The Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property hosted its fifth annual Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable at UNH Law in November 2015. This annual event highlights research and scholarship by law professors from around the country, and students are encouraged to attend. The sixth annual IP Scholars Roundtable will take place at UNH Law on October 7 and 8, 2016.
The roundtable's intimate size and casual format make the event a perfect environment for innovative ideas, fresh viewpoints, and collaboration that enables all who participate to better serve our students and peers.
Among the presenters last fall:
Rebecca Schoff Curtin of Suffolk University Law School presented her legal history-infused paper, “Transactional Origins of Authors’ Rights.” Shontavia Johnson of Drake University Law School presented her forthcoming article, “BRANDED: Trademark Tattoos, Slave Owner Brands and the Right to Have ‘Free’ Skin,” which addressed issues including copyright, trademark, and the Thirteenth Amendment. Victoria Schwartz of Pepperdine University School of Law discussed privacy risk-taking and corporate culture in “Corporate Privacy Failures Start at the Top.” UNH Law’s Roger A. Ford presented his work in progress, “Secrets and Information Security in the Age of Sports Analytics,” which forms the basis for a chapter in a forthcoming Sports Law handbook from Oxford University Press. Alfred C. Yen of Boston College Law School provoked lively discussion about parallels between trademark infringement and battery with “The Intentional Tort of Trademark Infringement.” Greg Reilly of California Western School of Law presented his work, “Decoupling Patent Law.” Alexandra J. Roberts of UNH Law closed out the first day with her project on hashtags as trademarks, entitled “Tagmarks.”
William Hubbard of the University of Baltimore School of Law opened the proceedings during the second day with his provocative paper, “Razing the Patent Bar.” He was followed by W. Nicholson Price II of UNH Law, who presented an overview of his significant project addressing “Patent Failures on Life Science Frontiers.” Laura Heymann of the College of William & Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law considered corporate nicknames and reclaimed disparaging terms in presenting her project on “Naming and Reclaiming.” Andres Sawicki of the University of Miami School of Law presented his project on “Risky IP.” Sean O’Connor of the University of Washington School of Law closed the program with his paper, “Copyright as Incentive for Publication, not Creation.”
Speakers offered feedback on one another’s projects. Thoughtful commentary on the presentations was also provided by Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons of the University of Toledo College of Law, Ralph D. Clifford of the University of Massachusetts School of Law, and Christopher Frerking and Ann Bartow of UNH Law, where Frerking is the director of the Patent Practice and Procedure Program and Bartow is the director of the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property.
