BU Law Hosts Works in Progress in Intellectual Property Colloquium
Started in 2003 by Professor Michael Meurer, the colloquium offers IP scholars a forum to present early stage research.
For two snowy days in mid-February, intellectual property scholars converged on Boston University School of Law for the annual Works in Progress in Intellectual Property Colloquium (WIPIP).
Started in 2003 by BU Law Professor and Abraham and Lillian Benton Scholar Michael Meurer and Texas A&M University School of Law Professor Glynn Lunney, WIPIP has grown to one of the largest conferences showcasing scholarship in intellectual property law. The event gives IP law professors a forum to present early stage work and receive critical feedback from their peers. This year marked the third time BU Law has hosted WIPIP, welcoming IP scholars from across the country to Boston. Associate Professor of Law Paul Gugliuzza organized the event, which included dinner and an IP trivia night at Fenway Park.
Dean Maureen A. O’Rourke kicked off the colloquium by highlighting BU Law’s commitment to IP law and its connections both with Boston-based companies engaged in innovative work and with other universities, including the collaboration with MIT to create the Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property & Cyberlaw Clinical Program.
Professor of Law and N. Neal Pike Scholar in Health and Disability Law Kevin Outterson discussed CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator), the public-private partnership headquartered at BU Law tackling antimicrobial resistance by offering grants and legal and regulatory support to organizations developing new antibiotics. Outterson’s team has selected a number of first-year grant recipients (to be announced on March 30) from a pool of more than 350 applicants.
A byproduct of the application process, Outterson noted, is that “we now have all this data—a comprehensive snapshot of about 80 percent of the global R&D on antibiotics.” CARB-X plans to track outputs from these companies and create a database that academic researchers can access with a nondisclosure agreement. “If you’re interested in this sector,” Outterson told the crowd, “or have a hypothesis for how to use this data, come talk to me.”
Panels throughout the weekend colloquium focused on scholarship around incentivizing creative works through copyright, the role of intellectual property in protecting medical knowledge and research around viruses that create public health risks, like Zika and Ebola, and the use of the First Amendment in intellectual property cases.
A number of BU Law’s IP faculty brought research for consideration, including Stacey Dogan, presenting “The Role of Design Choice in Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law,” Keith Hylton, “Enhanced Patent Damages for Patent Infringement: A Normative Approach,” Wendy Gordon (with Joe Bennett, forensic musicologist and VP for Academic Affairs at Berklee/Boston Conservatory), “I Hate these Blurred Lines: Wrongful Appropriation and Copyrightability in Music Copyright,” Paul Gugliuzza, “Quick Decisions in Patent Cases,” and Michael Meurer “Bargaining Failure and Failure to Bargain.”
“What started out as an idea was built into one of the most important IP conferences of the year,” said Dean Maureen O’Rourke as she welcomed colloquium participants. “Events like this one provide an important space for IP scholars to offer commentary on work that addresses big questions concerning the field and suggestions that may open up new avenues of research.”