Mission

The Intellectual Property Litigation Committee is one of the 40 practice groups open to all members of the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation. Joining the committee entitles a member to a number of benefits (see list below). The committee’s leadership is made up of experienced litigators from all over the country working to keep I.P. litigators fully up to date in all areas relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, the Internet, and related unfair competition cases. Though focusing on federal law, it also touches upon state law and international concerns. With approximately 2,300 members, we are one of the largest and most active substantive law committees in the Section of Litigation.

To accomplish this goal, the committee provides its members with these benefits:

• Intellectual Property Litigation, a quarterly publication;
• networking opportunities with leading practitioners;
• discounted CLE programs;
• invitations to substantive meetings and social events;
• online access to case notes, past issues of Intellectual Property Litigation, and other helpful information;
• opportunities to write for committee publications, speak on committee panels, and participate in the activities of our subcommittees, see list below.

Whether you want to receive Intellectual Property Litigation, learn from and network with top litigators, or contribute to our programs and publications, or all of the above, join us. Section of Litigation members may join up to three committees at no charge.

To join, you must first be a member of the ABA and also a member of the ABA Section of Litigation.

Announcements

Register Now for the Second Annual Regional CLE Program

The Section of Litigation’s Intellectual Property Litigation Committee is hosting its Second Annual Regional CLE Program on Friday, June 8, 2012, at Schiff Hardin, LLP, in Chicago, Illinois. The all-day program will include panel discussions on recent developments in copyright, trade-secret, trademark, and patent litigation, as well as a networking cocktail reception and a lunch featuring remarks from Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit. A brochure describing the event is available here. We hope you can make it.

Young Lawyers' FAQ

The Young Lawyers' Subcommittee has created an FAQ for young IP litigation attorneys. The goal of the FAQ is to provide answers to questions that young lawyers face as they begin their legal careers. We want this feature to be responsive to the needs of our members and encourage you to submit questions to the chairs of the subcommittee. Click here to submit a question.

The TRO Procedure Project

When seeking or resisting the entry of a temporary restraining order (TRO) or preliminary injunction in trade secret cases, it is important to know the rules and practices followed in that particular forum. The Trade Secrets Subcommittee of the Intellectual Property Litigation Committee has collected information from volunteers located in cities across the country about the specific practices and procedures followed in their jurisdictions with regard to interlocutory relief. Learn the written and unwritten rules followed by a particular court—rules that will be familiar to local practitioners but perhaps not apparent from reading a dry textbook—by visiting the TRO Procedure Project page.

If you would like to complete a questionnaire regarding your jurisdiction, please use this TRO Project Questionnaire and submit your completed form (in both Microsoft Word and PDF format) to one of the Trade Secrets Committee chairs. The chairs are:

Linda K. Stevens, lstevens@schiffhardin.com
Robert S. Gerber, rgerber@sheppardmullin.com
Ronald T. Coleman Jr., rcoleman@phrd.com

Seeking Contributors

The Intellectual Property Litigation Committee is looking for authors for articles about IP and related cases. Contact an editor (below) for more information.

Message from the Chairs

On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed into law the most significant change to the U.S. patent system since 1952. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) transforms the U.S. patent system from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first-to-file” system for patent applications filed on or after March 16, 2013. In addition to that fundamental shift, the AIA also ushers in a host of other important patent-law changes, including expanding the definition of prior art used in determining patentability, imposing stricter rules about the joinder of defendants in patent litigation and consolidation of actions for trial, creating a new inter partes review proceeding for the fast-track review of the validity of previously issued patents, eliminating the “best mode” defense, and narrowly limiting the availability of false-marking suits.

In November, our IP Roundtable Subcommittee engaged our members around the country in roundtable discussions about the strategic implications of the AIA. Those roundtables provided a basic primer on the new law and spurred lively debate among our members about the likely implications of the new legislation, both in the Patent and Trademark Office and in the courts.

In the Winter 2012 issue of our newsletter, we explore the AIA in more depth. Author Robert M. Asher looks closely at inter partes review proceedings and the effect those proceedings may have on claim construction. Janelle Waack examines the implications of the AIA on patent-inventorship disputes. Jeff Mikrut explains how the AIA invigorates the previously underutilized “prior-user” defense. Authors Chandran B. Iyer and Ryan M. Corbett focus on the new joinder rules and the change (or lack thereof) those rules may bring to patent litigation. Richard Pettus and David Joyal analyze the effect of patent reform—and in particular, new patent-grant review proceedings—on life sciences patent litigation. And finally, author Brad Lyerla examines what he terms a “persistent and pernicious problem in patent litigation” that the AIA failed to address: proper claim construction methodology. We hope you enjoy these articles, which continue our strong tradition of bringing our members timely and thorough information on intellectual-property topics of importance to our practices every day.

We are the largest and most active committee in the Section of Litigation, but we are not resting on our laurels! We have an ambitious agenda this year—our subcommittees are offering more programs, more content, and more activities throughout the year. We welcome your feedback on what is working, what you’d like to see more of, and what additional benefits we can provide to you, our members. And, as always, we are looking for committee members who are interested in becoming more involved in our work, whether it is through contributing to the newsletter, website, or programs, or through membership outreach. For more information about opportunities to become involved, please contact one of us.

Erick Howard
Joseph M. Drayton
Stephanie Skaff
Chairs, Intellectual Property Litigation Committee