Professors from the William Mitchell Intellectual Property Institute and attorneys from Leonard, Street and Deinard hosted a wide-ranging discussion of current trends in the law of copyrights, patents, and trademarks. The topics included:

Review of the Amicus Briefs filed by the Intellectual Property Institute
Professor R. Carl Moy discussed the highlights of the recent amicus brief filings made by the Intellectual Property Institute under his leadership. He discussed, among other things, his amicus brief in In re Bilski. View outline of Professor Moy’s presentation here.

Nontraditional Trademarks
Nontraditional trademarks like sound, scent, color and even motion make the U.S. system a very difficult standard for harmonization purposes. Much of the world is attempting to harmonize, but is this standard a good idea? Professor Kenneth L. Port provided examples and numbers to conclude that nontraditional trademarks make up an extremely small portion of U.S. trademarks. To harmonize to this standard is, to be sure, the tail wagging the dog. View Professor Port’s presentation here.

Public vs. Private Infringement of Copyright
As digital technology advances, new types of information goods are arising. How should these goods be protected? What will be best for the content provider and the constitution? View Dean Niels B. Schaumann’s presentation here.

Panel Discussion
Kevin Conneely and Eric Paulsrud, leaders of the Intellectual Property litigation and corporate practice areas at Leonard, Street and Deinard, facilitated a question-and-answer session on topics raised by the presenters as well as those submitted by the audience.

CLE credit has been applied for and all attendees will receive confirmation information once the credits have been approved.