Inaugural Fenwick & West Symposium Draws Praise

The first symposium in the new Technology, Entrepreneurship, Science, and the Law (TESLaw) series sponsored by Fenwick & West was held in King Hall on November 7, drawing an audience of about 120 attorneys, academic experts, students, and industry professionals and winning rave reviews from participants, many of whom commented on the outstanding quality of the presentations.  "The Perfect Storm of Patent Reform?" symposium brought together an impressive set of industry leaders and legal experts to discuss vital issues related to patent reform, intellectual property rights, and how pending changes in the patent system will impact information technology, the life sciences, and the economy.

"UC Davis did an outstanding job of organizing and promoting what turned out to be a cutting edge program on patent reform in the three branches of the federal government," said Jerry Selinger, of Patterson & Sheridan, LLP, and Former Director American Intellectual Property Law Association.

The symposium featured a keynote speech from Stratton Scalvos, former board chair, president, and CEO of Verisign.  Panel discussions included:

• "Patent Reform in Congress: Evolution in the Innovation Framework," moderated by UC Davis School of Law Acting Professor Peter Lee and featuring Mark Chandler, general counsel, Cisco; Jay Thomas, professor of Law, Georgetown University; Andrew Serafini, partner, Fenwick& West; and Doug Luftman, associate general counsel, intellectual property, Palm, Inc.
• "Patent Reform at the PTO: Streamlining of Substantive Change?" moderated by UC Davis School of Law Professor Keith Aoki and featuring Colleen Chien, assistant professor of Law, Santa Clara University; Ron Katznelson, PhD, president, Bi-Level Technologies; Sanjay Prasad, head of Enterprise Software Licensing, Intellectual Ventures; and Jerry Selinger, of Patterson & Sheridan, LLP, and Former Director American Intellectual Property Law Association.
• "Patent Reform in the Courts: Doctrinal Developments and Implications," moderated by Lynn Pasahow, partner, Fenwick & West, and featuring Mark Lemley, William H. Neukom professor of Law, Stanford University; Robert Merges, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, professor of Law and Technology; director; UC Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; and Chief Judge Paul R. Michel, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
• A roundtable discussion moderated by Mark Lemley, WilliamH.Neukom Professor of Law, Stanford University, and featuring Chip Lutton, chief patent counsel, Apple; Lynn Pasahow, partner, Fenwick & West; Jay Thomas, professor of Law, Georgetown University; and Chief Judge Paul R. Michel.

The symposium was the first in a five-year series at the Law School sponsored by Fenwick & West to provide practitioners, academics, and students in law, management, bioscience, high technology, and other related fields with the knowledge base required to successfully address the challenges inherent to the growing, ever-changing markets of the 21st century.  More information on the series can be found at http://www.law.ucdavis.edu/news/events/fenwickwest/index.html.