Intellectual Property Law

As Optivo, the world renowned anti-cancer drug, was developed by Tasuku Honjyo, the Nobel laureate, in 2017, R&D on antibody drugs has come to draw more attention than ever. In light of Japanese patent practice, pharmaceutical companies and research institutes face new challenges on the scope of patent protection when filing applications related to antibody drug patents. In his presentation, Dr. Iida will provide a brief outline of the patent practice related to antibody drugs and how you can prepare your specification to cover a broad scope of protection in Japan. Read more

The California Lawyers Association Intellectual Property Law Section hosted the 2019 IP and the Internet Conference on Thursday, June 6, 2019, at the Luskin Conference Center, UCLA. The conference was a one-day event that began with a delightful breakfast and ended with a networking reception. It was a day packed with learning and sharing pertinent information about industry changes and advancements. Read more

Mike Masnick, founder of TechDirt, opened up the 2019 IP and the Internet conference by reassuring his audience that he isn’t actually anti-copyright. And to be sure, many of his entertaining slides clearly displayed Unsplash or Creative Commons attribution. But just in case his audience turned surly, one of those 487 (down from the original 489) slides showed the escape route he had mapped out to LAX. Read more

Elliott Gold will discuss the recent changes to Canadian trademark legislation including, Canada’s recent adherence to the Madrid Protocol, the Adoption of the Nice Classification system, recommended steps for U.S. trademark applicants, tips for IP due diligence investigations for Canadian transactions, Canadian and Global Brand Protection and border enforcement strategies. Read more

The practice of intellectual property law is global and diverse. Our clients’ IP needs are not confined to a particular state, or even a particular country. Our clients are business owners, innovators, creators, and artists. Their work regularly crosses state line, so why shouldn’t we? Read more

Ross A. Epstein is a partner and the Chair of the Intellectual Property Group at CKR Law LLP. Mr. Epstein provides legal counsel to a wide variety of clients including U.S., European and Asian multinational corporations; universities and other research institutions; small businesses and start-up companies; and sole inventors and entrepreneurs in high tech, life sciences as well as other industries. Mr. Epstein has a unique affinity for the entrepreneurial client due to his hands-on experience in business as the founder, President, and CEO of BCH Communications. Read more

The speaker will discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Iancu v. Brunetti, where the Court held that the federal trademark law banning registration of immoral and scandalous marks is a viewpoint-discriminatory regulation of expression that violates the First Amendment. This conclusion was not surprising given the fact that the Court held in 2017 in Matal v. Tam that a similar law denying registration to potentially disparaging marks was an unconstitutional regulation of the viewpoint of expression. While some commentators believe that Tam and Brunetti require the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register expression that is hateful, profane, vulgar, or otherwise offensive, trademark applicants still need to prove that their marks are distinctive and function as trademarks that identify a single source of goods or services. Thus, such marks may be refused registration on lack of distinctiveness or failure to function grounds. Moreover, the Justices suggested that Congress could draft a more narrow provision that would survive First Amendment scrutiny, such as a law banning registration of expression that is obscene, vulgar, or profane. Read more

Daniel M. Cislo is the managing partner of Cislo & Thomas LLP. The firm specializes in patent, copyright, trademark filings, licensing, and intellectual property litigation. Read more

Intellectual property infringement on social media is both common, and often difficult to prevent. This is especially true for trademark infringement, which lacks something as straightforward as the DMCA. Join Tom Kulik from Scheef & Stone for a webinar on the practical considerations of reporting IP infringement to social media platforms: when it's appropriate, how to go about it, and how to maximize your success. Read more

Bruce is a Director of Global IP at Illumina, a San Diego-based biotech company creating solutions for genetic research. He began his legal career at Foley & Lardner in Washington, DC, before transitioning to in-house counsel roles at HP and now at Illumina. At MIT, Bruce earned his master’s and Ph.D. in two different engineering fields, and he later received a law degree from Georgetown and taught IP law as an adjunct professor at George Mason University. Read more