KU law school to host world’s leading patent scholarship conference

LAWRENCE — What role should patent law play in shaping innovation and emerging technologies? That is one of many questions scholars will explore during the 14th annual Patent Conference on April 10-11 at the University of Kansas School of Law.

Patent scholars from 18 institutions across 15 states and Germany will present cutting-edge research on patent law, policy and business. The program is free and open to the public, though registration is requested.

“We’re proud to welcome leading patent scholars from across the country and around the world to KU Law,” said Andrew Torrance, Paul E. Wilson Distinguished Professor of Law and co-founder of the conference. “PatCon has become a premier forum for sharing new ideas and advancing scholarship, and it’s especially meaningful to host it here, where the conference began.”

Presentations will explore a wide range of timely issues, including shifts in patent litigation, evolving standards for patent eligibility and enforcement, and the role of courts and administrative agencies. Scholars will also examine emerging challenges related to artificial intelligence, health technologies and data sharing, as well as broader questions about innovation policy, venture capital investment and global markets for technology.

“This year’s conference highlights how quickly the patent landscape is evolving,” Torrance said. “From artificial intelligence to global markets, the research being presented reflects the complex challenges facing innovators, policymakers and practitioners today. Intangible assets, especially patents, now account for a majority of the economy, having surpassed physical assets, such as steel, oil and wheat. The Patent Conference welcomes top scholars to explain this brave new world of brilliant ideas and technological innovation.”

The Patent Conference will include a ceremony honoring this year’s recipient of the PatCon Extraordinary Achievement Award, Dietmar Harhoff, director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition and honorary professor at the University of Munich. The award recognizes sustained, extraordinary contributions to scholarship on the patent system and is often described as an unofficial “Nobel Prize of patent research.”

The KU School of Law hosted the inaugural Patent Conference in April 2011. Affectionately known as PatCon, the conference has become the nation’s leading annual patent scholarship conference. It rotates among the law schools of its founding professors: Torrance, David Olson (Boston College Law School), David Schwartz (Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law) and Ted Sichelman (University of San Diego School of Law).

The event is co-sponsored by leading patent law firms AVEK IP and Hovey Williams LLP.