First, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) is hosting its 30th Mid-Winter Institute meeting from January 24-27, 2007. This meeting, held at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, will include dozens of seminars on general intellectual property topics (Patent Law, Copyright Law, and Corporate Practice, for example) and specific IP topics (Anti-Counterfeiting and Anti-Piracy, Diversity in IP Law, and Emerging Technologies, for example) of potential interest to practitioners in all fields of IP law. Links to the full program and to registration information are provided below.

Second, I recently received my AIPLA Quarterly Journal, and I wanted to bring the three articles contained therein to your attention. Denise DeFranco and Adrienne Smith prepared an article entitled "Technology and the Global Economy: Progress Challenges the Federal Circuit to Define Extraterritorial Scope of U.S. Patent Law." This article discusses several recent cases pertaining to the extraterritorial scope of patent law under 35 U.S.C. § 271, including individual sections discussing § 271(a), (b), (c), (d) and (f). Christopher Reed's article entitled "A Trade Dress Approach to the Protection of Radio Brands" discusses the articulation of a working definition for a "radio format" and how format owners may assert rights in their programming concepts under trade dress law. The third article, "The Competency of State Courts to Adjudicate Patent-Based Malpractice Claims" by Sean Seymore, discusses malpractice claims against patent attorneys, whether or not state courts are competent to handle such matters, the tension between federal patent law and state tort law, and a proposed division of such matters between state and federal courts. Subscription information is available at the Quarterly Journal webpage link below.

AIPLA 2007 30th Mid-Winter Institute Program (PDF): LINK
AIPLA 2007 30th Mid-Winter Institute Webpage: LINK
AIPLA Quarterly Journal Webpage: LINK