AIPLA Online Programs Committee Report

DATE: October 19, 2012 MEETING: 2012 Annual Meeting

COMMITTEE NAME: Online Programs

COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP:

Chair: / Vice Chair:
Brad Y. Chin / Stephen E. Belisle
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP / Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto
Phone: 713-221-1569 / Phone: 202-530-1010
Fax: 713-221-1212 / Fax: 202-530-1055
Email: / Email:

SUBCOMMITTEES: See Section IV below.

I.  Mission

Our mission is to provide high quality, affordable education by means of online media.

Our vision is to develop and prepare technological options and vendors to be able to work with the leadership and other committees within the organization to identify, develop, and provide efficient and effective online program content to the AIPLA as a whole and to their constituents and to facilitate others in the AIPLA to utilize online media for program delivery.

Online Programs provides substantial means to the AIPLA to expand its role as an innovator, powerful advocate, and visible global leader in intellectual property, including through its interactive and timely Internet-based (and thus global) programming. Online Programs also provides the AIPLA with the capacity to serve its members, public policy leaders, and the public, while generating revenue necessary to ensure the sustainability of the organization and its employees.

II.  Advocacy

Online Programs provides the AIPLA with means to directly connect with its membership and the public. While Online Programs itself does not engage in advocacy, its capacity to communicate information to and among target groups via online programming provides the AIPLA with an invaluable tool in today’s instant information world.

For example, on August 22, 2012 (shortly after the effective date of certain key America Invents Act (“AIA”) provisions), Online Programs hosted a webinar titled “The Final USPTO AIA Rules: What You Need to Know,” which was the fifth of an ongoing series of AIA webinars, featured the USPTO Patent Reform Coordinator, Janet Gongola, and provided a mechanism for information exchange between the USPTO and webinar attendees. Also, on September 26, 2012, Online Programs hosted a webinar titled “USPTO Statistics Initiative,” which featured Manny Schechter of IBM Corp. and Dave Wiley of the USPTO among others. Online Programs will continue its series on the AIA into 2013 with a number webinars that educate and enable practitioners to navigate their practices under the AIA.

III.  Public Education (Non-member)

While Online Programs has historically provided excellent intellectual property programming for members of the AIPLA and others, there is room to further leverage Online Programs to educate the general (non-member) public about the daily value of intellectual property and to funnel that programming to specific target groups. Thus, Online Programs is continuing to evaluate potential programming topics, audience groups, and cost-sensitive online delivery means in this regard, and coordinating with the AIPLA regarding preferred practices for notifying such target groups of the online programming opportunities.

IV.  Member Service

Online Programs provides substantial services to the members of the AIPLA through two primary online platforms, namely Citrix GoToWebinars and webinars professionally hosted by KRM Information Services, Inc. (“KRM”). Since the 2011 Annual Meeting, Online Programs has hosted 12 KRM, 10 Citrix, and 10 committee webinars covering a wide-range of topics, including the AIA, ITC investigations, counterfeiting, PCT prosecution, patent prosecution, trademark prosecution, litigation, e-discovery, and negotiation and others. These online programs not only serve the members of AIPLA, but generate revenue to help ensure the financial sustainability of the AIPLA into the future. Webinars typically attract between about 50 and 350 registrations and net between about $1,500 and $45,000. Online Programs intends to host about 18 to 20 webinars in 2013, covering a wide range of subject matter to reach a broader scope of the membership of the AIPLA. The planning for several of them is already underway.

Online Programs also provides a substantial channel for the members of the AIPLA to obtain needed CLE credits. For example, in FY 2011-2012 (July 2011-June 2012), the AIPLA processed about 5,573 requests for CLE in connection with online programming, and in FY 2012-2013 (July 2012-September 2012), the AIPLA has already processed about 1,880 such requests (on track for approximately 6,000-7,000 for FY 2012-2013). The CLE requests, which have historically originated from at least 44 of the 50 U.S. states, demonstrate the geographically diverse reach of Online Program’s efforts.

Online Programs coordinates with several other AIPLA committees to provide and continue to expand online programming subject matter and geographic reach. Most recently, Online Programs has been coordinating with the Young Lawyers Committee to recruit new program coordinators and to provide the means to take geographically targeted (localized) programming under development by Young Lawyers and offer that programming online.

Online Programs also has the following subcommittees whose collective mission is to cooperate with other committees of the AIPLA to expand and enhance member services:

(1) Citrix GoToWebinar Subcommittee, which is charged generally with facilitating such webinars, including a Career and Practice Management Webinar Series, and specifically with coordinating online programming with the Biotechnology, Chemical Practice, Corporate Practice, Electronic and Computer Law, International Education, Mentoring, and Patent Litigation Committees as well as the Special Committee on Standards and Open Source; and

(2) Online Presence Subcommittee, which is charged with evaluating and improving the overall online presence and marketing of the programming of Online Programs, including through such channels as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs, and the AIPLA microsite.

V.  Global Outreach

Online Programs provides the AIPLA with global outreach through its online programming, which by its very nature is without boundaries (of course, time zones and language barriers affect the audience for any given webinar). Online Programs continues to coordinate with the International Education Committee to identify and develop relevant online programming for international audiences, and to increase the AIPLA’s international membership.

VI.  Select Upcoming Programs

Date

/ Title /

Speakers

November 6 / What Lawyers and Their Clients Need to Know about the Changing Balance of Power Between Trade Secrets and Patents / David Almeling, O’Melveny
November 7 / Practitioner Perspectives on Adapting Practice to AIA: Strategies, Tips, and Potholes [Repeated from 2012 Annual Meeting] / [TBD]
November 13 / Natural Isotopic Testing: Protecting Your Method Claims / Dr. John Jasper, Chemir
Dean Eyler, Principal, Gray Plant Mooty
November 13 / Forks in the Road: The Many Paths of Success in IP Law / Sharon Barner,
GC, Cummins, former USPTO Dep. Director
Debbie Wright,
Chief IP Counsel, Kraft
November 14 / Issues and Problems in Damage Analysis in Trademark Cases / Griffith Price, Finnegan
Kim Van Voorhis, Morrison & Foerster LLP

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