Patent eligibility is a significant concern to IP owners and inventors in determining how to invest time, money, and resources in research and development. The panel will discuss issues, observations, and concerns regarding patent eligibility through the lens of practitioners in a variety of technical fields and jurisdictions.

IPO’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee published a “Hiring and Retention Guide”. The panelists will discuss how the guide can be used to hire and retain talented lawyers and legal professionals from underrepresented groups. Speakers will also share tips and learnings from their own experiences.

This webinar will provide an overview of significant IP policy concerns across different countries and regions based on IPO’s comments made during the U.S. Trade Representative’s Special 301 review. The panelists will go around the world in one hour, noting issues that IP practitioners need to be aware of and pointing out global trends in IP law and policy.

Manufacturers, sellers, and software developers, sometimes restrict access to proprietary information and IP to ensure that products and software continue to operate in the intended manner, which can sometimes limit the ability of consumers to make modifications or repairs. In recent years, advocates of a “right to repair” have sought to change that practice, arguing that consumers should have a right to use, modify, and repair anything they purchase whenever, wherever, and however they want. Those advocates have introduced legislation at the federal and state level targeted at a host of industries, including medical infrastructure, digital equipment, vehicles, and farm equipment. But these proposals often conflict with and threaten established intellectual property rights. In this webinar, panelists will explore this tension as well as developments in proposed legislation on right to repair and efforts by some IP owners to seek private arrangements with industry groups as an alternative to legislative action.

This webinar will address emerging issues around protecting and enforcing NFT trademarks. Topics of discussion will include (1) which fields / industries should be considering NFT trademarks, (2) filing strategies in the U.S., and (3) enforcement concerns. While the webinar will focus on recent trends and cases such as Hermès v. MetaBirkins, it will also examine areas of uncertainty and potential outcomes on unresolved issues.

This webinar will address key Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) developments and trends from 2022 and give a sneak peek looking ahead. Important TTAB decisions from the last year will be highlighted, including decisions regarding extraterritoriality, abandonment, false association, and more.

The belief that the legal profession is a meritocracy persists despite the strong evidence of the role that unconscious bias and preconceptions continue to play in determining who is seen as succeeding and falling behind. In this webinar, a panel of senior legal practitioners and diversity and inclusion specialists explore how misguided confidence in meritocracy affects critical decisions and alternative paradigms that can ameliorate those effects.

The Unified Patent Court is supposed to open its doors on June 1, 2023. That means, unless opted out of the system, European patents can be enforced by litigation before this new court for multiple EPC states in one go, and European patents in force in the participating member states can become liable for revocation in a single UPC court action. With the opening of the UPC the European Patent Office will also begin granting Unitary Patents providing patent protection in the participating member states; these Unitary Patents will be administered by the EPO and can only be litigated before the UPC, resulting in one-stop-shops for both administration and litigation. This webinar will provide a high-level overview of the UPC system and shed some more light on the threats and opportunities of this new venue both from the perspective of industry and litigators.

Diversity & Inclusion has become a key initiative in most corporate environments, but innovation and accountability has distinguished organizations as they progress in the space. What makes these programs you read about so successful? How can companies build an authentic program that achieves heightened goals each year when hiring and retaining talent is so challenging post-pandemic? What standards should exist for company vendors, legal and otherwise? In this panel, we will discuss those questions and more to provide a solution-based program, leaving you with some best practices as you continue in your DEI journey in 2023.

A panel of highly experienced PTAB advocates will discuss some of the most significant developments in PTAB practice in 2022 and how those developments will impact future cases. They will discuss important precedent promulgated last year, and we will also hear about Director Vidal’s impact on the PTAB during 2022, including a summary of those cases where Director Review was granted. In this discussion, you will hear what you need to know to keep your PTAB practice sharp in 2023.

This webinar will provide a roundup of this year’s most significant intellectual property cases. Our panelists are three litigators in private practice, all members of IPO’s Amicus Brief Committee. They will review the most significant decisions as of 2022 and give a sneak peek at coming attractions.

Patent Center, which currently is being rolled out by the USPTO, will soon become the platform for all patent-related submissions. Panelists will discuss what Patent Center is, the platforms being replaced, and the various features of Patent Center. Panelists will discuss the new DOCX patent filing requirements, the related pros and cons, and offer best practice tips associated with DOCX filings.

Our panel of IP operations and technology veterans will provide an overview of the evolving technical and service landscapes and introduce you to new, cutting-edge solutions to simplify your IP back office that are increasing accuracy and efficiency while simultaneously reducing cost, headcount, and risk.

This presentation will focus on just a few ways that analytics are helping patent practitioners become both more efficient and more effective – and do so in the context of practitioners’ ethical responsibility to be knowledgeable about the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology. *This webinar is sponsored by LexisNexis *IPO will apply for CLE Ethics credit for this course

This webinar will address how AIA proceedings impact Life Sciences patents. A review of PTAB statistics pertaining to Life Sciences patents will be provided and compared against other industries. The panel will discuss the impact of AIA proceedings on parallel Hatch Waxman litigation and BPCIA litigation. Speakers will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of AIA proceedings, and debate ways that the proceedings could be improved to address industry concerns.