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Section Members Meet in San Francisco
From the Chair
William L. LaFuze
Section Chair, 2004-2005
 I have just returned from the Summer IPL Conference in San Francisco. We had a wonderful meeting rooted in a first-class program of hot IP topics. Many thanks to Fred Koenig, Marisia Campbell, and Garner Weng for putting this program together.
During the Council Meeting on June 23, Council addressed several important topics. One topic of great interest was the liability issues raised by the Grokster decision, which (at the time of the Council meeting) was still pending and awaiting a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court (the Grokster decision from the Supreme Court came down during the week of writing this column). The Grokster case involved the question of the liability of peer-to-peer file sharing systems which are used to facilitate the copying of copyrighted subject matter. The issue before Council was whether the Section wished to take any position on potential legislative action in view of the Grokster case from the Court of Appeals. Ralph Oman, reporting for the Section’s Grokster Task Force, presented the history of the Section’s consideration of the Grokster issues, and recommended that the Section take no legislative position on the Grokster issues at this time. Instead, the Task Force recommended that the issue await a ruling by the Supreme Court, after which the Court’s ruling would be analyzed to determine what legislative position, if any, the Section should take. Council also passed three important resolutions dealing with issues raised by the Patent Act of 2005. The full text of these resolutions can be found at www.abanet.org/intelprop/Patent_Injunctions_Proposals_6.2005.doc. Finally, the Section is transitioning to a new schedule of meetings, which will involve moving the Summer IPL Conference to coincide with the ABA Annual Meeting (which takes place in August) starting in 2007. As part of the new schedule, the Section Leadership will hold its leadership meeting in November rather than in January.
Mary Beth Peters gave the opening keynote address to the conference on a historical perspective of copyright law. As usual, Mary Beth’s presentation was interesting and informative. Don Martens and Don Dunner were given the first ever “Chair’s Award” for outstanding service to the Section. Don Martens was recognized in particular for his work in chairing the Task Forces on the Responses to the National Academy of Sciences, the Response to the Federal Trade Commission’s report and recommendations on patent law reform, and comprehensive Section White Paper on Patent Law Reform. The latest version of the White Paper can be found at www.abanet.org/intelprop/home/
PatentReformWP.pdf. Don Dunner was recognized for many contributions, including his work in preparing and filing a brief on behalf of the ABA in Phillips v. AWH Corp. Don was instrumental in getting the necessary approvals to permit the filing of this brief. (Incidentally, Richard Rainey was a primary author on the brief.) Also, Don Dunner was recognized for his work in having the First Inventor to File Resolution passed by the ABA House of Delegates at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Salt Lake City in February. Don worked tirelessly in educating other sections as to the merits of a first inventor to file patent system.
Also, a significant part of the program was devoted to discussion of The Patent Act of 2005, H.R. 2795. First Don Martens gave an educational presentation of those parts of the bill which are considered those with broad support: first inventor to file, best practices, repeal of best mode, certain aspects of inequitable conduct, publish all applications at 18 months, expand inter-partes reexamination, prior user rights, and others. After Don Martens’ presentation, I moderated a panel discussion which addressed some of the more controversial topics in the bill. Don Martens and Don Dunner presented views and comments which closely followed those of the Section. Chip Lutton from Apple Computer and Professor Mark Lemley from Stanford Law School presented views in contrast which closely followed those being advocated by the Business Alliance Software Association. The topics addressed were injunctions, damages, post-grant opposition proceedings, willfull infringement, and continuations. Following the panel discussion on each separate topic, the floor was opened for comments and questions. A lively debate on the pros and cons of the issues ensued.
The ABA Annual Meeting is scheduled for August 5-10, and the Section sponsored and co-sponsored several interesting CLE programs during the meeting, in addition to our Business
Meeting on August 6. Hope you were able to join us.
Finally, let me take this opportunity to say how much I have enjoyed working with all the leadership of the Section of Intellectual Property Law – the Executive Committee, the Officers, the Council, and the Division and Committee Chairs. These are the people who really make things happen substantively in our section. And a special thanks to our incoming chair Tony Figg. He has been a great “right-hand man” and will be an outstanding Chair for the Section next association year. Many thanks also to the staff – Betsi Roach, Mike Winkler, Alice Bare, and Beverly Banks, for their support and hard work throughout the year.
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