Law School Events
USC Gould School of Law

Reform of the U.S. patent system has been in full swing for at least a decade, resulting in major legislative, judicial and regulatory developments. This conference will provide a venue for thought leaders in the academic, legal and policymaking communities to engage in an economically informed discussion of whether the patent reform process has taken steps that advance or hinder our innovation economy.  The conference will consist of morning and afternoon sessions, with a lunch featuring a keynote address by Andrei Iancu, Director of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. The morning sessions will focus on empirical and other economic analysis relating to policy concerns surrounding non-practicing entities, patent holdup and patent quality. The afternoon sessions will leverage that analysis in discussing past and future reforms in patent and antitrust law to address these issues. 

USC Gould School of Law, a State Bar of California-approved MCLE provider, certifies that this activity qualifies for minimum continuing legal education credit in the amount of 5.25 hours.

8am              Breakfast

8:50am        Opening remarks 

9am             Session I: Patent Trolls or Non-Practicing Entities?

• Michael Meurer (Boston University)
• David Schwartz (Northwestern University)

10am           Session 2: Does Patent Holdup Exist?

• Jorge Contreras (University of Utah)
• Stephen Haber (Stanford University) 

11am            Break

11:15am       Session 3: Can We Measure Patent Quality and Examiner Performance?

• Deepak Hegde (New York University)
• Saurabh Vishnubhakat (Texas A&M University)

12:15pm       Lunch

• Keynote Speaker: Andrei Iancu (Director of U.S. Patent & Trademark Office) 

1:45pm        Session 4: Is SEP/FRAND Policy on the Right Track?

• Moderator: Michael Lawrence (Google)
• Kirti Gupta (Qualcomm)
• Anne Layne-Farrar (Charles River Associates)
• Doug Melamed (Stanford University)

2:45pm         Session 5: Report Card for the Patent Trial and Appeals Board

• Moderator: Luke Dauchot (Kirkland & Ellis LLP)
• David Kappos (Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP)
• Brian Love (Santa Clara University)
• Arti Rai (Duke Univeristy)

3:45pm          Break

4pm            Session 6: Did eBay v. MercExchange Go Too Far?

• Moderator: Richard Gruner (University of Southern California)
• Jason Lo (Gibson Dunn and Crutcher LLP)
• Adam Mossoff (George Mason University)
• Ted Sichelman (San Diego Univeristy)

5pm          Closing 

RSVP: by Monday, February 18, 2019 to: https://ctlbmetconference.eventbrite.com