JOINT SECTION BREAKFAST / PLENARY SESSION
The Sections will present “Can Patents Restrict Our Advice to Clients?” to the attendees of the 2006 Joint Fall CLE Meeting during a complimentary breakfast that will be held on Friday, October 20th at 7:30am at the Hyatt Regency. Although the breakfast is complimentary, it will be a ticketed event and attendees must register to attend using the Meeting Registration and Ticket Purchase Form, which can be found in the back of this Preliminary Program, or on the Meeting Registration page. Please note, tickets to the breakfast will not be available on-site.
Can Patents Restrict Our Advice to Clients? Patents involving legal products and practice have the potential for reshaping how we practice law. Even today, tax, probate and real property lawyers may need to consider doing patent searches before offering advice to clients. “Business method patents,” the fastest growing area of applications to the Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”), include patents for tax strategies and real estate transactions. Examples include patents for tax-deferred real estate exchanges, hedging liabilities associated with a deferred compensation plan, funding grantor retained annuity trusts with nonqualified stock options, and other wealth transfer techniques. This session will discuss criteria for issuing and challenging business method patents that have a potential impact on legal practice along with both the practical and policy issues they raise.
Moderator: Professor Ellen Aprill, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA
Speakers: Professor Richard Gruner, Whittier Law School, Costa Mesa, CA
Christine Albright, Winston & Strawn LLP, Chicago, IL
