by Shubha Ghosh, PhD, JD, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and Directory Intellectual Property Commercialization and Innovation Law Curricular Program and Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute
Last month’s newsletter detailed the many events in the Program and of the Institute and described future activities. October has been another busy month with the promised events coming to fruition.
On October 3, I was glad to host Harven de Shield, JD, PhD (Buffalo 2007), visiting us from Chicago. Dr. de Shield has been actively working as a patent attorney in St Louis and Chicago and is currently counsel for a biotech start-up in Chicago called Vivacelle. Students in Advising the Start-up I benefitted from his visit as I cotaught a class session that went into the details of forming a start-up, including employment agreements, intellectual property protection, and the FDA approval process for medical devices. Dr. de Shield also graciously was interviewed for a webinar discussing his experiences. A recording of the webinar will be posted our YouTube page soon.
The week of October 15 welcomed Professor Rafal Sikorski of Adam Mickiewicz University Faculty of Law and Administration to the College of Law. The University, located in Posnan, Poland, has an exchange program with Syracuse University. Professor Sikorski had a busy week speaking to the Intellectual Inns of Court at Bond, Schoeneck, & King on patent injunctions in Europe and to the Advising the Startup I class on standard setting organizations and FRAND in the cellular industry. Professor Sikorski’s talk about patent injunctions was also the basis for an extensive webinar, which will be posted on our YouTube page soon.
Professor Mark Bartholomew from University at Buffalo Law School visited us on October 17 to participate in a webinar on his research regarding “neuromarks.” At the intersection of neuroscience and trademarks, neuromarks build on recent developments in studies of brain activity in response to external stimuli (such as sensual images of trademarks, both traditional and non-traditional marks, such as smells and touch). Professor Bartholomew sees game-changing implications of neuroscience for trademark prosecution and litigation. His article on neuromarks is forthcoming in the Minnesota Law Review.
October 23 through November 1 brought work travel to China and Japan, where I spoke to intellectual property academics and attorneys at Renmin University in Beijing and Waseda University in Tokyo. Renmin hosted a three day conference on Copyright Law (jointly organized with Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and the Asian Pacific Copyright Association) where I spoke on the intersection of intellectual property law and corporate law in a keynote lecture entitled “Copyright Governance.” As the title suggests, the lecture looked at how copyright affects governance issues over information and knowledge and addressed specifically the ongoing issues confronting copyright licensing organizations (like BMI/ASCAP) and open science. The conference was attended by over fifty intellectual property practitioners and academics from around the world, and the keynote was well received. Although there was no video of the lecture, slides and accompanying materials are available upon request. Waseda University was the forum for a meeting with graduate students and professors presenting and seeking comments on their current works-in-progress in the fields of technology and intellectual property commercialization.
The year ends with several obligations that will be the subject of next month’s newsletter: (1) an invited lecture to the National Association of University and College Attorneys at their annual meeting in Washington, DC, November 13-16; (2) participation in a annual patent law review at Georgetown Law School, November 16; (3) an invited lecture to Queen Mary’s Law School in the first week of December; and (4) a speaking engagement at a panel discussion based on my new book “Exhausting Intellectual Property Rights” (Cambridge, 2018) at the World Trade Organization, Geneva, on December 7. All to be reported on next month.
I welcome your feedback and comments.
Have a good Thanksgiving!