PILT Symposium to Feature Patent Expert

The state of the U.S. patent system will be the featured topic during the next Scholarly Symposia Series on Current Issues in Intellectual Property Law, slated for Thursday, March 31, in Keller Hall. Law Professor F. Scott Kieff will discuss "Killing the Golden Goose: How Today's Innovations In the Patent System Are Harming Innovation Itself."

The program begins at 6 p.m. with a reception, followed by Kieff's address at 7 p.m.

The symposium is sponsored by the law firm of Porter Wright through the Hubert A. and Gladys C. Estabrook Charitable Trust and presented by the School of Law's Program in Law and Technology and the Intellectual Property Law Society.

Kieff is a professor at George Washington Law School and the Ray & Louise Knowles Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where he directs the Project on Commercializing Innovation. He also serves on Hoover's Property Rights Task Force and as a faculty member of the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center at Germany's Max Planck Institute.

Kieff often serves as a testifying and consulting expert, mediator and arbitrator to law firms, businesses, government agencies and courts. He currently serves on the Patent Public Advisory Committee of the Patent and Trademark Office, which was created by Congress to advise the government on the patent operation. Previously, Kieff served on the Appellate Mediation Panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In 2008, he was recognized as one of the nation¿s "Top 50 under 45" by the magazine IP Law & Business.

Before attending law school at the University of Pennsylvania, he studied molecular biology and microeconomics at MIT and conducted research in molecular genetics at the Whitehead Institute.

During his address, Kieff will discuss how the evolving patent system may actually hinder innovations in biotechnology, genetics, engineering, medicine, pharmaceuticals and software. This has important policy implications since many countries count on patent systems to spur new technology and promote economic growth.

Registration Information

One and a half CLE credit hours are being offered for this symposium. The cost to register is $50.

Register online now or contact Nan Holler-Potter at 937-229-4676 or by e-mail. The deadline to register is March 24.