Intellectual Property Attachés Roundtable

Teresa Stanek Rea, Dep. Under Secretary Of Commerce: Intellectual Property

While preparing for the Intellectual Property (IP) Networking Fair, an event featuring representatives from over 20 firms, I recalled attending the annual United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) IP Attachés Roundtable held last semester at the Chamber of Commerce.  The Roundtable was a series of informational panels by international PTO Officers.  As I am interested in international law (and have been told numerous times that there is no such thing), I was delighted to find people working to reconcile differences in patent, trademark, copyright, and trade-dress standards across the globe.

Furthermore, many of the panelists worked for the United States government and shared space with Foreign Service Officers in State Department embassies and consulates.  In a way, the attachés’ act in a similar function to the Foreign Service Officers in that both are an extension of US diplomacy, which takes on many forms including meeting with the legislature and administration of their host countries and teaching their IP counterparts about the global norms and standards of IP.  The attachés’ each knew a great deal about their individual section of the world and they are the front lines of crafting policies customized for their unique jurisdictions.

Another student from GW ventured to the conference that morning and I also had the opportunity to meet two alumni.  One worked in a firm dealing with copyright and trademark issues and the other was a recent graduate clerking for a Judge in Virginia.  Overall, it was an excellent conference and the ability to learn about a two topics I am passionate about made for a wonderful GW Law experience!

As always, if you have any specific questions please post a comment or email me at pwaters@law.gwu.edu.

-Paul