Along with my Lewis & Clark colleague, Joe Miller, I have organized a conference on the patent law doctrine of obviousness following the Supreme Court’s KSR case last term. It’s a great line-up of participants, and should be an excellent conference. You can find details here. Here’s the program:
Friday October 5 and Saturday October 6, 2007
Wood Hall, Room 8
Lewis & Clark Law School
10015 SW Terwilliger Boulevard
Portland, OR 97219
FRIDAY
8:00 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. Welcome and Introduction
Lisa LeSage Associate Dean and Director of Business Law Programs
Robert Klonoff, Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School
8:45 a.m. Morning Session I – Law
Panelists:
Gregory Mandel, The Nonobvious Problem
John Duffy, Temporal Considerations in Nonobviousness Analysis
Rebecca Eisenberg, Pharma’s Nonobviousness Problem
Commenter:
Rochelle Dreyfuss
10:15 a.m. Break10:30 a.m. Morning Session II – Economics
Panelists:
Suzanne Scotchmer, Nonobviousness, Options and the Scarcity of Ideas
Scott Stern, The Strategic Impact of Patent Office Standards
Vincenzo Denicolo, The Nonobviousness Requirement with Complementary Innovations
Commenter:
Michael Katz
Noon Lunch
Keynote Speaker – Kevin Rivette
Mr. Rivette is currently the Chairman of the USPTO Public Patent Advisory Committee. He recently served as IBM’s Vice President of Intellectual Property Strategy.
1:15 p.m. Afternoon Session I – Psychology
Panelists:
Keith Sawyer
Colleen Seifert, Now Why Didn’t I Think of That? The Cognitive Processes That Create the Obvious,
Steven Smith, Invisible Assumptions and the Unintentional Use of Knowledge and Experiences in Creative Cognition
Commenter:
Janet Davidson
2:45 pm Break3:15 pm Afternoon Session II – R & D Perspectives
Panelists:
Mark Blaxill, Senior Partner & Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group
Ian Harvey, Chairman, Intellectual Property Institute (UK)
Damon Matteo, Vice President for Intellectual Capital Management, Xerox PARC
Kevin Rivette, Chairman, USPTO Public Patent Advisory Committee
Moderator:
Andy Culbert, Associate General Counsel, Microsoft Corp.
4:30 pm Reception
SATURDAY8:30 am Continental Breakfast
9:00 am Morning Session I – Law
Panelists:
Katherine Strandberg, Nonobviousness and Nerd Culture
Joseph Miller, Are Erroneous Patent Denials Better Than Erroneous Grants?
R. Polk Wagner, Feeding the Trolls:KSR, the Supreme Court, and the End of Patent Reform
Commenter:
Robert Merges
10:30 am Break10:45 am Roundtable Discussion
Noon Lunch & Conference Close