33rd Annual ABA Intellectual Property Law Conference, April 18-20, 2018

33rd Annual ABA Intellectual Property Law Conference, Arlington, Virginia

[Kip Currier: 1st full day of this year's American Bar Association Intellectual Property Law Conference. Lots of intriguing sessions to choose from...case in point, the 10:15 AM slot has two concurrent ones I want to attend--Trademark/Ethics: Ethical Issues in Emerging Technology and Copyright: Copyright Law and Policy Developments.

I'm also attending the Mark T. Banner luncheon today, featuring Simon Tam of the band The Slants and his legal team, who last year won a major federal trademark law case, Matal v. Tam (previously Lee v. Tam), involving so-called disparaging trademarks. The case presented potentially significant implications for free speech and economic interests. Tam and his band spoke as part of a very thought-provoking panel at Duquesne University last April, before the U.S. Supreme Court had announced its decision in June 2017. The Slants prevailed, in a unanimous decision.

I talked with Tam after the April 2017 panel about the case and he insisted on having his bandmates sign the band's poster I'd purchased.

It will be interesting to hear thoughts from the various parties a year later, regarding post-Matal v. Tam implications...]


Thursday, April 19

7:00 am – 5:00 pm	Registration • Print Café • Sponsors
7:15 am – 8:30 am	Conference Connections New Members • First-Time Attendees • Young Lawyers
8:30 am – 10:00 am	Patent: Impact of Heartland on District Court Litigation
8:30 am – 10:00 am	Trademark: From the Practitioners' Perspectives: Managing Discovery in Trademark Cases: TTAB vs. Federal Court
8:30 am – 10:00 am	Copyright/Social Media: #Ad Disclosures
10:15 am – 11:45 am	Patent: Ask the Office: Hot Topics with the USPTO Commissioner for Patents
10:15 am – 11:45 am	Trademark/Ethics: Ethical Issues in Emerging Technology
10:15 am – 11:45 am	Copyright: Copyright Law and Policy Developments
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm	Mark T. Banner Award Luncheon Honoring Simon Tam and his legal team during a special presentation.
1:45 pm – 3:15 pm	Patent: Coming Together: Worlds Apart
1:45 pm – 3:15 pm	Trademark: Proving a Negative: Best Practices for Prosecuting and Defending Non-Use Abandonment Proceedings in the US & Abroad
1:45 pm – 3:15 pm	Copyright: The Right of Publicity
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm	Specialty: Growing Your Start-Up IP Practice
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm	Trademark/Copyright: Fictional Characters in 3D
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm	Specialty/Ethics: Multijurisdictional Practice and the Modern Ethical IP Attorney

Slants Win Trademark Case, Leader Tells Redskins to Drop Name Voluntarily; U.S. News & World Report, June 19, 2017

Steven Nelson, U.S. News & World Report; 

Slants Win Trademark Case, Leader Tells Redskins to Drop Name Voluntarily

"The 8-0 ruling likely clears the way for the Redskins football team to retain trademarks contested under that ban. But Simon Tam, the band's founder and namesake of Matal v. Tam, says the NFL team should change its name anyhow.

"Just because something is permissible, it doesn't mean it's the right thing," Tam told U.S. News after his band's victory. "I think it's their social responsibility to do that.""

Episode 774: Unspeakable Trademark; NPR, Planet Money, May 26, 2017

[Podcast] Jacob Goldstein, Ailsa Chang, NPR, Planet Money; 

Episode 774: Unspeakable Trademark

"Warning: This episode has explicit language, for unavoidable and soon-to-be obvious reasons...

Today on the show, a fight over a band name that turns into a fight about free speech. It goes all the way to the Supreme Court."