Women have long been known to have made important contributions in the visual and performing arts, in music and in literature, even if they may not have always received the recognition they deserved. However, the only person to have ever been awarded two Nobel prizes, each in a different science Marie Curie, may have stood out as a "lonely" pioneer in her times. Today, women constitute about 55% of the world's population. Although women inventors overall still constitute a minority, this minority is slowly growing into a "critical" mass and expanding into all fields of science and technology.

In recent times, the intellectual property field, as every aspect of human endeavor, has witnessed significant strides being made by women towards achieving equality, both in terms of opportunities and of recognition. This is reflected in the increasing number of women acceding to high-level positions in intellectual property administrations, within both the public and private sectors, and at the national, regional and international levels. If one of the great achievements of the 20th century was that women gained access to all fields of economic, commercial and intellectual activity, one of the major challenges of the 21st century is to ensure that women gain equal opportunities of access, advancement and recognition. WITI is committed to these goals.

The panel will consist of a series of talks by IP experts who will present their perspective on alternative career choices in intellectual property based on the latest developments in intellectual property. A leading professor in her field of IP from Thomas Jefferson School of Law will join the debate providing an overview of career choices in Intellectual Property Law, or patents, trademarks and copyrights specifically based on the current IP curriculum.

About Our Speaker(s)

Moderator - Joanna Y. Tsai, Attorney at Law, JYTLAW
TJSL graduate, Joanna Y. Tsai, Attorney at Law, is the founder of JYTLAW. JYTLAW is a boutique law firm designed to provide high quality legal services in an affordable manner for small to mid-size business owners. JYTLAW specializes in the creation, management, maintenance, and development of intellectual property portfolios worldwide. Ms. Tsai was General Counsel for Hang Ten USA, an international multi-million revenue apparel and sporting goods company. After seven years, Ms. Tsai realized that many smaller businesses often neglect or forego the protection of their intellectual property due to prohibitive legal expenses associated with larger law firm's services. Since every business owns one form of intellectual property or another, Ms. Tsai is working to bring affordable intellectual property services to small businesses, to encourage them to practice preventive measures to safeguard their most valuable business assets. In addition to intellectual property and business law practice, and due to Ms. Tsai's substantial community service experience, JYTLAW helped create and qualify not-for-profit entities to obtain tax exempt status at both the federal and state levels. JYTLAW represent numerous local non-profit organizations and assist these non-profit organizations with legal and business matters.

Hon. Alice D. Sullivan (Ret.)
Being engaged in a full-time ADR practice with emphasis on commercial contract disputes involving technology, licensing, intellectual property, and employment, retired judge Hon. Sullivan has been involved in over 150 civil cases and mediator of over 1000 disputes. With extensive experience in administering civil and commercial arbitrations this includes disputes in patent licensing, biotechnology, employment claims, and multinational contract disputes. Mediated and arbitrated corporate, business, employment and shareholder disputes across a broad array of fields including healthcare and medicine, medical products, medical tools, clinical trials, Best Manufacturing Practices, e-commerce, computer and information technology, venture capital, insurance, telecommunications, retail and manufacturing. She has been involved in professional associations such as the international Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR); World Intellectual Property Organization; International Chamber of Commerce; The American Inns of Court (Clifford Wallace Chapter); Mission Ventures (limited partner); American Bar Association (Intellectual Property and International Sections).

Lisa Martens, Esq. & Principal, Fish & Richardson
Lisa Martens, Esq., is a principal of Fish & Richardson P.C. Her practice emphasizes trademark prosecution and litigation for the food service, healthcare, biotechnology, computer, Internet and retail clothing industries. She has significant experience in managing U.S. and foreign trademark portfolios for large international companies, and her Internet work includes handling domain name disputes and securing domain names in the U.S. and worldwide, as well as providing advice on legal requirements for conducting online sweepstakes and promotions. Her practice also includes licensing intellectual property and litigation relating to trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and false comparative advertising. 

Mrs. Martens received her B.A. in Politics and Philosophy from Cornell College and her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law. She is admitted to the bar in California and Illinois, and the United States District Courts for the Northern , Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California and United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She is a member of the International Trademark Association, the American Bar Association, the California Bar Association and the San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association.

Julie Cromer Young, Associate Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Director, Center for Center for Law, Technology and Communications
J.D., Harvard Law School; B.A., University of Alabama, summa cum laude
Professor Young joined the faculty of Thomas Jefferson in the fall of 2003. Her scholarship is in the area of intellectual property, including new developments in copyright and trademark law. She co-organized the Seventh Annual Women and the Law Conference Virtual Women: Gender Issues in Intellectual Property, which gathered scholars internationally to discuss this timely subject. Professor Young’s article, Harry Potter and the Three-Second Crime: Are We Vanishing the De Minimis Defense from Copyright Law?, was recently selected for inclusion in the Thomson West publication Intellectual Property Law Review as one of the best law review articles about intellectual property in 2006. Her current research focuses on the copyright implications of privatizing geospatial data collected as a result of remote sensing activity. After graduating from law school, Professor Young practiced law in Chicago for seven years. Her intellectual property practice, which focused on trademark and copyright law, included litigation, contractual, international, and prosecution work.

Lori Loiselle, Staff Attorney, LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc.
Lori is currently the staff attorney at LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc., where she is extensively involved in intellectual property litigation strategy and discovery management, products liability and drafting/negotiating commercial contracts regarding all aspects of telecommunications. She is a 2006 magna cum laude graduate from the University Of San Diego School Of Law and the valedictorian for the class of 2002 from the University Of San Diego School Of Business. She is also an active member of the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Event Date and Venue

This event will be held from 11:45 - 1:30 on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at:

Fish & Richardson PC campus
12390 El Camino Real
San Diego, California 92130
Map

11:45 AM - 12:15 PM Registration/Lunch/Networking
12:15 PM - 1:30 PM Program/Q&A

WITI Members: $25
WITI Non-Members: $40
Students (with valid student ID): $10
TJLS students (with valid ID): Free (please contact Barbara Oppelz at [email protected] to register)

Pre-registration for this event is closed and on-site registrations will not be accepted.

About Our Sponsor(s)

Food & Beverages provided by:
Center for Law, Technology & Communications (CLTC), Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, California
Intellectual Property Law Association (IPLA),Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, California

Contact Us

For more info regarding registration or event details, please contact Carey Harrington ([email protected]).

For more details about pre-registration, contact Tech Support.