at Elements downtown. Two recent Pitt Law alums will be joining us to share their experiences working in the intellectual property field. Appetizers will be served.

Elements Contemporary Cuisine, 444 Liberty Ave, Four Gateway Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

Pitt Law’s Faculty Student Research Lunch for March will be featuring Professor Kevin Ashley who will be discussing artificial intelligence and the law. The lunch and learn will take place Thursday, March 22nd at Noon in Room 113. Pizza and soda will be served.

Pitt Law Professor Kevin Ashley has a highly unusual specialty for a law professor: artificial intelligence (AI). AI is the field that brought us IBM’s Watson, the computer program that beat the human champions on the Jeopardy! Show. But what does AI have to do with the practice of law? Professor Ashley will describe some potential legal applications of the DeepQA technology in Watson.

Co-sponsored by Research Dean David Harris and the Student Intellectual Property Law Association (SIPLA).

EVENT FLYER

Pitt Law and the Innovation Practice Institute (IPI) will be hosting an Innovation Law Lecture with Professor Rochelle Dreyfuss (NYU Law) on March 22, 2012 from 4-5PM in Room 109.

In recent speeches, President Obama has emphasized the importance of innovation to social welfare and has suggested that patenting and job growth are intimately related. In her lecture, Professor Dreyfuss explores these critical assumptions, the increasing complexity of the patent ecosystem, the impact of the burgeoning patent system on basic science, and other strategies for facilitating knowledge production. She ends with a look at the political economy of patent lawmaking and considers the potential impact of the new America Invents Act on scientific research.

One (1) CLE credit has been requested for this event.

EVENT FLYER

RSVP LINK

The USPTO will be accepting application for their summer patent externship until Wednesday, February 29. Last year there were about 200 students who participated in the program. The program will last anywhere from 8-10 weeks and is at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

APPLICATION LINK