Category: General Announcements
Albert and Vern Oldham Intellectual Property Law Lecture Series presents:
Professor Michael Meurer, Boston University School of Law
“Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers
Put Innovation at Risk”
Thursday, April 15 at 5 p.m. in Room 152
Recent empirical analysis provides conclusive evidence that the patent system today fails, in general, as a system of property rights. Properly functioning property rights give property owners an incentive to efficiently invest in their property. As recently as the 1980s, the patent system provided positive incentives for patent owners to invest in their inventions. And even today it provides positive incentives in some industries, such as the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and to some groups of inventors, such as independent inventors. However, for most firms—in particular, those firms who account for the largest share of R&D spending—today’s patent system actually decreases incentives to invest in R&D and commercialization. Professor Meurer will discuss empirical evidence that points to the reasons for this failure.
Reception to immediately follow lecture.
“The International Law and Politics of Genetically Modified Food”
“The International Law and Politics of Genetically Modified Food”
April 13 at 3 p.m. in Room 152
The transatlantic dispute over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has brought into conflict the United States and the European Union. Yet the dispute – pitting a largely acceptant US against an EU deeply suspicious of GMOs – has developed into one of the most bitter and intractable transatlantic and global conflicts, resulting in a contested legal battle before the World Trade Organization (WTO). Professor Greg Shaffer will present a chapter from his new book with Oxford University Press, assessing the choices facing the WTO’s judicial body, and the impacts, and the limits, of international pressures on domestic US and European law, politics and business practice.
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network Is Hiring – Hear About Career Opportunities for Lawyers!
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network is hiring and will be here at Akron Law School today, Thursday, April 8 at 12:15 p.m. to talk to students about their internship program and how other lawyers are using their law degrees as financial representatives. All students are invited and encouraged to attend. Presentation will be in Room W-214. See you there!
Extend your student Westlaw and LexisNexis passwords for the summer
Extend your Westlaw and LexisNexis passwords for the summer if you intend to use these databases during the summer months.
Who can have summer access? Students taking classes or students graduating in May can extend their passwords to have full access for both databases until August 1.
Your student passwords for Westlaw and Lexis must only be used for academic purposes and not for commercial purposes such as conducting research for a law firm or corporation. More here and here about proper password use. Graduating students can use Westlaw and LexisNexis to study for the July Bar Exam.
How to register for summer access? Log onto Westlaw and LexisNexis and click on the Summer Access image. Follow the instructions on Westlaw and Lexis.
What if I do nothing? If you do not extend your password for the summer, access to Westlaw and Lexis is severely limited starting June 1 and will not turn back on until August 1. Full access to Westlaw and Lexis automatically turns on for law students on August 1, 2010.
Ms. Lenart, Assistant Law Librarian for Reference Services
330-972-6357, llenart@uakron.edu