Design Rights Prominently Featured on the AIPPI World Intellectual Property Congress Schedule of Events

09.03.14

In today’s ever-changing, globalized consumer marketplace, product designs have taken on a new level of importance. To further evince the arrival of design rights into mainstream IP discourse, the topic is front and center at the 2014 AIPPI World Intellectual Property Congress, with two high-profile spots on the main program. This year’s event will be held in Toronto, Canada, September 14-17, 2014.

First, on Monday, September 15, 2014, McAndrews shareholder Christopher V. Carani will be a featured participant in the mock trial on international IP arbitration. Following the success of the mock trial presentations at previous AIPPI Congresses, the 2014 Congress will showcase the general nature of an international IP arbitration and will focus on the typical procedural, evidentiary, legal and tactical issues that may arise in such a proceeding. In addition to Carani, the participants include other leading IP arbitrators and litigators from around the world, who will conduct the mock arbitration of a design case. The participants will deal with design rights from multiple jurisdictions in a single arbitration process.

Specifically, the parties will arbitrate the landmark Canadian industrial design case of Bodum USA Inc and PI Design AG v Trudeau Corporation (1889) Inc, 2012 FC 1128 under U.S. Design Law.  The participants in the mock arbitration are as follows:

Arbitral Tribunal:

  • Chair: Richard Kreindler, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP –Germany
  • Co-Arbitrator: Richard Tan, Tan Arbitrators –Singapore
  • Co-Arbitrator: Dan Bereskin – Bereskin & Parr LLP –Canada

Plaintiff Team:

  • Counsel: François Guay, Smart & Biggar /Fetherstonhaugh –Canada
  • Counsel: Brian Gray, Norton Rose Fulbright –Canada
  • Expert: Iván Poli – Marval, O’Farell & Mairal –Argentina

Defendant Team:

  • Counsel: Christopher Carani – McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd. –USA
  • Counsel: Steve Bauer, Proskauer Rose – USA
  • Expert: Mario Franzosi, Franzosi Dal Negro Setti – Italy

Also on Monday, September 15, 2014, there will be a lunchtime panel titled “The Extension of the Hague International Design Protection System.”  The panelists, who will each provide a brief overview of the current status of matters in their respective offices, include Hideo Hato, Advisor to the Commissioner and Former Commissioner, Japan Patent Office; Joon Seok Lee, Deputy Commissioner, Korean Intellectual Property Office; and David R. Gerk, Office of Policy and External Affairs, United States Patent & Trademark Office.

Prior to the panel, Christian Archambeau, Vice-President of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), will give a keynote address outlining the history and experience of OHIM with the Hague International Design Protection System. Gregoire Bisson, Director of the Hague Registry at the World Intellectual Property Organization, will then comment on the changes needed to the Hague System in order for it to be successful in countries that have an examination system.

The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, known as AIPPI, is the world’s leading international organization dedicated to the development and improvement of intellectual property. Headquartered in Switzerland, AIPPI currently has almost 9,000 members representing more than 100 countries.

To view a full schedule of events, click here.

Christopher V. Carani, Esq., is recognized in the United States as a leading authority in the field of design law, counseling clients on a wide range of strategic design protection and enforcement issues. He is the immediate past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Design Rights Committee, and the past chair of the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Committee on Industrial Designs. He has litigated numerous disputes regarding design rights and has served as a legal consultant and expert witness in design law cases in a wide-range of industries, including consumer electronics and accessories, consumer retail products, furniture, medical devices, apparel and footwear, and sporting goods, to name a few.  In addition, Carani has authored amicus briefs for landmark U.S. design patent cases, such as Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa, Lawman Armor Corp. v. Winner Int’l LLC, Calmar, Inc. v. Arminak & Assoc. and Richardson v. Stanley Works, Inc.

Carani earned an engineering degree from Marquette University and a law degree from the University of Chicago, and went on to serve as a law clerk to the Honorable Rebecca Pallmeyer at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is a registered patent attorney and licensed to practice before the USPTO.

Carani is a frequent contributor to CNN on intellectual property law issues, and is often called upon to provide commentary to other major media outlets, including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NPR, PBS TV, CNBC TV, BBC, Bloomberg TV, and Reuters.  Away from the law, Chris is a studied jazz musician who plays upright bass on the Chicago jazz circuit.

Follow Carani (@ccarani) on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ccarani.