The San Francisco Bay Area
Intellectual Property
American Inn of Court
The San Francisco Bay Area Intellectual Property American Inn of Court focuses on intellectual property issues to facilitate communication and exchange of ideas among attorneys with an intellectual property practice and between the bench and the intellectual property bar. We also use our monthly meetings to provide training and mentoring opportunities for our more junior members, who participate in mock client counseling or oral argument sessions and educational presentations on specific legal issues.
Each member is assigned to one of nine “pupillage groups,” each responsible for presenting one program during the term. The pupillage groups have fairly free reign over their presentations; the main constraints are that the program lasts about an hour and is related to some aspect of IP law. Often, the programs focus on patent litigation. Still, we make a concerted effort to expand the range of topics to include copyright, trademark, trade secrets, patent prosecution, right of publicity, privacy, etc.
The Inn meets on the third Wednesday of the month, from September through November and January through June, with meeting locations divided among San Francisco, the Peninsula, and San Jose.
We invite members of other Inns and prospective members to join us at one of our nine monthly meetings, usually starting at 6:00 pm on the third Wednesday of the month, between September and June. We are honored to be one of the largest Inns in the nation, and welcome all intellectual property professionals and law students to join
Upcoming Meeting
Notice: Undefined index: post_content in /home/ipinnofc/develop/wp-content/plugins/inn-events/show_innmeetengs.php on line 9
About
We share a passion for all aspects of intellectual property law and promote excellence, integrity, and civility in our profession through education and mentoring.
Mission
The American Inns of Court inspires the legal community to advance the rule of law by achieving the highest level of professionalism through example, education, and mentoring.
History
The idea of a San Francisco Bay Area Inn devoted to intellectual property arose from discussions in early 1994 between Neil Smith, Richard Sangster, and Robert Morrill. Neil had served as a law clerk to Judge Giles S. Rich and became involved with the American Inns of Court by attending meetings of the then-newly formed Rich Inn with Judge Rich when visiting Washington. Dick was a member of another Inn and an enthusiastic promoter of the Inns of Court mission.
Bob enlisted several Bay Area IP lawyers to join them to explore the idea of a new Inn devoted to IP law, along the lines of the Rich Inn, including Paul Vapnek, Henry Bunsow, Mel Owen, William Herbert, and Marty Fliesler. In the fall of 1994, they obtained a charter for the San Francisco Bay Area Intellectual Property American Inn of Court. They enrolled enough members to begin regular meetings of the new Inn. Bob Morrill served as the Inn’s first president.
Events
Our Inn prefers active participation, a learn-while-you-do-it approach, eschewing the lecture format. This approach is the greatest value of the Inn, particularly for young lawyers, who, in our era of high-dollar IP cases, don’t get to stand in front of the bench in a courthouse very often. Our senior members work hard as mentors to our more junior members. Our members come from all walks of life and cover all aspects of IP. Our members include in-house counsel, private practitioners from all sizes of firms, patent examiners, academics, law students, and judges. Our members focus on patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, right of publicity, privacy, and more.
We invite members of other Inns and prospective members to join us at one of our nine monthly meetings , usually starting at 6:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month, between September and June. We are honored to be one of the largest Inns in the nation and welcome all intellectual property professionals and law students to join.