Staff from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will participate in the 10th annual Georgia State University Corporate Intellectual Property Institute conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 25-26, at Georgia State University Student Center East, 55 Gilmer St.
 
Janet Gongola, senior adviser of law and policy, and Tom Beach, senior adviser on big and open data, both of the Office of the Under Secretary and Director, along with Tashia Bunch, staff attorney with the Trademark Legal Policy Office, will lead the Oct. 25 lunch discussion. The panelists will present the USPTO’s highlights for 2017 and beyond, which include new programs and initiatives to improve the patent and trademark application process and updates about ex parte patent appeals and AIA trial proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board.
 
"We are excited to have the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office come to the GSU CIPI event to share with us many of their exciting advances and plans to make their operations even better for its customers, the intellectual property community," said Scott Frank (J.D./M.B.A. ’94).
 
Gongola advises the director on patent policy and legal matters and managed the agency’s implementation of the America Invents Act. Beach supports the deputy director and director of the USPTO to achieve its goals and is the director of staff operations for the Office of the Under Secretary.
 
The CIPI conference annually explores corporate intellectual property and the major issues facing in-house IP professionals.
 
“These issues range far and wide, including human resources, social media, litigation, licensing, training, setting-up quality programs, patent office hot topics and the like,” said Chason Carroll (J.D. ’06), senior intellectual property counsel at Mueller Walter Products, Inc. and co-founder/organizer of CIPI.
 
Topics this year include inter partes review of patents as a key strategic alternative for companies facing patent infringement claims, portfolio and performance management via IP analytics and use of Patent Trial and Appeal Board trial strategies as defense against patent infringement litigation claims. Also, design protection of graphical user interfaces, the application of USPTO and American Bar Association ethics rules in particular contexts, the best practices in trademark clearance, and the cybersecurity and privacy issues of innovation.
 
“With IP law in constant flux, our goal every year is to provide the attendees with quality information in a concise manner which may be used in their everyday operations,” Carroll said.
 
The CIPI conference was established in 2007 through Georgia State Law, J. Mack Robinson College of Business and the Intellectual Property Owners Association as a forum for IP professionals to share and discuss industry issues.
 
Early registration began Sept. 21 and regular registration begins Friday, Oct. 7. A certificate of attendance will be available upon request for those applying for CLE credit.