February 16, 2007

IP Seminar Offers CLE, LL.M. Credit

Law students and attorneys interested in intellectual property theft are invited to attend a two-day seminar, "IP Enforcement: Cross Border & International Trade Issues," April 28-29, in Chicago, Ill. Seminar administrators will assist practitioners in qualifying the course for CLE credit.

The seminar can also be taken as a one-credit course toward an LL.M. degree. Cooley Law School will allow accepted students to include this course as one of the 24 credits needed to graduate with an LL.M. in Intellectual Property.

The seminar fits into Cooley’s focus on flexibility in its LL.M. program, where 18 of the 24 credits needed to complete the degree are available online.

The need to be on top of Intellectual Property trends is a growing one. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, industry reports estimate U.S. businesses lose $250 billion and 750,000 jobs each year due to IP theft. In fiscal year 2006, U.S. Customs & Border Protection seized over 14,600 shipments for IPR violations, demonstrating the challenges faced by industry and government. IP theft is not limited to just DVDs, CDs and software. Other common items such as clothing, shampoo and cigarettes are up for grabs in illegal production and export.

The seminar is designed to give intellectual property law professionals the most up-to-date information to combat the challenges presented by the growing challenges of IP theft and global IP protection.

Timothy P. Trainer, founder of the Global Intellectual Property Strategy Center, P.C. and former president of the Washington D.C.-based International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC), and Vicki E. Allums, Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), a Department of Defense agency responsible for planning, engineering, acquiring, fielding and supporting global net-centric solutions, are the co-authors of Protecting IPR Across Borders and are the featured faculty for the seminar.

The seminar will be held at the luxury Swissotel in Chicago, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. The course fee is $650, which includes Saturday lunch and refreshments during class. For registration or more information please visit http://www.cooley.edu/llm/ or contact Janice Hunt at (517) 371-5140 ext. 2044; Office of International, Graduate and Extended Programs, Thomas M. Cooley Law School, P.O. Box 13038, Lansing, Mich. 48901.

Founded in 1972, Cooley Law School is now the largest law school in the country. Cooley has three campuses across Michigan, in Lansing, Grand Rapids, and at Oakland University in Rochester. In addition to the J.D. program, students at Cooley can also pursue an LL.M. in Tax or in Intellectual Property. Find out more about Cooley Law School by visiting the Cooley web site at www.cooley.edu.