AIPLA Committee Report For the Bulletin
(November 26, 2012)
COMMITTEE NAME: IP Law Associations Committee
COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP: Laura J. Zeman-Mullen (outgoing chair), Anthony M. Zupcic (incoming chair), Troy E. Grabow (incoming vice-chair)
Mission Of The Committee:
The IP Law Associations Committee is AIPLA's outreach vehicle to all other IP law associations, both local and regional, throughout the United States. The Committee maintains a roster of the leadership of these other IP law associations and fosters cooperation and an exchange of ideas between IP law associations.
Advocacy:
One of the tasks assigned to the Committee is to maintain the Amicus Notification Network which is a Lyris list that enables AIPLA to distribute to member organizations its amicus briefs and similarly to receive copies of amicus briefs filed by other IP law associations that are members of the network. New members to the network are solicited during each Regional Roundtable.
The Committee works though Headquarters and the Amicus Committee to distribute in a timely fashion all AIPLA amicus briefs to the network.
Activities Related To Public Education:
Regional Roundtables are used as a vehicle to advise local and regional IP law associations of the efforts AIPLA is making in educating both the IP bar and the general public.
In the latest series of Regional Roundtables, the Committee mentioned the several webinars that AIPLA has hosted on various aspects of AIA and explained how those webinars could be used by local and regional associations to educate their members on this important change in IP law.
The Committee worked with the Online Programs Committee to assess how these webinars might be bundled and made available to the local and regional IP law associations.
The Committee also noted that AIPLA is willing to provide speakers on various topics including AIA, upon request. Obtaining a list of speakers on various topics is something that may be compiled in the future.
The latest Regional Roundtables are also being used as a platform to discuss AIPLA's efforts to educate the public on IP issues. The availability of educational materials at the “creativity in bloom” website (www.creativityinbloom.org) has been noted. Several Regional Roundtable participants have expressed interest in reviewing these educational materials developed by our Public Education Committee and will consider using them for local events.
The Committee also mentioned during the latest Regional Roundtable that the Public Education Committee is developing talking points for the local component of the upcoming World IP Day event in April 2013.
Member Service:
Regional Roundtables also provide a vehicle for learning what benefits other organizations offer their members that might also be implemented by AIPLA in attracting new members. At the same time, AIPLA has offered local and regional associations AIPLA work product that the local and regional associations might not be otherwise able to offer to their members. The Amicus Notification Network and AIPLA's public education materials are two examples of such work product.
The Committee has also coordinated with the New Lawyers Committee to provide them with local contacts as that Committee tries to set up local events that attract young attorneys.
SUBCOMMITTEES: Regional Roundtable Subcommittee, E-Mailer Subcommittee and Microsite Subcommittee
COMMITTEE MEETING, PLANS AND GOALS
Since the terms of three Committee members have expired, at the start of our October Committee Meeting the newly appointed Committee members, Trent Menning, Charles Pannell and Philip Swain, were introduced and each was assigned to one of the three Subcommittees, was given a regional assignment and several AIPLA Committees to monitor.
Three more Regional Roundtables need to be done to complete this series and tentative dates for two of those Regional Roundtables were scheduled for December 2012, with the third to be scheduled during the same time period. A report will then be prepared and circulated both internally at AIPLA and to the regional and local associations.
Turning to projects for the upcoming year, it was agreed that the microsite needs a major update and the members of that Subcommittee will begin work on doing so. It was suggested that some of the educational materials prepared by the Public Education Committee might be made available on the microsite. It is hoped that the microsite will become a resource to be used by the regional and local associations.
The E-Mailer Subcommittee is in charge of preparing the text of most correspondence sent out by our Committee members. Such correspondence includes invitations to participate at stated Committee meetings and to participate in the Regional Roundtables, as well as any other correspondence, such as "quick response" items and periodic "e-mailers" that provide information of interest to the regional and local associations. This Subcommittee will look into a revised format that might be more receptive to the recipients from the regional and local associations.
Vince Garlock has been invited to speak at our Committee meeting during the Mid-Winter Institute and provide the Committee with a legislative update. The E-Mailer Subcommittee will be preparing the invitation to regional and local associations to join the Mid-Winter Institute Committee meeting by phone to listen to Vince's presentation and participate in our discussions.
The Regional Roundtable Subcommittee will begin preparing the script for the next series of Regional Roundtables. Topics will be discussed at the Mid-Winter Institute so all Committee members should come with ideas developed after discussion with their assigned AIPLA committees. The goal will be to have a script prepared by the Spring Meeting with all Regional Roundtables completed within a 6 to 8 week window during the summer.
The Committee will also create a new Lyris list of the regional and local association contacts. While the Committee tries to personalize its correspondence with the officers of the regional and local associations, on occasion it might be easier to do a mass mailing. A Lyris list will enable the Chair or Vice-Chair to send a single e-mail to be distributed quickly to all contacts. Two situations where such a Lyris list might be useful are to send out the dial-in numbers following an invitation to a stated Committee meeting or to send a "quick response" item.
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