The Honorable Lee Yeakel Intellectual Property American Inn of Court
The Honorable Lee Yeakel
January 2019 Meeting
The Honorable Lee Yeakel IP Inn of Court held its fourth
CLE-approved meeting of this Inn year on January 17, 2019 at The
Headliner's Club in Austin. The program for the meeting included
presentations on music licensing and copyright issues by Student
Member Kyle Bailey, Melanie McCool of Mood Media, Wesley Lewis of
Haynes and Boone, LLP, and Scott Cole of McKool Smith. Kyle Bailey
discussed some basic concepts of copyright law and an overview of
the Music Modernization Act ("MMA"). Melanie McCool discussed her
experience with lobbying efforts while Congress was considering the
MMA including issues that led to the MMA and the changes brought
about by the MMA. Wesley Lewis discussed the standard for
determining when a copyright in a musical work has been infringed
including a discussion of two cases, Williams v. Gaye and Skidmore
v. Led Zeppelin. Scott Cole discussed his experience litigating a
contract dispute involving underlying copyrights in musical works
between Quincy Jones and the estate of Michael Jackson (Quincy
Jones v. MJJP, Inc.). The program concluded with Master of the
Bench Karl Bayer moderating a panel made up of our presenters. The
panel discussed various copyright issues and also answered a number
of questions from the audience.
Team Picture (names form left to right): Back row: David
Armendariz, Brian Range, Karl Bayer, Alex Knapp, Kyle Bailey, David
Dyer; Front row: Raghav Bajaj, Allison McDade, Melissa Pace,
Stephen Dartt
December 2018 Meeting
The Honorable Lee Yeakel IP Inn of Court held its third
CLE-approved meeting of this Inn year on December 19, 2018 at The
Headliner's Club in Austin. The program for the meeting
hosted an interview with Alan Albright, a newly appointed United
States District Judge of the United States District Court for the
Western District of Texas. Members interviewed Judge Albright
about his career trajectory, the procedures he is implementing in
his courtroom, his goals for courtroom conduct, and how he plans to
handle Markman cases. The audience asked questions of Judge
Albright towards the conclusion of the program.
Team Picture (names from left to right): Alex Shahrestani, Kevin
Burgess, David O'Brian, John Williams, Chad Ennis, Bill Barber,
Chris Ryan, Bill Raman
Pro Bono Update
On Saturday, December 1, Pro Bono Committee member Cat Garza
organized a clinic at American Gateways, where a group worked with
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applicants and helped
about a dozen young people prepare DACA applications and work
authorizations. The client stories and the application
process complexity were both pretty eye-opening to most in
attendance. This clinic was attended by Inn members Tamsen Barrett,
Michele Connors, Mark Rozman, Peter Ayers, and Steve Meleen.
Thanks to American Gateways staff--Edna Yang, Rebecca Lightsey, and
Felicia Simpson--for organizing and supporting the
clinic.
From left to right: Edna Yang, Michele Connors, Rebecca
Lightsey, Tamsen Barrett, and Felicia Simpson.
November 2018 Meeting
The Honorable Lee Yeakel IP Inn of Court held its second
CLE-approved meeting of this Inn year on November 8, 2018 at The
Headliner's Club in Austin. The program for the meeting,
which was organized by our second pupilage team, consisted of
presentations regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Dr.
Mingyuan Zhou, assistant professor in the McCombs School of
Business at the University of Texas, Stephanie Sivinski of Haynes
and Boone LLP in Dallas, and John Casey of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich
& Rosati in Austin. Dr. Zhou discussed the technical
milestones achieved with machine learning in a timeline discussion
as well as what AI is. Various problems presently being
solved by AI technology were discussed as well as future
expectations. Stephanie Sivinski followed with a discussion
of legal issues associated with AI-generated content. Those
issues included what is protectable content, ownership issues,
venue issues and IP liability issues including infringement
liability. John Casey discussed survey results from an
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) global
committee by proposing ten multiple choice AI questions regarding
deployment of AI and ethics. The audience was polled for
their responses which were then compared with the responses
obtained by IEEE. The guest speakers were introduced by team
members Hong Shi and Aden Allen who briefly set up issues for the
guest speaker presentations. The program concluded with the
team leader Joel Boehm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in
Austin discussing how future public policy decisions will influence
how the law must adapt to address new issues created by AI.
Team Picture (Names from left to right): Roger Williams,
Michael Barrett, Janis Clements, Parvin Ghane, Tyson Smith, Shireen
Bacon, Mark Rozman, Hong Shi, Rob King, Aden Allen, Joel Boehm, and
Nicole Cave.
October 2018 Meeting
The Honorable Lee Yeakel IP Inn of Court held its first meeting
of this Inn year on October 18, 2018 at The Headliner's Club in
Austin. The program for the meeting, which was organized by
our first pupilage team, consisted of a presentation by Christopher
J. Tyson, a partner in Duane Morris's Washington D.C. office.
Mr. Tyson's presentation, entitled "Emerging Legal Issues and
Strategies in Post-Grant Proceedings at the PTAB," focused on
several recent developments and trends is the case law, rules, and
statutes pertaining to post-grant proceedings at the Patent Trial
and Appeal Board (PTAB). He discussed the possible
explanations for the PTAB's increased use of its discretionary
power to deny Inter Partes Review (IPR) petitions. He also
outlined the impact of recent decisions from the PTAB and Federal
Circuit on topics such as the deadline to file an IPR petition and
the claim construction standard in IPR proceedings. He
concluded by discussing some emerging strategies for using
post-grant proceedings as an offensive tactic, rather than a purely
defensive tactic after being sued.
Team Picture (Names from left to right): Leah Buratti,
Kevin Meek, Chris Jacobs, Bert Greene, Mark Garrett, Ikenna Okoro,
Chris Tyson (Speaker), and Brett Thompsen
Pro Bono Update
At the October 18 meeting, Pro Bono Committee member Syed Fareed
introduced Robert Painter, Director of Pro Bono Programs and
Communications for American Gateways. Robert described how American
Gateways works to help low-income immigrants, especially
asylum-seekers. He explained the many ways all attorneys, including
(and especially) intellectual property attorneys, can help by
providing advice to American Gateways clients or representing them
in immigration proceedings. He also relayed the impactful story of
a client from the Central African Republic who faced unbelievably
harsh persecution and likely death if forced to return to his
country, but who won asylum thanks to the work of a pro bono
Gateways attorney. Many Yeakel IP Inn members have worked on
Gateways cases in the past, and many more can make an impact after
hearing Robert's motivating and helpful message.
Congratulations 2017-2018 Team 4!
The Honorable Lee Yeakel Intellectual Property American Inn of
Court received the national Outstanding Program Award for its
2017-2018 program entitled Trollklahoma - A Musical Adventure
through the Fast Changing Landscape of Patent Infringement Venue
Law. The Program Chair was Nick Schuneman and the team members
were Chad Anson, Dave Bahler, Joel Boehm, Jason Boulette, Katharine
Lee Carmona, Michele Kim Connors, Anuj Dharia, Sarah Holland, Kat
Li, Leanne Loper, Lisa Newman, Elizabeth Collum Ozmun, Hon. Robert
L. Pitman, Kenneth Prol, Bill G. Schuurman, Jerry F. Suva, II,
David B. Weaver, and Sherri Wilson.
A multitude of presentations are submitted from Inns all over
the country. It is an honor that one of our programs was
selected. The complete list of 2017-2018 Program Award
Winners can be found
here.
Fall 2018- Spring 2019 Inn Meeting Schedule
- September 20, 2018 -- 5:30 p.m. at the Federal Courthouse (501
W 5th St)
- October 18, 2018 -- 5:30 p.m. at the Headliner's Club
- November 8, 2018 -- 5:30 p.m. at the Headliner's Club
- December 19, 2018 -- 5:30 p.m. at the Headliner's Club
- January 17, 2019 -- 5:30 p.m. at the Headliner's Club
- February 21, 2019 -- 5:30 p.m. at the Headliner's Club
- March 14, 2019 -- 5:30 p.m. at the Headliner's Club
- April 18, 2019 -- 5:30 p.m. at the Headliner's Club
- Joint Social with Other Central Texas Inns - TBD