dealing with intellectual property challenges in the united states

DECEMBER 1-5, 2008

tuition fee: $1995

 
course advisors contact email on-line application print application guide to dc
 

Intended Audience: Practitioners from the public and private sectors involved in negotiating intellectual property agreements.

Course Objectives: Goods imported into the United States are frequently subject to charges that they infringe U.S. intellectual property (IP) rights. Most often these charges relate to patent rights, but they can also involve copyrights and trademarks. Owners of U.S. IP rights may choose to bring actions in U.S. federal courts, which can award damages and issue injunctions, or to initiate proceedings in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), which cannot award damages but can ban products that infringe U.S. IP rights from entering the U.S. market. Cases in the ITC move extremely quickly, giving respondents little time to prepare their defense. The potential for import bans makes this option attractive to holders of IP rights.

Course Structure: This course provides an overview of intellectual property enforcement in the United States, with particular emphasis on litigation in the ITC. It will also describe methods of avoiding intellectual property right challenges, as well as discussing the international IP agreements to which the United States is a party, including the Paris and Berne Conventions, and the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The course will conclude with a mock ITC hearing, in which the course participants will take part.

Course Outline

The International Framework

  • The Berne and Paris Conventions
  • The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

U.S. Intellectual Property Laws

  • Patents
  • Trademarks
  • Copyright
  • Trade Secrets

Avoiding Intellectual Property Problems in the United States

  • Product clearance analyses and searches
  • Notice letters and pre-filing negotiations
  • Obtaining opinions
  • Jurisdiction issues
  • E-discovery traps

Intellectual Property Litigation in the U.S. courts

Intellectual Property Litigation before the U.S. International Trade Commission

  • Pleadings
  • Discovery
  • The Hearing
  • Appeals
  • Enforcement

Mock ITC hearing