US IP conferences for EU based IP professionals

The United States is generally quite a leader in IP – based in large part upon the size and sophistication of the companies located there and on the frequency of litigation (thus making for more decisions to dissect and frequent adjustments to the law around current practice). As a result, it can be quite important to keep up with the latest trends and news in IP from the across the Atlantic.

So I’ve been doing some research and putting out some feelers for what both US and EU based intellectual property professionals consider the most worthwhile of conferences and events to attend. After-all, even with a weaker dollar it is still an expensive proposition to make the trek to the US for any conference – and not to mention the large time commitment and joys of transatlantic travel.

October 2008 – two week IP extravaganza

This year the European traveller could have a two week, multi-state IP adventure and attend three well-regarded IP conferences: the LES and AIPLA 2008 annual meetings and the Ocean Tomo Fall 2008 IP Conference – all from October 19th to 30th.

LES 2008 Annual Meeting: Global Excellence in Licensing and Acquisition Through Certification

October 19-23, 2008 at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center, Orlando, FL.

This is the annual meeting for the Licensing Executives Society (LES) for the US and Canada’s annual meeting. My contact who is very well involved in LES describes the organisation and the conference:

Among the major IP organizations, LES leads in, and celebrates, diversity. AIPLA is most attorneys. IPO is mostly people in, or working for, licensors. AUTM is all university IP folks. LES (speaking particularly of USA & Canada) members are:

• only about 35-40% attorneys;
• from all technology and industry sectors (including healthcare/biotech, IT – software and hardware, Consumer electronics, Internet, semiconductor, telecom, chemical, energy and materials, and more);
• [includes high number of] in house licensing people and in house attorneys;
• [other service] providers (technical investigations, brokers, valuation experts, litigation support, researchers, etc); and
• solo inventors and scientists.

My contact does note however that “while somewhat patent-concentrated, we are trying to expand coverage in copyright/DRM, OSS [open source software], and trademark.”

AIPLA 2008 Annual meeting

Next up, travel from Orlando up to Washington, D.C. for the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) annual meeting on October 23-25. It is a very packed programme (PDF), and for that reason I can’t go over all the elements.

But going through the schedule, it does look like lots of big names and well-regarded firms from the IP law field, as well as many representatives from various departments of the US government involved in IP (including US Customs & Border Protection and the United States Patent and Trademark Office) and from international organisations such as WIPO.

Ocean Tomo Fall 2008 IP Conference

Finally, on from DC to Chicago, home to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Richard Posner, co-author (with William Landes) of The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law. Ocean Tomo is a very interesting company operating as an IP merchant bank. They have a series of IP auctions, one of which will take place at this fall event, which is from October 29-30. Their annual conference has come recommended as a way to keep up with many of the cutting edge trends in IP.

Other annual US event recommendations

If you tried the above two weeks, you’d probably not want to go to another IP event for quite a while.  But in case the above three conferences aren’t what you are looking for in an IP event, these conferences also come highly recommended:

The Intangible Asset Finance Society annual events. This year is Reputational Perils: The intangible value of safe, secure and ethical supply chains. and is on September 6-9, 2008.

The Association of University Technology Managers covers University tech transfer and IP and their annual meeting draws tech transfer people from around the globe.

The International Trademark Association (INTA) 2009 annual meeting will be Seattle, Washington and is a huge draw for trademark practitioners around the world.

Any other recommendations?  Post a comment or let me know.

Tagged as: AIPLA, AUTM, IAFS, INTA, LES, Ocean Tomo, US events