News from the Center for Intellectual Property Research
In this edition
- IP clerkships
- International champs
- Faculty honors
- VIPs and indie films
- IP Inn of Court Indianapolis
- New research
- Around the Center
- Events
IP clerkships
Congratulations to four recent IP alumni for securing some of the most sought-after clerkships in the patent area. Ryan McDonnell, ’18, and Jeff Soller, ’18, will be clerking for Hon. Richard G. Taranto of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively, and Sarah Goodman, ’17, will clerk for Hon. Alan D. Lourie of the Federal Circuit in 2020-21. In addition, Mitch Feldhake will be clerking in 2019-2020 for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the US Patent and Trademark Office, the first Indiana Law student to hold such a clerkship. Inge Van der Cruysse, who heads the law school’s clerkship placement efforts, provided invaluable guidance, as did Gregory A. Castanias, ’90.
International champs
The school's IP competition teams fared very well this semester. The international patent drafting team, consisting of students Weichih Hsu, Xingyi Tao, and Nick Wheeler and coached by Prof. Norm Hedges, won first place at the competition at the US Patent & Trademark Office’s Midwest Regional Office in Detroit. The Oxford intellectual property moot court team advanced to the oral argument round in Oxford, the only US team to do so. Team members Sarah Eddy and Nicholas Palmieri were assisted by Andrew Langford, ’13, Natalie Malchow, ’13, and Brian Verbus, ’13. Students also participated in competitions at the International Trademark Association (Francesca Campione, Carolyn Griffith, and Keltie Haley) and the American Intellectual Property Association (Kenneth Guerra and Candace Polster), with assistance from Prof. Brad Maurer, ’99, Prof. Robert Meitus, ’00, Abe Shanehaz, ’14, Lindsey Szymczak, Josh Larsen, Leah Seigel, ’14, Mike Morris, ’11, Rajat Khanna, ’14, and Prof. Don Knebel.
Faculty honors
Prof. Norman J. Hedges, ’98, and Leah Seigel, ’14, were honored in May with Leadership in Law awards from the Indiana Lawyer, Hedges as a Distinguished Barrister and Seigel as an Up-and-Coming Lawyer. Both were recognized for their commitments to community service and student mentorship.
Prof. Mark D. Janis, ’89, was elected to the American Law Institute earlier this year. The American Law Institute is well-known as the country’s leading independent organization working to clarify the law by producing scholarly work, including Restatements, Model Codes, and Principles of Law.
Gregory A. Castanias, ’90, a partner in the Washington, DC office of Jones Day, was recognized as one of Managing IP’s 2019’s Outstanding IP Litigators. Castanias served as lead counsel for the Jones Day team representing SAS Institute Inc. in the 2018 US Supreme Court case regarding partial institution in inter partes reviews.
Additionally, three IP faculty were among those honored in April for their distinction in the classroom.
Professors Hedges and Janis received Trustees' Teaching awards. Hedges is a clinical associate professor and director of the Law School’s intellectual property law clinic. Under Hedges’s direction, the IP Clinic has become one of the largest clinics in the country to be certified by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Hedges was cited for his emphasis on the fundamentals of law practice, including what he calls CLMs: “career-limiting moves.”
Janis is Robert A. Lucas Chair of Law and Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Research. In addition to his doctrinal instruction, Janis was honored for his dedication to students outside the classroom. He coaches moot court teams in external competitions, directs students in independent research, and supervises externs. Students described him as the “backbone of Indiana Law’s outstanding IP program and community.”
Gregory Castanias was awarded an Adjunct Teaching award. Castanias received accolades for “using real-world examples as an intellectual property appellate litigator to create a unique in-class experience.” Castanias has also been instrumental in recruiting prospective IP students to Maurer, counseling them on their career paths during their time in law school, and assisting them after graduation, especially in the judicial clerkship application process.
VIPs and indie films
Indiana Law's IP students now have two new opportunities to serve the entrepreneurial and arts communities in Indiana and beyond. The first is a new IP pro bono project, Volunteers in Intellectual Property (VIP). This project allows students, including 1Ls, to assist with projects received through PatentConnect, the Center’s patent hub. PatentConnect is a joint project of the Center and the US Patent and Trademark Office serving inventors in Indiana and Kentucky. A complement to our Intellectual Property Legal Clinic, the Independent Clinical Project in Film serves independent filmmakers in Indiana. Directed by adjunct professor Matthew Dresden (Harris Bricken), clinic students assist filmmakers with IP, contract, and other entertainment law issues.
IP Inn of Court Indianapolis
The Law School's IP faculty and alumni occupy key leadership positions in the newly launched S. Jay Plager Intellectual Property American Inn of Court, which serves the intellectual property legal community in central Indiana. Prof. Donald E. Knebel is president of the Inn, and Prof. Mark D. Janis and Connie Lindman, ’89, serve on the Inn’s Executive Committee. Janis was also a member of the Inn’s Organizing Committee. Nearly all of the school's IP full-time and adjunct faculty are members of the Inn, and a select group of IP students also participates: Sarah Eddy, Ty Edwards, Nick Palmieri, Candace Polster, LaShaila Spivey, Nick Wheeler, and Ying Zhu.
The Inn is named for Circuit Judge S. Jay Plager of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, who served as dean and professor at the IU Maurer School of Law from 1977–1984. In September 2019, Judges Plager and Richard Linn spoke with IP students in Bloomington and offered remarks at the inaugural meeting of the Inn in Indianapolis.
New research
Michael Mattioli has continued his scholarly work on transactional aspects of patents (particularly patent pools) and legal aspects of data science, publishing law review articles and book chapters in both fields, and regularly presenting at scholarly conferences. He also has been exploring legal aspects of innovation in autonomous vehicles and in assistive technology. The latter research is the foundation for a new book project, The Body Electric.
Mark D. Janis has recently published on design patent law and on historical aspects of patent law, two of his longstanding areas of research interest. He remains an active speaker in those areas. He also continues his work on casebooks in trademark law, trade dress and design law, and patent law.
Marshall Leaffer is at work on new publications in international intellectual property law and copyright law, notably the newest edition of the classic monograph Understanding Copyright Law. He spent the spring semester in Paris, and took numerous invitations to speak at scholarly symposia in France and elsewhere in Europe.
For recent faculty scholarship, visit the biography pages of IP faculty on the Law School's website:
Around the Center
IP Theory publishes new volume, launches podcast
Professor Mike Mattioli supervises the Center’s student-operated online intellectual property law journal, IP Theory. The journal publishes peer-selected content, with editing, production, and management carried out by IP students. Volume 8 has just been published. Congratulations to the graduating editorial board: Derek Ventling, Sarah Eddy, Nick Palmieri, Nick Wheeler, Ty Edwards, and Kenneth Guerra, and to the incoming board: Francesca Campione, Carolyn Griffith, Weichih Hsu, Phil Koranteng, Joseph Leonard, and Sachin Patel.
IP Theory has launched a podcast, Fire of Genius. The current episode includes updates on current issues in the world of intellectual property, including the Supreme Court’s Helsinn decision and the history of trademarking colors.
Student Organizations
Many thanks to the 2018–19 executive board of the Intellectual Property Association for its leadership: Blake Winn, Amanda Vaughn, Francesca Campione, Keltie Haley and Alyssa Gerstner. This year, the IP Association helped host the IP Practitioners-in-Residence series, which featured practitioners from a varieties of fields and backgrounds, including alumni Scott Palmer, Ryan McDonnell, and Scott Allen, ’12. The IP Association also coordinated the IP Mentor Program, which matches IP students with volunteer IP lawyers. The incoming IPA board members are Sarah Kelly, Payton Hoff, Matthew Ritter, Garrett Derian-Toth, Michael Glennon, and Emma Ng.
The Center’s newest student group, ChIPs Maurer, had a successful inaugural year. Led by Sarah Eddy and Candace Polster, ChIPs Maurer initiated ChIPs Coffee Breaks, a new series of events connecting our students with each other and IP practitioners. Invited practitioners included alumnae Connie Lindman and Alyssa Eckerley, ’18, and Tonya Combs (Eli Lilly & Company) and Christina Martini (McDermott Will & Emery). Francesca Campione and Sarah Kelly will step in to leadership roles for the 2019–2020 year. ChIPs Maurer is one of only two student chapters of the national ChIPs network, which advances and connects women in technology, law, and policy.
Stewart Fellowships
Indiana Law's IP students will be found working around the world this summer. Several of the school's 2019 Stewart Fellows will be working with IP firms in Asia: Sarah Kelly and Melanie Magdun in Hanoi; Payton Hoff and Maureen Reidy in Bangkok; and Matthew Ritter in Phnom Penh, all at the offices of Tilleke & Gibbins. Emma Ng and Chenyi Wang will complete their fellowships at the Beijing office of Perkins Coie. Special thanks go to Tom Treutler, ’01 (Tilleke & Gibbins), and Scott Palmer, ’01 (Perkins Coie), members of the Law School's Global Advisory Board, for their assistance in securing these fellowships.
Events
IP Alumni-Student Reception
Thursday, July 25 at 5:30 p.m.
Vol. 39, 39 S. LaSalle St., Chicago
IP Colloquium: Issues in International and Comparative Intellectual Property Law
Hosted by Professor Marshall Leaffer
Thursdays at 1:15 PM starting September 5
Two hours' CLE credit for each session pending.