Previous Events & CLE Programs
May 16, 2008
Committee Meeting
Recent Developments in European Patent Practice
Sponsors
Life Sciences Committee
International IP Law Committee
Intellectual Property Law Section
Join Graham Lock and Mark Sweetinburgh of Fry Heath & Spence LLP for an interactive presentation covering recent sweeping changes in European patent practice, including EPC 2000, the London Agreement, and European Patent Office fee structures. The discussion will cover recent rule changes generally and provide tailored strategies for patent drafting and prosecution for practitioners in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.
March 24, 2008
Committee Meeting
Regulating Stem Cell Research
Sponsors
Life Sciences Committee
Health Law Section
Join Patrick L. Taylor, JD, Harvard Medical School, and M. William Lensch, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, as they discuss the diverse legal and ethical guidelines that may influence the progress of stem cell research.
In recent years, stem cells have garnered national and international media attention from a variety of perspectives – scientists and patient advocates, clergy and politicians. This unprecedented focus has generated a patchwork of rules and regulations, from presidential edicts to state laws regarding this potentially life-altering new technology.
January 29, 2008
Committee Meeting
Biotech Basics For Lawyers
Biotechnology inventions, companies, and investments have become a crucial and ever increasing part of our local, national, and international economy. Melissa S. Rones, Ropes & Gray LLP, and Sonia Guterman, Lawson & Weitzen LLP, will expose non-scientist lawyers to some of the basic biological concepts underlying current products emerging from the biotechnology industry. However, this is not intended to give you flashbacks to high school biology. Join us as we put these concepts to work and discuss how an understanding of the underlying science and the proper description of the technology may significantly impact your transaction or project. If you've always thought that RNA was just a typographical error, this seminar may be for you.
May 17, 2007
Committee Meeting
Join us as Lori Pressman discusses the background of gene patents. Specifically, she will discuss:
- News items that motivated a study on DNA-Based Patents
- Definitions of gene patents, and whether and how they should be licensed to universities
- Pragmatic approaches for balancing economic and social goals.
As attorneys in this field are in a unique position to identify useful categories of patents for study, audience input and participation will be appreciated.
March 20, 2007
Committee Meeting
Mega Deals – Terms and Issues
Sponsors
Intellectual Property Law Committee
Life Sciences Committee
Dr. Frances Toneguzzo, Director of Corporate Sponsored Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, will discuss the terms and issues of mega deals.
Dr. Toneguzzo has been involved in several negotiations involving important therapeutic patent portfolios with pharmaceutical companies and with large biotech companies that in recent years have evolved into pharmaceutical companies. She is in an excellent position to analyze legal issues that have arisen that may be unique to mega deals, and may also be relevant to deals more typical of universities.
April 26, 2006
Committee Meeting
H.R. 2795: Patent Reform or Revolution?
Frank P. Porcelli and Diana M. Collazo, both of Fish & Richardson P.C., will discuss several legislative proposals that are currently pending in Congress. These proposals promise to bring significant changes to the U.S. patent system and address widespread concern over perceived inefficiencies and abuses in U.S. patent practice.
Topics to include:
- Post-grant opposition
- First inventor to file
- Willfulness test
- Injunction standard
- Inequitable conduct
November 22, 2005
Committee Meeting
Bioethics and the Law
Dr. Lisa N. Geller , a patent attorney and bioethicist currently practicing at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, will discuss recent developments in synthetic biology, stem cells, U.S. Patent and Trademark Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences decision on hybrid life forms, and other topics of interest to all attorneys.
November 16, 2005
Committee Meeting
The U.S. Patent System: Working or Broken and Who Decides?
The U.S. Patent System is the subject of a number of hotly contested criticisms including:
1. The USPTO is under funded, understaffed, and overwhelmed.
2. Patents are issuing for pre-existing technologies and trivial improvements.
3. Patent litigation is far too slow, expensive, and unpredictable.
4. Patent "trolls" - companies that acquire patents not to practice them but to extort licensing fees and make infringement claims -- are subverting the system.
5. Pending legislative patent reforms are a band aid and will not fix the problems.
Our distinguished panel of speakers, representing a variety of viewpoints, will evaluate these and other criticisms and address the ultimate questions, is the U.S. Patent System working or not working to foster innovation, and who decides.
Panelists to include:
Lee Carl Bromberg, leading intellectual property litigator and co-founder of Bromberg & Sunstein LLP
Dr. Adam B. Jaffe, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Brandeis University
Dr. Robert Rines, founder of Franklin Pierce Law Center; inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1994
Ross Kerber, technology beat reporter for the Boston Globe
James Toupin, United States Patent and Trade Office General Counsel
Jack Turner, Associate Director of the MIT Technology Licensing Office
The panelists will provide brief comments and then the floor will be open for spirited questions and debate!
Sponsored by:
Intellectual Property Litigation Committee of the Boston Bar Association
Co-Sponsored by:
The Boston Patent Law Association
BBA Computer and Internet Law Committee
BBA Life Sciences Committee
BBA IP Public Policy Committee
BBA Intellectual Property Law Committee |
