• January 26, 2007 at the San Jose Museum of Art: We’ll be discussing transnational scope of U.S. patent laws. $225 for practitioners; $0 for academics and government types. [LINK]. West-coast heavy hitters include Lemley (Stanford), Keiff (Hoover Institution), Ochoa (SCU). Also starring Dan Burk (MN).  Three big bloggers, Eric Goldman, Michael Geist, & Dennis Crouch.
• February 16, 2007 at UC Boalt Hall (Berkeley): Perspectives on Patent Law and Innovation. Judges Linn, Prost, Rader, Whyte, & Patel, etc.[LINK]
• February 23, 2007 at Duke Law School: IP Hot Topics Symposium (with CLE credit). Blockbuster panels on patents and file-sharing. Judge Dyk has the keynote lunch address. [LINK]
• February 23, 2007 at Ohio State: The Future of Patent Reform [LINK]
• March 15–16, 2007 at DePaul (Chicago): [LINK]
• March 29, 2007 at Catholic Univ (DC): Ethical Issues in Patent Law [LINK]

• Software Patents:
• MIT & Boston University are hosting a conference on Software Patents, subtitled “a time for change?” Boston, November 16 (reception only) and 17 (Registration only $35).
• I will be moderating the conference introductory panel that includes Robert Barr (former CISCO chief patent counsel), Rochelle Dreyfuss (the Pauline Newman Professor of Law at  NYU), Brian Kahin (Fellow at CCIA), and James Heald (FFII – “Maybe there are a few companies which could profit from software patents, but nobody can seriously argue that software patents are useful for the whole industry.”).
• Biotech Patents:
• I am moderating a panel on Supreme Court issues at the Biotech Patents conference here in Boston on November 29–30 hosted by American Conference Institute. More Info. Get $200 off by using this code: Keycode 618L07.S.
• Patentable Subject Matter:
• GWU is hosting its conference “what’s ahead on highway 101” on November 3 in DC.
• Patent Litigation Strategies:
• BNA is hosting its second conference based on the excellent book — Patent Litigation Strategies. Washington, DC on November 15–16.  More Info.
• Markman: 
• Suffolk is hosting their one-day conference on patent claim interpretation on October 20 in Boston. More Info.
• Supreme Court and Patent Reform Issues:
• IP Powerhouse Santa Clara is hosting what looks like a great conference on Supreme Court issues — past, present, and future — with their conference Patent Policy in the Supreme Court and Congress. October 27 in Santa Clara.
• A Conversation with IP Judges:
• In Chicago, De Paul is hosting a one-day event with Judges Kozinski, Posner, and Wood, moderated by Professor Sag and Greg Vogler. November 2.

A better calendar — If you are interested in Academic Intellectual Property Conferences, Mike Madison hosts the master calendar here: http://madisonian.net/conferences/

• PLI is hosting a free briefing (web or phone) next Thursday (Sept 21) at 1pm Eastern. They will talk about the new exam format and give people some tips on studying.  Of course, they’ll give you info on their own course — it is the same course that I took with the same instructor, John White. (I passed). Signup for web or phone.

• Patent Litigation Strategies: BNA is hosting a couple of interesting conferences based on their excellent book — Patent Litigation Strategies. The first is September 27–28 in Palo Alto and they will hold the same conference in DC on November 15–16.  More Info.
• Markman: Here in Boston, Suffolk is hosting an interesting conference on patent claim interpretation on October 20. More Info.
• Biotech Patents: I’ll be moderating an interesting panel at Biotech Patents conference here in Boston on November 29–30 hosted by American Conference Institute. More Info.

I will be at the ABA Summer IPL Conference on Wednesday and Thursday.  John Welch along with the ABA Staff have put together a “Bloggers’ Corner” at the “get acquainted” reception on Wednesday, June 21st, from 6:00 to 7:00 P.M. The cage-match will start at 6:30 — Battle-of-the-Blogs. Come see:

For a brief description of the bloggers, read this flier. John Welch has put together a set of photos that vaguely represent the bloggers (although Dannenberg may actually be only an avatar). 

• IP Due Diligence – (Life Science focus) June 26, NYC: Complete Guide for M&As, Licensing, and Other Collaborations;
• FDA BootCamp – Sept 18-19, Chicago: Basic Training for Products Liability and Patent Lawyers.

Other Upcoming Events: I will be at the ABA’s Intellectual Property Law Summer Conference in Boston from June 21-24.  Please introduce yourself [I look like this] or contact me to set up a time to meet.  The ABA has scheduled a "meet the bloggers" event at 6:00 on Wednesday evening.  I’ll be there along with John Welch, Matt Buchanan, and others. 

On June 14, 2006, you might want to take an hour break (1–2pm EDT) to take part in an audio webcast discussing: Permanent Injunctions in Patent Infringement Cases After eBay Inc. v. MercExchange L.L.C. The PLI CLE will be moderated by Professor John Duffy and will feature the two attorneys who argued the case: Carter Phillips and Seth Waxman.  Professor Duffy is one of the few patent attorneys who was also a Supreme Court clerk (Scalia).  Topics for discussion include:

• The changed landscape of patent disputes
• An analysis of the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision
• An analysis of the two important concurring opinions
• The application of the 4-factor permanent injunction test in patent infringement cases

Register here. $299. 

Day one of our blog law conference has been a great success.  Cathy Kirkman of Wilson Sonsini and I are co-hosts of this LSI conference that has been billed as the first CLE covering the “law of blogs.”

• Joe Gratz has a synopsis and photos. 
• Denise Howell brings her own insight and notes that  “[t]omorrow should be particularly exciting, featuring among other things EFF’s Kurt Opsahl, fresh off today’s oral argument in Apple v. Does.”
• Veteran David Maizenberg noted his highlight — he met blog diva Denise Howell in person. (Tomorrow I get to moderate a panel with Denise, Bennet Koren, and Greg Kopta).
• Cathy Kirkman gives some links.
• Kevin O’Keefe gave very well received talk and has some notes at his blog.
• Some discussion today of Robert Scoble and his disruptive book Naked Conversations (with Shel Israel).

This Week:

• Patent Preparation and Prosecution, through Dunes CLE.  April 6–7 in Las Vegas.  Patently-O is a media sponsor of the event, and I will be presenting on Friday afternoon.
• ABA’s IP Law Conference, April 6–8 in Arlington, VA (DC).  This conference is worth it for the opening panel — Mark Banner, Chief Judge Michel, Judges Ellis (E.D.Va) and Illston (N.D.Ca), Professor Kimberly Moore, Joe Re (KMOB), Bob Krupka (K&E), Dale Cendali (OMelveny), William Lee (Wilmer). Best practices in IP Trials.

Coming Soon:

• Blog Law and Blogging for Lawyers, through LSI.  April 21–22 in San Francisco.  I am co-chairing this conference and am very excited about the excellent panel that we’ve pulled together.  More info here.
• PTO Business Method Partnership Meeting, May 3 at the USPTO. Meet the examiners and supervisors behind your indefiniteness and unpatentable subject matter rejections. . . . Actually these folks are very cool and hold this meeting to answer questions and get input on how things are going.

Chief Judge Michel of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has invited members of the bar to attend a discussion at the court on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 at 2:00 pm in Courtroom 201.

Judge Michel will discuss several topics as part of his effort to continue to build a better relationship between the bar, academics, and the Court.  Planned topics include: effective appellate advocacy, the attorney’s role as an officer of the court, and the court’s internal process.

The event will be held in the Howard T. Markey National Courts Building, 717 Madison Place, NW, Washington, D.C. There is no charge and all are welcome. Those interested in attending are requested, however, to RSVP by sending an e-mail to webmaster@cafc.uscourts.gov.

• When should a due diligence review be conducted?
• How can validity of a patent or strength of a trademark be determined?
• What can be done if any intellectual property is the subject of a lawsuit?

I was hoping to be at the 2005 IPO annual meeting in Seattle (Sept 11–13). Unfortunately, a conflict crept its way into my schedule. I will be at the 42nd Annual Corporate Patent Seminar September 19 – 20 in Chicago. (Still time to register if you do it now).  Another interesting conference will held September 16 in Las Vegas. (www.dunescle.com).

Links:

• Link: Sept 11–13 IPO Meeting in Seattle
• Link: Sept 16 DUNES CLE in Vegas
• Link: Sept 19–20 Corporate Patent Seminar in Chicago

I am happy to announce that Patently-O was awarded the TechnoLawyer @ Award as the Favorite Practice Area Blog for 2005.  This award means a lot to me because it was Patently-O readers who made it happen.  I would like to personally thank everyone who took time to vote. (Drop me a line and I’ll take you out to coffee).

Runners-up in the category include Sabrina Pacifici excellent law & technology blog beSpacific and Broc Romanek’s corporate & securities law blog at TheCorporateCounsel.net.  Fellow Chicagoan Bryan Sims of James, Gustafson and Thompson was named “Technolawyer of the year.”

The Practicing Law Institute is hosting a free audio webcast IP Career Series directed to young lawyers, law students, and people thinking about law school.  Their next audio briefing is titled “So You Want to Be a Patent Lawyer…," and will be held on April 18th from 1:00-2:00 p.m. EST.  John White (who helped me learn patent law) and Katharine Patterson will present topics that include:

• What does it take to become a patent attorney?
• What does it mean to say you’re a patent attorney?
• What is life like as a patent attorney?

In answering the general questions, White & Patterson expect to delve into how to decide between a prosecution or a litigation career and other sub-topics such as: The distinction between patent agents and patent attorneys; Hot undergraduate technical degrees; Whether and when a PhD is important; Geographical areas; and how to find a firm that wants to hire you.

Registration info:

• Via Live Audio Webcast, April 18, 2005;
• Via Live Telephone Briefing, April 18, 2005;
• Register by Phone: (800) 260-4754. (Priority Code: CRA5-8BLG2).