From the AIPLA President

As President of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, I will have a broad range of responsibilities and deal with a wide variety of IP issues on a regular basis. My hope is that by providing insight and access to the office of the AIPLA President, this blog will convey some of that in a manner that is informative and interesting. Though I must admit that the concept of providing content that people are actually interested in reading on a regular basis is a bit scary to me. But, as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I invite you to join me for what promises to be an interesting year in the world of IP. Presumably, many of you are familiar with AIPLA. But for those of you who are not, let me simply repeat what a German colleague of mine once said – being President of AIPLA makes you the voice of the largest IP community in the world, responsible for real economic interests, namely, people’s jobs, as well as innovation.

So let’s dive right in. The week leading up to my presidency was pretty full. My practice at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler focuses on patent litigation, and so on Monday and Tuesday, October 22 and 23, I served as faculty for a National Institute for Trial Advocacy program sponsored by the Federal Circuit Bar Association in Washington, DC.

But, come Wednesday October 24 ^th , the AIPLA Annual Meeting at which I would be installed as AIPLA President, had arrived. After the annual meeting I returned to New York and, of course, Superstorm Sandy arrived on the East Coast, which delayed this initial blog post.

This blog being delayed was the least important inconvenience from the storm, and I hope that those of you who were impacted were also merely inconvenienced, and nothing worse.

Over the next year I hope to write about the various advocacy work that AIPLA is doing in the courts, relevant governmental agencies, and legislatures (federal and state); discuss foreign trips to promote American IP interests; and share thoughts about my visits around the country with members and at IP events (please let me know if there's a specific event that I should consider attending, as I’m always looking for suggestions). I hope to meet many of you on these travels.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to an exciting year.