CICL 2009

University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA (21-22 August 2009)

The University of Louisville hosted the second annual Conference on Innovation and Communication Law on August 21 and 22, 2009. The Conference, a follow-up to the 2008 conference held in Turku, Finland, was a cooperative effort of the University of Louisville School of Law, University of Turku Faculty of Law, Michigan State University College of Law, Drake University Law School, and the IPR Center in Helsinki, Finland

The conference focused mainly on the role of intellectual property and communications law play in the dissemination of information. As a result, the discussion focused less on the creation of rights, and more on how the legal system helps (or hinders) the development of knowledge. For example, the participants anticipated one or more sessions dealing with licensing and franchising issues. Other topics included the role of intellectual property registration, the law governing trade secrets and confidential information, remedy issues, and the special case of university inventions and works.

Call for paper

Anyone interested in presenting at the conference should submit a written abstract of the topic (not to exceed two letter size or A4 pages) to one of the following:

• Professor John Cross (john.cross@louisville.edu)
• Professor Lars Smith (lars.smith@louisville.edu)

To be ensured of full consideration, proposals should be submitted no later than May 2, 2009.

Note also that the University of Louisville Law Review has agreed to produce a symposium issue of papers submitted at the conference. Presenters are encouraged to prepare articles setting out, or expanding upon, the subject of their presentations. The final draft of the paper would be due a few weeks after the conference.