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A Few Words from the President, Tom Coverstone:
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Welcome back! Hopefully you had a great summer and you are looking forward to another great year of SDIPLA events. After being on the board for three years, I was elected to President in June. I would like to extend a big Thank You to Kent Walker, Past President, for his past year of hard work and leadership. I plan to continue the SDIPLA’s past record of providing varied and interesting speakers and events during my term as President. |
Although we have not had meetings for the past two months since we traditionally take time off to enjoy summer, the board and I have been busy lining up speakers and events for the upcoming year. We will plan to have events, with MCLE cred its, that will be of interest to IP litigators, patent prosecutors, licensing attorneys, as well as have events that will be of interest to biotech and high tech attorneys. We also will have some events that are intended for our members to just network and have a good time together, such as the
Annual Holiday Party.
Our year will start off with our annual Judge’s Dinner meeting on September 19th . The Judges’ Panel will include U.S. District Court Judges Marilyn Huff, Rudi Brewster, and Dana Sabraw. The event will be moderated by Doug Olson of Paul Hastings. This event will provide a unique opportunity to hear directly from our U.S. District Court Judges about their perspectives on patent litigation and the implementation of the new local rules in patent cases. There also will be an opportunity for the audience to ask questions directly to the Judges. We expect a large turnout for this event, so reserve your seat early.
As you can expect, the costs of putting on events such as the Judges Dinner have increased over the years. The SDIPLA has not raised member dues or event rates for several years, but we will be reviewing the issue this year, while at the same time we will be making efforts to keep costs down while still providing quality events. The options we will be looking at include having a mix of lunch meetings as well as dinner meetings. The lunch meetings, especially if done with a buffet meal, are less expensive than dinner meetings. Nevertheless, we will strive to keep a mix of lunch meetings and dinner meetings. Along these lines, please think about supporting the SDIPLA by having your organization sponsor one of our events, or consider being a year long sponsor by sponsoring each of our events for the year. In the past, Buchanan Ingersoll and Townsend and Townsend were year
long sponsors. Paul Hastings has agreed to be a year long sponsor for this year. The sponsorships help to defray the costs of the meetings, and it is a great way for firms to market directly to the SDIPLA.
In October, Bob Spar from the USPTO has agreed to address the SDIPLA again to discuss the status of Patent Reform and Patent Rule Changes. Bob will also answer any questions that you may have. This event will be a lunch meeting at the Del Mar Marriott.
We have not yet finalized the November speaker, but we are working on several options at this point. If you have any ideas for speakers or topics, please let me know by sending me an email at patpend@sbcglobal.net.
In December we will have our Annual Holiday Party. We also plan to announce the winner of our Annual IP Award. This will be the fourth year of providing an award to somebody who has made significant contributions to the San Diego IP community. Our past winners include Dr. Verterbi, a co-founder of Qualcomm and the inventor of the Verterbi algorithm, which is used in CDMA communications, Dr. Ivor Royston and Dr. Howard Birndorf, co-founders of Hybritech, and Larry Maxham, San Diego
patent attorney.
We also would like to encourage participation in the SDIPLA. There are many opportunities to become involved. Consider joining one of our committees. Currently we have Amicus, Editorial, Events and Awards, Mentoring, and Sponsorship committees.
From the entire Board, thank you for your support and participation in the SDIPLA, and we look forward to another great year.
See you at our September 19th meeting!
Tom Coverstone
President, SDIPLA |
SDIPLA History:
SDIPLA has grow to over 475 registered members. Thanks to the dedication and leadership of past Board members, the SDIPLA has grown to be among the largest intellectual property bar organizations in the country.
A primary goal of the SDIPLA is to continue our long-standing tradition of providing valuable continuing legal education to our members by securing top-quality, nationally recognized speakers to address the most current issues in intellectual property law. Another goal this year will be to "give back" to San Diego by assisting organizations that play a vital role in our community.
The SDIPLA Board is continuing to work hard to provide improved and expanded services to our members. The Board has set up various committees such as the Awards Committee, Events Committee, Sponsorship Committee, Editorial Committee and Amicus Committee, to improve SDIPLA's ability to address the needs and desires of our members. Although startup has been slow, these committees are becoming rooted and will play an important role in the future operation and effectiveness of the SDIPLA.
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