McAndrews’ Christopher V. Carani to Keynote at AIPPI Swiss Day in Bern

04.30.15

McAndrews, Held & Malloy Shareholder Christopher V. Carani will be the keynote speaker at AIPPI Switzerland’s Swiss Day on May 27, 2015, in Bern, Switzerland.  Carani will present his recent publication, Design Patent Functionality: A Sensible Solution, which was published in the November/December 2014 issue of the ABA’s Landslide®.   The article addresses two distinct topics:

  1. The subject matter eligibility provision of “ornamental” for design protection under 35 U.S.C. § 171 (the analogous provision for utility patents being “useful” under 35 U.S.C. § 101), and
  2. Whether/how to excise out functional aspects of a design patent claim from protection.

After presenting his paper, Carani will take part in a panel discussion with Dr. Herwig Lux and Hon. Ursula In-Albon.  The panel will address questions around the protection of forms chosen for functional and technical considerations, and the suitability, advantages, disadvantages and limitations of related intellectual property rights in different legal systems.

AIPPI (short for Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle) is the world’s leading organization dedicated to the improvement and protection of intellectual property. It is a politically neutral, non-profit organization domiciled in Switzerland with more than 8,000 members representing more than 100 countries.

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Christopher V. Carani, Esq., a McAndrews shareholder, counsels 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, 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.

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