GSU IP News
GSU is proud to announce that Alexis Fairweather and Matthew McNeill won First Place in the 2009 Southern Regional Competition of the AIPLA Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition in Houston, TX, becoming the first team from any law school in Georgia to win in this national intellectual property competition. Congratulations to Alexis and Matthew for this excellent achievement! - (more) Subsequently, the team was runner-up in the final round in Washington, DC. Pictures from the final round are available here.
Index
Final Corporate IP Roundtable Luncheon for 2007
On July 17, 2007, the Corporate IP Roundtable hosted its last luncheon meeting of the year, focussing on IP Enforcement/Defense. The presentation materials (available here) were prepared and presented by three panelists from local law firms, including Bill Ragland from Hunton & Williams, LLP, Jim Ewing, from Kilpatrick Stockton, LLP, and Bill Dyer from Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner, LLP.
The 2007 Intellectual Property Scholarships were recently awarded to Youjin Jeong and Patrick Giles (entering students), and Jennifer Keesee and Justin Cotton (continuing students). The two scholarships awarded to entering students are awarded in recognition of interest and commitment to IP, while two current students are awarded scholarships based on interest, commitment and achievement in law school. Congratulations to all 4 students!
Ms. Youjin Sofia Jeong, a first year student, graduated from the University of Virginia in 2005 with a major in foreign affairs. During her time as a clerk in Kim & Chang Law Offices in Seoul, Korea, she was majorly involved in an antitrust/intellectual property database project as the database manager and competition law researcher. At the law firm, she was responsible for researching, translating, editing, and studying specific industrys' legal actions and investigations in Europe and the US and possible influences of them in Korea. Ms. Jeong hopes to deeply explore the area of IP law in relation to human rights and to international business. According to her recommender, Johan Vandromme, Senior Advisor at Kim & Chang, "Ms. Jeong has shown determination in building up her knowledge of and familiarity with Intellectual Property Rights, which benefits the Competitive Law Team."
Patrick Giles, a beginning law student, received his bachelor's degree from Furman University in biology. He received his doctorate degree in molecular and cellular biology and pathobiology from the Medical University of South Carolina. He is interested in applying his biomedical research experience to the law. He is a registered Patent Agent and has worked at Needle & Rosenberg since 2004, where he engages in all aspects of biotechnology patent prosecution. He has published 2 articles. Bill Needle writes in his letter of recommendation, "his obvious eagerness and dedication towards the pursuit of a legal career in intellectual property in combination with his breadth of scientific knowledge and experience led us to hire him."
Jessica Keesee, a third year student, received her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2001. At Tech her senior project involved the redesign of a needle-free injection system used in mass immunizations by the Department of Defense. She currently works at a radiation therapy equipment manufacturer where she plans the engineering design of oncology rooms for hospitals and brain tumor centers across North America. She has interned with the CDC in their Technology Transfer Office. There, she worked with patent attorneys preparing legal memos relating to the patentability and marketability of CDC technologies. In March, she presented at the Popular Culture Association Conference in Boston on a trademark dispute currently before the PTO. Additionally, Jessica has served as a SBA Senator and Law Week Coordinator. She is the current Secretary of the Intellectual Property Law Society and Docket Features Editor. She has been invited to co-chair the Motorcycling Culture: Law, Regulation, & Power Structures panel at next year's PCA conference in San Francisco.
Justin D. Cotton, a second-year JD/MBA student, graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in mechanical engineering. He is studying for the USPTO patent bar exam. His desire is to become an active member of the international intellectual property profession. His most recent professional experience involved analyzing the patent estate for an international engineering company. He collected sales and patent data to assign dollar value to 800 patents active in more than 20 countries. In summer 2007, he is traveling with Whittier Law School to Universite de Toulouse (France) and Nanjiing University (China) for two law study abroad programs. The programs include the study of marketing, financing, negotiation, and piracy related to film, music, sports trademarks, and athletes' likenesses on an international level. The China program analyzed these issues in the context of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. During fall 2007, he will participate in an entertainment law externship in Atlanta with Georgia Lawyers for the Arts.
Congratulations to 2007 TM Moot Court Team
On February 24, 2007, a team from Georgia State Law School finished in Third Place in the Regional Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition conducted annually by the International Trademark Association (INTA). Approximately a dozen law schools from the Southeast competed in the competition, including teams from Emory, Mercer, University of Tennessee, University of Alabama, and University of Florida.
The GSU team, which consisted of Brian Michael Gardiner and Delia Corinne Elder and which was coached by W. Randy King, received Second Place in Oral Argument (which was higher than the overall winning team) and won both of its head to head rounds, which were against Mercer and University of Florida. A number of people assisted in practice benching rounds, including Professor Michael Landau, Professor Patrick Wiseman, Professor Jennifer Chiovaro, Adjunct Professor Jeff Kuester, alumna Debbie Butler, and a number of students, including Erin Hames, Charna Hollingsworth, Kasey Libbey, Andy Treese, Anita Bhushan, and Greg Tuttle.
Congratulations to the team for a job well done!
Successful Hot Topics Discusion
On February 1, 2007, the Law School hosted a Hot Topics panel entitled, "Hot Topics Panel Discussion: Online Advertising and Trademark Disputes", moderated by Doug Isenberg (Attorney, The GigaLaw Firm), with speakers including Michael Landau (Professor, Georgia State University College of Law), Chris Copp (Manager, Marketing Strategy and Analytics, InterContinental Hotels Group), and Alex Fonoroff (Associate, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP).
2007 Corporate IP Roundtable Kickoff The first Corporate IP Roundtable meeting of 2007 was conducted on January 24, 2007, and the special speaker brought to Atlanta to present to the group was James E. Malackowski, President and CEO of Ocean Tomo. The presentation was very well received, and there was excellent attendance at the event.
The 2006 Intellectual Property Scholarships were recently awarded to Andrew Paszkowski and Denise Hoying (entering students), and Randy Schoen and Chason Carroll (continuing students). The two scholarships awarded to entering students are awarded in recognition of interest and commitment to IP, while two current students are awarded scholarships based on interest, commitment and achievement in law school.
First Corporate IP Roundtable Meeting
On April 20, 2006, the First Corporate IP Roundtable meeting was hosted by Georgia State University’s College of Law and Robinson College of Business, which have entered a unique collaborative partnership to provide forums for exchange of ideas, best practices, information and networking for in-house executives in the IP law community. Welcoming remarks were provided by Dean Steven J. Kaminshine of the College of Law and Dean H. Fenwick Huss of the Robinson College of Business.
