Tuesday, March 20, 2007

IP Hall of Fame [Intellectual Asset Management]

Two US Presidents, a Japanese Prime Minister and one of France's greatest authors were among the first inductees into the IP Hall of Fame, announced last night at a gala dinner in London. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Korekiyo Takahashi and Victor Hugo were joined by 19 other individuals, all of whom were judged by the nominating panel of experts to have made an outstanding contribution to the development of intellectual property law and practice.
Devised and developed by leading IP publication Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine, in association with IP management specialist Computer Patent Annuities Limited Partnership (CPA), the IP Hall of Fame is designed to identify those who have helped establish intellectual property as one of the key business assets of the 21st century. A team of 18 internationally acknowledged IP experts recruited from industry, the law and academia was assembled to make the selections.
Commenting after the induction ceremony, IAM editor Joff Wild said: "For many organisations now, patent, trademark and copyright rights are the most important assets they own. By creating the IP Hall of Fame we hope to publicise the hugely valuable work all the inductees have done in developing this vital asset class, which not only helps to drive the global economy but also makes a significant contribution to the wellbeing of people around the world."
Both Jefferson and Madison were honoured for their insistence that intellectual property rights be specifically safeguarded by the US Constitution, while Takahashi was recognised as the founding father of Japan's patent system. Victor Hugo, meanwhile, was nominated because he was a prime mover behind the creation of the Berne Convention on Copyright, which to this day helps safeguard the rights of authors and other copyright owners in over 150 countries. Other inductees included the great American inventor Thomas Edison and Sir Edward Coke, a 17th century English courtier who played a pivotal role in the foundation of modern patent rights.
Inductees from the present day included Microsoft's IP chief Marshall Phelps and Bruce Lehman, a former Commissioner of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Under-secretary of Commerce during the Clinton presidency. Commenting on his induction, Lehman said: "I am deeply honoured to be included in the IP Hall of Fame. I especially want to thank IAM magazine, and its partner CPA, for establishing an institution that will educate the public about the importance of intellectual property to the wellbeing of society in general. More public attention needs to be paid to the importance of intellectual property rights in promoting human creativity and the benefits that flow from the creations of the human mind."
European representatives included Klaus-Dieter Langfinger, head of IP at BASF and a prime advocate for IP rights in Europe. "Being one of the first inductees into the IP Hall of Fame is a tremendous honour, which with great pleasure I would also like to accept in the name of those colleagues and friends who have worked hard with me over the years in trying to give to intellectual property in Europe the political and societal support it rightfully deserves but which it does not currently enjoy," said Langfinger. "Intellectual property drives innovation and should not be regarded as a monopoly of the few but as a tool leading to economic welfare, and societal and cultural progress for all."
The IP Hall of Fame will continue to welcome new inductees on an annual basis. An online IP museum and resource centre, designed to make intellectual property issues more accessible to the general population, is to be launched later this year.
First inductees into the IP Hall of Fame
Don Banner: Recently deceased partner of law firm Banner & Witcoff LLP and a former Commissioner of the USPTO. Played a key role in the development of the modern international IP system.
Heinz Bardehle: Partner of German law firm Bardehle Pagenberg with a long involvement in international patent harmonisation issues, as well as being an adviser to the German government on IP.
Senator Birch Bayh: Former US Senator, now with Venable LLP. A co-sponsor of the pivotal Bayh-Dole Act 1980 that gave US universities much greater freedom to exploit the IP they created.
Friedrich Karl Beier: A founder of Germany's Max Planck Institute and a strong influence on the development of IP law and practice in Germany and Europe.
Johann van Benthem: One of the founding fathers of the European Patent Office, as well as its first President.
Arpad Bogsch: Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation from 1963 to 1997.
Sir Edward Coke: Author of the English Statute of Monopolies of 1624, the basis for the distinction between patents of invention and patents given at the caprice of the sovereign.
Thomas Edison: One of the greatest inventors and industrial leaders in history. He obtained 1,093 United States patents, the most issued to any individual.
Kurt Härtel: One of the prime movers behind the establishment of the European Patent Convention and a former president of the German Patent Office.
Victor Hugo: Author, and the Honorary President and founder of the Association Litteraire et Artistique Internationale. He was a prime mover behind the creation of the Berne Convention on Copyright.
Lord Justice Robin Jacob: The senior patent judge in the UK. His judgments are highly influential in the European arena.
Thomas Jefferson: Third President of the United States, author of the first US patent law and first head of the US Patent Office.
Klaus-Dieter Langfinger: Head of Patents, Trademarks and Licences at BASF and a prime advocate for IP rights in Europe.
Bruce Lehman: Former Commissioner of the USPTO, an architect of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, helped negotiate the TRIPS agreement. Founded the International Intellectual Property Institute in 1999.
James Madison: Fourth US President and credited with including Article III, Section 8 - the Patent and Copyright Clause - in the US Constitution, providing the basis for IP in the basic US constitutional system.
Howard T Markey: A driving force for the creation of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal in the United States and its first chief justice.
Alexander von Mühlendahl: Served three terms as Vice President of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks & Designs) in Alicante. A pivotal figure in the creation of the Community trademark system.
Melville Nimmer: Author of a four-volume treatise on copyright written in 1963, and continuously updated since then, which remains the "gold standard" scholarly resource on copyright in the US and around the world.
Marshall Phelps: The man who took IBM from generating a few million dollars in IP-related annual revenues in 1985 to over one billion dollars in a little over a decade. Now in charge of IP at Microsoft.
Judge Giles Rich: An author of the US Patent Act of 1952. Then a highly influential judge at the US Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and subsequently the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Frank Isaac Schechter: His 1927 article "The Rational Basis of Trademark Protection" was the birth of trademark dilution as a recognised theory.
Dudley Smith: The prime mover behind the formation of the Licensing Executives Society.
Korekiyo Takahashi: The first commissioner of the Japanese Patent Office and later Prime Minister of Japan. In 1885 he introduced Japan's first patent system by promulgating the Patent Monopoly Act.
Nominating Panel:
Ciaran McGinley - Head of the President's Office, European Patent Office, Munich
Bruce Berman - An author and IP consultant based in New York
Jerome Chauvin - Director of the Legal Affairs Department at UNICE (Union des Industries de la Communauté européenne (Union of European Business Federations)), Brussels
David Tatham - Trade mark Attorney, consultant and former Head of Trademarks for Imperial Chemical Industries plc (ICI)
Chris Mercer - President of the European Patent Institute and a partner of Carpmaels & Ransford, London
Karen Hersey - retired Senior Counsel for Intellectual Property at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Adjunct Professor of Law, Franklin Pierce Law Center, and former president of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM)
Bo Heiden - Deputy Director, Center for Intellectual Property Studies (CIP), Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg
Allen Baum - President Elect of LES USA and Canada and a partner of Hutchinson & Mason in Raleigh, NC
Ian Harvey - Chairman, Intellectual Property Institute, London
Ron Myrick - a partner with Finnegan Henderson, vice-president of the AIPPI and a former president of the AIPLA
Anne Gundelfinger - President of the INTA and Vice President & Associate General Counsel, Intel Corporation
Melvin Garner - President of the AIPLA and a partner of Darby & Darby in New York
James Sobieraj - Past president of LES USA and Canada and a partner with Brinks Hofer in Chicago
Peter Chrocziel - President of LES International and a partner with Freshfields in Germany.
Malte Koellner - a partner in German VC firm Triangle Ventures and an adviser on IP to the European Venture Capital Association.
Todd Dickinson - former Commissioner of the USPTO and now VP of IP at General Electric
Steven James - President of the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys and a partner of RGC Jenkins & Co, London
John Tarpey - World Intellectual Property Organisation

No comments: