The Seattle Intellectual Property American Inn of Court has been awarded the Achieving Excellence Platinum designation for the 2021-2022 Inn year. We also celebrated another wonderful year of meetings by finally hosting an in-person year-end social aboard a boat cruise around the Puget Sound!
This month’s presentation was “Failure to Function or Failure of Logic: Practical Suggestions for Overcoming Refusals,” with special guest lecturer John Sommer, General Counsel for Stussy, Inc. Mr. Sommer discussed some of his prior cases with the USPTO’s TTAB and discussed various current trends with Trademark law.
This Month, the presenting group provided mock direct and cross-examinations, various tips and tricks, and the Inn heard from a special guest lecturer, Hon. Matthew Williams, King County Superior Court; offering his insights into online trials.
On March 21, 2022, together with the Dwyer and Bryan Inns of Court, the Seattle Inn of Court hosted a joint meeting on Mass Incarceration with presenters Larry Jefferson and David Trieweiler. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Trieweiler held an excellent presentation on the macro and micro effects of Mass Incarceration in America broadly and in Washington State.
On February 17, 2022, the Inn hosted an Ethics presentation related to various issues concerning both In-House & Outside Counsel! The presentation is outlined below.
President – Duncan Macfarlane
President-Elect – Kevin A. Zeck
Secretary – Lori Tonnes
Treasurer – Caroline Bercier
Membership Chair – Dario Machleidt
Program Chair – Charlie Zhao
Achieving Excellence – Xiang “Shawn” Li
Director (Website) – Catherine “Katie” Sutton
Director (At Large) – Stephen McGrath
Director (At Large) – Bill Harmon
Director (At Large) – Jessica Kaempf
Director (At Large) – Nicholas Kim
Please join us in thanking the outgoing Executive Committee Members!
2020-2021 Executive Committee Members
President – Gina Culbert
President Elect – Duncan Macfarlane
Secretary – Kevin A. Zeck
Treasurer – Lori Tonnes
Membership Chair – Dario Machleidt
Program Chair – Kristen Lange
Achieving Excellence and Inn Alliance Liaison – Caroline Bercier
Director (Website) – Catherine Sutton
Director (At Large) – Shannon Jost
Director (At Large) – Stephen McGrath
Director (At Large) – Bill Harmon
Director (At Large) – Charlie Zhao
[Ex Officio Directors e.g. former Presidents – Paul Leuzzi, Jerry A. Riedinger, Lawrence D. Graham, Isabella Fu, Brooke A.M. Taylor, Brian C. Park, Signe Naeve, Mark P. Walters, John D. Vandenberg, Warren Rheaume, Jonathan L. McFarland, Ben Byer]
On April 15, 2021, the Inn of Court held a Mock IP License Negotiation. Please enjoy the slide presentation of the Mock Negotiation.
The Seattle IP Inn of Court held its October 22, 2020, meeting in a virtual mixer format. The meeting included a overview presentation of recent developments in IP law. A section on trademarks covered willful infringement, the ability to protect “generic.com” terms, and the need for likelihood of confusion in counterfeit cases. A section on copyrights addresses the outstanding issues in the Google v Oracle case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. This included the copyright eligibility of application programming interfaces and associated fair use defenses. A section on patents covered recent developments in discretionary denials at the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB). The patent segment also contained a discussion of the Arthrex case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve whether PTAB judges are principal officers, and, if so, whether the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals cured any defects in the statutory scheme creating these judgeships.
Thank you to all the participants!
Please click the below links for the 2020 – 2021 Welcome Letter and the Schedule for Meetings.
Welcome Letter: https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.189/b8i.176.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Welcome-Letter-2020-21.pdf
Meeting Schedule: https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.189/b8i.176.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Schedule-of-meetings-2020-21-2.pdf