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April 26, 2006
BizNet Lecture on International and US Intellectual Property
The MIT Club of the Delaware Valley BizNet invites you to a lecture with
George Frank, Ph.D. (V '65)
Of Counsel, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
WHEN: Wed, April 26, 2006 at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Jon M Huntsman Hall, Rm G50, 3730 Walnut Street, Philadelphia PA 19104
COST: $10 per person
RSVP: https://alum.mit.edu/smarTrans/user/Register.dyn?eventID=5407&groupID=158
CONTACT: Robert Barrimond at (610) 308-7334 or robert.barrimond@alum.mit.edu
LAWS AFFECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE REST OF THE WORLD: TENSION OR HARMONY?
Dr. George A. Frank is Of Counsel in the Intellectual Property Group of the Business and Finance Department and Chairman of its Licensing and Technology Transfer Practice Team. His practice is focused on domestic and international corporate partnering, licensing and joint ventures involving patent law, chemical technologies and biotechnology, as well as related litigation, including patents and products liability. He counsels clients ranging from Fortune 100 to middle market to emerging technology companies. His extensive legal, business and scientific experience in the private sector enables him to address the issues that clients face on a daily basis.
Topics will include:
- Patents--Origins in the U.S. Constitution v. Common and Statutory Laws World-wide
- First-to-Invent (U.S.) v. First-to-File (Rest of the World) Determines Entitlement to a Patent
- Explosive Growth of Patent Application Filing BUT United States Patent and Trademark Office’ Standards for Examination Permit Broader Categories of Patents to Issue ( see: Pending Supreme Court Case--Laboratory Corporation v. Metabolite Laboratories)
- Patent Law Harmonization Efforts Among Developed Countries and Third-World Opposition
- Patents in Biotechnology and for “Business Methods” (Methods of Computer Use and Algorithms) -- Pro-Competitive or Chilling Effect?
- Burdensome Patent Litigation in the U.S. and “Patent Trolls”
- Globalization of IP Work BUT Statutory Roadblocks to Outsourcing to Off-Shore Providers
- Trademarks: the Lanham Act and the Madrid Protocol
- Copyright: the Copyright Act of 1976 and the Bern Convention
More on Dr. Frank
A substantial part of Dr. Frank’s practice involves acting as a day-to-day legal advisor to a number of small to mid-size companies, from start-ups to established public corporations. He is experienced in providing practical legal solutions to complex problems that face companies, as related to all manner of transactions having an intellectual property component. In such transactions, Dr. Frank has handled due diligence investigations and the structuring of technology transfer for mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures, and strategic alliances.
Prior to joining the firm, Dr. Frank was Corporate Counsel for E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was Intellectual Property Group Leader. In more than 27 years at DuPont, he was also Lead Counsel to the $2 billion Lycra® business, Lead Counsel for the specialty chemical business, Lead Counsel for the diagnostics and biotechnology divisions, and advisor to diverse businesses including Lucite® finishes, Teflon® perfluoropolymers, Corian® surface products, and Berg Electronics. While at DuPont, he also served as chairman of the corporate Foreign IP Law Practice Committee.
Dr. Frank’s private sector experience also includes working for over a nine-year period as a senior corporate scientist for Thiokol Corporation, as a laboratory head for Borden Chemical Company, and as a group leader and senior chemist for Rohm & Haas Company. During this time, he also served for nearly two years as an adjunct professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.
Posted by webmaster at April 26, 2006 10:30 PM