Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2023

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Why everyone wants to talk about the America Invents Act

The AIA is the hottest topic at this year’s AIPLA Annual Meeting in Washington DC

While the America Invents Act (AIA) was the obvious focus for the 2012 Annual Meeting, this year’s planning committee, which began brainstorming sessions about a year in advance, was faced with the challenge of designing a conference around a topic in flux. With some changes like the first-to-file rules still not finalized, and others that became effective September 16 in very early stages, predicting a particular focus for each session was not easy.

But there was no uncertainty that members would want to talk about AIA implementation. “Given the timing, we decided fairly early on that we needed to have a heavy AIA focus,” said Sharon Israel of Mayer Brown, the officer in charge of the 2012 Planning Committee.

“Normally we would decide whether a subject deserves a morning or afternoon session,” said Manny Schecter, Vice-Chair of the Planning Committee and Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law at IBM. But with the AIA as “the elephant in the room,” committee members decided to deviate from the typical AIPLA format. In the end, they settled on dedicating one track in each morning and afternoon session to the AIA. Schecter and Israel both identified Friday afternoon’s session, which examines the question of whether the new AIA system will work, as a must-see (Friday Track 1: AIA—Will the New System Work?, 2:00 p.m.—3:30 p.m.). The panel features a line-up of high-profile IP experts, including USPTO Director David Kappos.

But since the Association’s members include lawyers who practice overseas and across all areas of IP, how to cover patent reform while providing “something for everybody” presented an additional challenge.

Israel and Schecter said they tried to strike a balance between topics relating to U.S. and international IP issues. Thursday’s session will include an international track which covers the emerging markets of Israel, Brazil, South Africa and Russia. It will also include a discussion on advice for managing global IP portfolios.


Other important topics this year include the smart phone patent wars and the sometimes negative attention they have drawn to IP law (Friday Closing Plenary Session, Saturday 9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.), and cyber-security issues (Friday Track 3: Theft of IP through Cyber Attacks, 8:45 a.m.—11:45 a.m.).

This report was first published in the AIPLA Daily Report. Download the AIPLA Daily Report, published by Managing IP from Washington, DC from our conference newspapers page.

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Civil society and industry representatives met in Geneva on Thursday, September 28 to discuss a potential expansion of the TRIPS waiver
Sources say the beta version of the USPTO’s new trademark search tool is a big improvement over the current system but that it isn’t perfect
Canadian counsel weigh in on the IP office’s decision to raise trademark filing fees in 2024 and how they’re preparing clients
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis coverage from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
Shira Perlmutter, US Register of Copyrights, discussed the Copyright Office's role in forming generative AI policy during a House of Representatives hearing
The award marks one of the highest-ever damages received by a foreign company in a trademark infringement suit in China
Two orders denying public access to documents have reignited a debate over a lack of transparency at the new court
Rouse’s new chief of operations and the firm’s CEO tell Managing IP why they think private equity backing will help it conquer Europe
Brian Landry, partner at Saul Ewing, reveals how applicants can prosecute patent applications in the wake of the Federal Circuit's In re Cellect ruling
Ronelle Geldenhuys of Australia’s Foundry IP considers the implications complex computer technologies such as AI have on decision-making