I’m delighted to share our latest updates highlighting the vibrant IP community here at Maurer. Thank you for being part of this journey with us—we look forward to another productive and engaging year ahead!
Mark D. Janis
Robert A. Lucas Chair of Law
Director, Center for Intellectual Property Research
In January 2025, the Maurer IP community came together for our second Virtual IP Networking Mixer via Zoom. The event brought together 21 Maurer law students and 24 alumni for a session of meaningful conversation, career insights, and professional connection. Building on the momentum of the first mixer, this gathering continued to foster valuable relationships and highlight the strength of our alumni network.
Thank you to all who participated and helped make the event a success!
Chicago Women in IP Panel
In February, CIPR hosted a “Chicago Women in IP” panel featuring four of our distinguished Maurer IP alumni. The panelists discussed IP practice in Chicago and their involvement in ChiWIP, a professional organization supporting women in intellectual property practicing in the Chicago area.
Panelists included:
IP Practitioners in Residence: Kristen Herber and Claire Desmond (Under Armour)
In mid-February, Under Armour’s VP, Deputy General Counsel Litigation, Employment and Insurance, Kristin Herber and Senior Counsel, IP & Advertising, Claire Desmond joined us virtually to discuss in-house practice for a major global brand owner.
2L student Zohra Saeedi organized the visit and moderated the discussion.
IP Practitioner in Residence: Sachin Patel ‘20
In late February, we welcomed Maurer alum Sachin Patel ’20 back to Baier Hall. Sachin discussed his work as a patent litigation associate at Jones Day’s Chicago office and also reflected on his experience clerking at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for Judge Jimmie V. Reyna in 2023-24.
IP Practitioners in Residence: Kassandra Officer ’14, Ryan McDonnell ’18, and Melanie Magdun ‘21
In early March, three of our prominent IP alums from the D.C. law firm of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP joined us to discuss their IP litigation work at one of the nation’s preeminent IP firms. Kassi, Ryan, and Melanie gave a lunch talk and hosted meals and office hours with many of our IP students.
CIPR, in collaboration with the Jacobs School of Music, the Kelley School of Business, and IU Innovates, hosted a day-long symposium on copyright aspects of AI in the music business. Adjunct Prof. Robert Meitus and 2L student Kayla Behforouz led the effort to organize the day’s presentations. The symposium was part of a larger interdisciplinary campus event, AlgoRhythms: The World of Music and AI. The symposium was livestreamed to a large online audience.
Symposium Agenda included the following panels and panelists;
Law & Tech Practitioner in Residence: Mike Boland
Mike Boland, Executive Director of IG 360 at Clark Hill, led an insightful talk exploring the essentials of e-discovery and its evolving landscape. Professor Joe Tomain and the Cybersecurity and Privacy Law Association organized the talk along with CIPR.
IP students gather at Metal Works Brewing Company for the annual End of Year Celebration and Graduate Recognition!
New Staff
We are pleased to welcome Steven Lesher as our new IP Clinic Administrative Assistant. Steven role supports the work of the pro bono IP Clinic, the PatentConnect project, and the Indy-area S. Jay Plager Intellectual Prpoerty Amercian Inn of Court. He is a 2024 graduate of Indiana University with a degree in History and a minor in Creative Writing. We’re excited to have him on board and look forward to the energy and organization he brings to the team!
IP Clinic Makes Impact This Semester
This semester, the IP Clinic continued steadily on its mission of providing pro bono legal assistance while offering students hands-on experience in intellectual property law. We successfully submitted 11 trademark applications on behalf of 7 different owners and filed 6 patent applications. We’re proud of the meaningful work our students and faculty are doing to support innovation and entrepreneurship in our community.
Ivy Tech Entrepreneurship Students visit Clinic at IU Innovates Space
Maurer IP Clinic students twice welcomed students this semester from the Ivy Tech Bloomington Garatoni School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation program to visit the IU Innovates space (located in the former Von Lee building). These students are in the process of pursuing an Entrepreneurship Certificate as a part of their degree.
TM Client
Under the leadership of IP Association President 2L Lily Rutledge and her Executive Board, the IP Association helped CIPR host IP practitioner visits, the Maurer IP Virtual Networking event, and an IP Job Fair information session.
Thanks to Lily, Vice President Josh Everetts and the rest of the Executive Board for an excellent year of leadership and engagement with Maurer IP!
Congratulations to incoming IP Association President Reece Fleck and a new Executive Board. Event planning for Fall 2025 is already well underway!
3Ls Srija Dutta and Karlie Hinton participated in this inaugural moot court competition hosted by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This competition offered the students a unique opportunity to work directly under the supervision of an Administrative Patent Judge on a mock America Invents Act (AIA) trial proceeding. Srija and Karlie drafted petitioner and patent owner briefs and delivered oral arguments during the final round in April.
Josh Everetts and Kaitlyn Ross participated in the AIPLA Giles S. Rich competition (dealing with patent and trade secret law this year). Ryan McDonnell ‘18 and Jeff Soller ‘18 coached the team, with help from Professor Janis. Professor Castanias, Josh Larsen, Mike Morris ’11 and Joseph Garloch ’24 also helped with oral argument practices.
We are proud of our 2024-25 IP Moot Court teams!
CIPR thanks the many professors and practitioners who shared their time and expertise to support our teams this year!
ChIPs Maurer Chapter
Under the senior leadership of ChIPs Coordinator 3L Srija Dutta, this semester the Maurer Chapter assisted with hosting IP practitioner-in-residence visits and hosted a Yoga and Meditation Event with IU Student Recreation Sports Center Instructor Karissa (KJ) Foree during Maurer Wellness Week.
Incoming ChIPs Coordinators 3Ls Zohra Saeedi and Pravalika Surakanti, and 2L’s Sofia MakePeace and Tammy Shu are planning many ChIPs activities for 2025-2026.
Student Recognition
CIPR is proud to celebrate these outstanding students on their accomplishments!
Competition: 2025 Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition
Lily Rutledge, alongside fellow 2L student Laura Stancato, were named Maurer’s 2025 Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition Champions. The final competition was judged by the honorable Judge Diane Sykes, Judge Richard Young and Judge Alison Conlon.
This year’s final rounds featured several intellectual property law students including Kayla Behforouz and Allison Koontz. Congratulations to Lily, Kayla, and Allison!
Thank you to Professor Lane McFadden for his continued support for advocacy programs at Maurer.
Joe will clerk with District Judge Gretchen Lund at the Northern District of Indiana, 2025-2027.
Anneli will clerk for Judge James R. Sweeney II at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, 2025-2026.
Jeff will clerk for Judge Richard G. Taranto at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2025-2026.
Center faculty have presented their research to many audiences and published scholarly works in intellectual property law and adjacent areas.
Professors Hedges and Janis guest lectured in Professor Rick Stamper’s IP for Engineers course at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Professor Hedges supervised a claim drafting project over a two-week class session, and Professor Janis taught a session of trademark law.
Professor Knebel returned to his alma mater, the Electrical Engineering school at Purdue, in April 2025 to speak to a group of students about careers in intellectual property law.
Professor Janis instructed two Purdue undergraduate students on a research project to develop space law instructional materials relating to the regulation of lunar surface operations, part of the Purdue Vertically Integrated Projects program, which provides Purdue undergraduates with research opportunities.
Professor Janis and Professor Graeme Dinwoodie (IIT Chicago-Kent), the founders of the Trademark Scholars' Roundtable, organized the sixteenth Roundtable, hosted at the University of Minnesota Law School by Dean Bill McGeveran in May 2025.
Relative and Absolute Patentability, - Wake Forest L. Rev. (forthcoming 2024) (with Holbrook)
Design Patent Infringement as Unfair Competition - Wm. & Mary L. Rev. (forthcoming 2025)
How the Supreme Court Ghosted the PHOSITA: Amgen and Legal Constructs in Patent Law, - 109 Iowa L. Rev. Online 83 (2024) (with Holbrook)
Design Patent Obviousness: The Road Ahead?, - 109 Iowa L. Rev. Online 128 (2024)
A Closer Look at the “Eye” Test: The British Origins of American Design Patent Infringement Law - 13 IP THEORY (2023-24)
UNDERSTANDING COPYRIGHT LAW, 8th Ed. Carolina University Press (2024)
DISTRIBUTIVE FAIR USE (DENVER LAW REVIEW) (forthcoming 2024)
ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE AS A COMMONS (CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS) (forthcoming 2024) (co-editor with Angie Raymond, Jessica Steinberg, and Scott Shackelford)
THE METAVERSE: WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS) (forthcoming 2024) (with Scott Shackelford, Jeff Prince, and João Marinotti)
Conjuring the Flag: The Problem of Implied Government Endorsements, 83 MD. L. REV. (2024), reviewed in Alexandra Roberts, Name-Dropping Government Agencies in Advertising, JOTWELL (September 20, 2023), https://ip.jotwell.com/name-dropping-government-agencies-in-advertising/.
CIPR Affiliated Faculty and Associate Dean and Distinguished Professor, College of Law, National Chenchi University (Taiwan)
Destruction, Proportionality, and Sustainability: A Law-and-Economics Analysis, 32 TEXAS INTELL. PROP. L. J. 111 (2024) (with Thomas F. Cotter)
