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7:30 am–5:00 pm |
Registration and Hospitality |
8:00 am–10:00 am |
Breakfast Table Topics
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8:00 am–10:00 am |
Committee Meetings
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8:00 am-10:00 am
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Continental Breakfast
Continental breakfast will be served daily until 10:00 am in the Hospitality Area on the 4th floor of the WSCC. |
10:00 am–5:00 pm |
Exhibition Hall
Visit the 100+ exhibitors displaying their products and services. Exhibitors include trademark solution providers, law firms, media companies, IP offices, trade associations, and government offices.
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10:15 am–11:30 am |
GENERAL SESSIONS
CM01 The Yin and Yang of Licensing: Deep Thoughts from a Licensee and Licensor
Intermediate Level
Join us for a mock trademark license negotiation, in which a licensor and licensee will discuss their perspectives on:
- Reasons for licensing a brand.
- Considerations in selecting a partner and types of due diligence.
- The terms that make a licensing arrangement successful.
- Key tension points and how to resolve them.
- Success stories and nightmare experiences.
Moderator:
Viviana Mura, U.S. Holdings Corp. (United States)
Speakers:
Judy McCool, HBO (United States)
CM02 THE REDSKINS and THE SLANTS: A Review of the Causes, the Cases, and How the First Amendment Is Likely to Impact Trademark Registrations Going Forward
Intermediate Level
The audience will first hear from the advocates, Simon Tam and Amanda Blackhorse, who will discuss the social causes each was looking to advance.
- Lawyer Stephen Baird will then discuss the origins of his Ladas Memorial award-winning article “Moral Intervention in the Trademark Arena: Banning the Registration of Scandalous and Immoral Trademarks,” 83 Trademark Rep.. 661, 788 (1993), which provided a roadmap for cancelling the REDSKINS marks. Steve will then discuss his work with Suzan Harjo against the Washington State football team which, in turn, paved the way for Amanda Blackhorse’s efforts.
- Simon Tam’s lawyer, Joel MacMull, will then discuss Simon’s case, how it differed from the Redskins’ case, and how the matter culminated with a unanimous Supreme Court victory last term.
Finally, the panel will discuss how, if at all, the Supreme Court’s decision in Tam may impact trademark law and branding in the future.
Moderator:
Joel MacMull, Mandelbaum Salsburg (United States)
Speakers:
Stephen Baird, Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. (United States)
Amanda Blackhorse, Social Worker and Activist (United States)
Simon Tam, The Slants (United States)
IM01 Industry Breakout: Battling Counterfeit Sports Merchandise—A Multi-Jurisdictional Review
Intermediate Level
Discover how sports brand owners tackle the ever increasing market of counterfeit sports merchandise. Highlighting China, the EU, and the United States, speakers will address a variety of the legal and business issues they face in these jurisdictions. Topics include:
- An analysis of the law for administrative, criminal, and civil cases.
- Preparing for such cases, including how to best support prosecutors/law enforcement.
- Addressing and managing championship events.
- Enforcing brand owners’ trademark rights on the multitude of online platforms and social media.
Moderator:
Tanya Fickenscher, Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. (United States)
Speakers:
Helen Chen, National Basketball Association China (China)
Anna Guix, FCBarcelona (Spain)
Victoria Loughery, National Football League (United States)
Scott Palmer, Sheppard Mullin (China)
RM01 Africa Regional Update: Land, Sea and Air Adventures—New Developments and Trends in the Protection and Enforcement of Trademark Rights in Africa
Intermediate Level
This session will offer an assessment of cross-border regional strategies, focusing on the flow of goods in Africa and how best to enforce IP rights across borders. Our journey through Africa will focuse on West, East, and Southern Africa, and cover:
- Main transit routes and flow of goods in the region: from borders and airports to the end consumer.
- Regional best practice and strategies.
- Current developments, trends, and regional case updates.
- Enforcement of regional trademark registrations.
- Tips on using traditional IP rights in nontraditional enforcement measures.
- Online and e-commerce in Africa: an outline of the challenges and strategies on how to protect and enforce IP rights online in Africa.
Moderator:
Vanessa Ferguson, KISCH IP (South Africa)
Speakers:
Vanessa Halle, Nico Halle & Co. Law Firm (Cameroon)
Karen Kitchen, KISCH IP, (Zimbabwe)
Marius Schneider, IPvocate Africa Law Firm Cabinet d’Avocats (Mauritius)
Sandra Wens, World Customs Organization (Belgium)
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11:45 am–1:00 pm |
CM20 Trademarks: A Comparison of Damages and Compensatory Measures
Intermediate Level
- Comparative approach of existing solutions.
- Evolution of the legislation and case law in the EU.
- Expectations of rights owners.
Moderator:
Antoine Gautier-Sauvagnac, FTPA (France)
Speakers:
Anke Nordemann-Schiffel, Boehmert & Boehmert (Germany)
Thierry van Innis, Van Innis & Delarue (Belgium)
CM21 The Fate of Color Per Se Marks in Europe
Advanced Level
Speakers will review the legal development of color combination per se marks in Europe based on ECJ decisions together with the EUTMR, the new Implementing Regulation, and EUIPO Guidelines, past and present; an overview will be given on the status quo of color combination per se marks as their fate is to be determined by the highest court in Europe; and, finally, an assessment will be made of the necessity of clarifying the registration process for color combination per se marks so that these exclusive rights will continue to be an effective and powerful tool in brand enforcement and will continue to enhance well-earned corporate identity grown by extensive investment.
Speakers will share their perspectives on the following:
- The approach of the ECJ regarding this specific class of color combination per se marks under their non-traditional mark decisions (Sieckmann, Shield Mark, Libertel, Heidelberger Bauchemie) and compared to other types of trademarks, together with the EUIPO’s interpretation of this jurisprudence to date.
- EUTMR, EUTMIR and the Red Bull Case including registration requirements under Article 4 and Amending Regulation Article 3 (3) (f) (i) (ii) EUTMIR.
- Brand enforcement based on color combination per se marks and their scope of protection in the past and the concerns going forward.
- General concerns for color combination per se trademark holders; maximizing protection and the value of color combination marks.
- EUTMIR changes in representation requirements, graphical representation, description, use on goods, comparison to other types of marks and Office practice.
Moderator:
Jennifer Powers, Red Bull GmbH (Austria)
Speakers:
Dimitris Botis, European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (Spain)
Carl Myers, Stanley Black & Decker MEA (United Arab Emirates)
Fidelma Macken, Former Judge of the ECJ (Judge Rapporteur in Sieckmann and Shield Mark), retired Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland (Ireland)
Roland Mallison, Taylor Wessing (United Kingdom)
Andreas Renck, Hogan Lovells (Alicante) SL y Cia. (Spain)
CM22 Trademark Litigation for Non-Litigators
Beginner to Intermediate Level
This session will explore and explain what non-litigators need to know about key strategic questions, practical considerations, and evidentiary issues in trademark litigation. The session will also provide tips from the in-house perspective on how to evaluate litigation claims and effectively manage cases.
Moderator:
Richard D. Rochford, Haynes and Boone (United States)
Speakers:
Caldwell Camero, Fluke Corporation (United States)
Jenifer deWolf Paine, Microsoft Corporation (United States)
IM20 Industry Breakout: Legal-Up! Implications of Video Games in the 21st Century
Intermediate Level
There are more than 2 billion video game players worldwide. Almost half of all U.S. households own a dedicated game console. This session is designed to explore the legal implications of the ever-growing and exciting video game field. For those who practice trademark law in this area, challenges abound at every corner, as clearance requires navigating the obstacles presented by smaller app developers, and enforcement demands a balance between protecting one’s IP and maintaining one’s fickle fan support. This session will also examine how video game lawyers tackle 21st century issues, such as virtual and augmented reality, especially as video games increasingly mirror reality and employ real items in-game.
Topics the panel will explore include:
- Title clearance: challenges with approving a game title in increasingly crowded fields.
- In-game content: when and how to use real things: real people (rights of publicity), real landmarks (trademark extension for brands), and real brands (when do you need a license).
- Enforcement: how do we deal with the volume of infringing apps, flash, and fan games; how do we deal with fan games and balance PR considerations.
Moderator:
Christopher Parent, Nintendo of America (United States)
Speakers:
John Crittenden, Cooley (United States)
Ben Golant, Entertainment Software Association (United States)
Vineeta Gajwani, Electronic Arts Inc. (United States)
Alexandre Rudoni, Allen & Overy LLP (France)
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1:15 pm–3:15 pm |
Luncheon Table Topics
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1:15 pm–3:15 pm
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Luncheon Committee Meetings
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1:15 pm–3:15 pm
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Past Presidents and Past Counsel Luncheon
(By invitation only)
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1:15 pm–3:15 pm |
Professor Luncheon

(Exclusive for full-time professors)
Reverse Confusion Revisited
Join your fellow professors for lunch and continue a tradition of Academic Luncheon speakers providing their insights on the in-house point of view and the impact of law and legal developments on brand owners and their in-house counsel. This year’s discussion will focus on the impact of developments in social media and digital communications on the risk and reality of reverse confusion and the challenges of a reverse confusion claim from an in-house counsel perspective. Topics to be covered include:
• Risks and challenges for a famous mark holder.
• How the traditional likelihood of confusion factors differ in reverse confusion cases.
• The impact of the role of “intent” in reverse confusion on clearance practices.
• Developments in corrective advertising remedies.
• Consideration of where the Circuits are split in reverse confusion cases.
Speaker:
Signe Naeve, Starbucks Coffee Company (United States) |
1:15 pm–3:15 pm
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Lunch and Learn
Changing The World through Advertising: Guerrillas, Soccer, and Peace
Francisco Samper, Founder and President, MullenLowe SSP3 and Regional Director, MullenLowe Latin America, will share with registrants how advertising campaigns influenced the Colombian peace process with a riveting and heartwarming presentation on the campaign. A publicist with almost 40 years of experience, he founded MullenLowe SSP3 (formerly Lowe-SSPM) in 1996 with Humberto Polar and Jose Miguel Sokoloff. Their agency quickly became the gold standard in both sales and quality, receiving more than 800 international awards, including a Cannes Titanium and a Black Pencil from D&AD.
Samper will elevate our thinking about the strategic role that brands and advertising play in the increasingly complex environment that is an everyday reality in Latin America. He will also share with us the important work that MullenLowe SSP3 has done to help demobilize guerilla forces.
Starting in 2008, demobilization advertising campaigns created by MullenLowe SSP3 served to convince close to 18,000 guerrillas to demobilize. In order to achieve this, they utilized such creative and innovative advertising that the Colombian Defense Minister became one of the world's most awarded public service advertisers.
Francisco Samper will tell the story of how they developed this campaign – their strategies, phases, key components, and the way they obtained these outstanding results.
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1:15 pm–3:15 pm
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Registering Non-Traditional Marks and Proving Acquired Distinctiveness in China, EU, Japan, Korea, and U.S.: A TM5 Workshop
Interested in how to register non-traditional marks in the U.S., China, EU, Japan or Korea? Be sure to attend this TM5* workshop, where trademark users and officials from the five largest IP offices will discuss examination practices for non-traditional trademarks, including examples of both registered and refused trademarks and what is required to prove acquired distinctiveness. Each TM5 office will present; names of speakers to be announced soon.
*TM5 is a forum through which the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (SAIC), and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) exchange information and undertake cooperative activities with the aim to support global business activities through trademark protection.
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3:30 pm–4:45 pm |
GENERAL SESSIONS
CM50 Geographical Indications in the Domain Name Space
Intermediate Level
This session will explore the tension between geographical indications (GIs) and trademarks within the domain name space (DNS), look into whether GIs should be registrable within the DNS clearing houses, and explore the dispute resolution mechanisms handling of GIs within the DNS space.
Moderator:
Francine Tan, Francine Tan Law Corporation (Singapore)
Speakers:
Jonathan Agmon, Soroker Agmon Nordman, Advocates & Patent Attorneys (Israel)
Scott Gerien, Dickenson Peatman & Fogarty, PLC (United States)
Charles Goemaere, Comité Champagne (France)
Massimo Vittori, oriGIn (Switzerland)
Mary Wong, ICANN (United States)
CM51 Madison Avenue Meets Hollywood: Navigating Product Placement Deals in Movies and Television
Intermediate Level
As consumers, we see product placement often. As trademark practitioners, many of us know that much more thought goes into making these deals than the general public may realize. This session will explore details of product placement in a fun and practical way. It will cover:
- Discussion of product placement methods, including “reverse” product placement and broader brand integration.
- Criticism of product placement deals and the potential for tarnishment.
- Considerations for negotiating product placement deals, including level of control by brand owners.
- Emerging techniques in product placement, including electronic insertion of products into older programs or to customize placement for appeal to different regions.
Moderator:
Christine Hernandez, The H.D. Lee Company, Inc. (United States)
Speaker:
Giselle Huron, Google (United States)
Susan Kayser, K&L Gates (United States)
CM52 Enforcement Strategies in Asia
Advanced Level
Speakers will address practical and real enforcement strategies for the major (business size as well as interest) jurisdictions in Asia—e.g., China, Japan, Korea, etc.
This session will include some detailed explanations of which government bodies are relevant and how to work with them.
Practical tips on using and managing outside investigators. Explanation of the various options (criminal, administrative, and civil) along with the pros and cons.
Moderator:
Peter Fowler, United States Patent and Trademark Office (United States)
Speakers:
Gen Yamaguchi, TMI Associates (Japan)
Nick Redfearn, Rouse & Co. International LLP (Indonesia)
Say Sujintaya, Baker & McKenzie Ltd. (Thailand)
IM50 Industry Breakout: Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, and Wellness
Intermediate Level
Learn from industry experts about a wide range of trademark and related IP and regulatory issues at the forefront of the biopharmaceutical, healthcare, beauty, and wellness industries. Discover the impact that patient advocates, company brand ambassadors, and social media niche marketing have on clearance processes and trademark strategy. Learn how changing corporate and consumer attitudes toward health and wellness affect purchasing behaviors and, consequently, consumer product development. Explore the growing area of biosimilar medicines, and gain an understanding of emerging regulatory schemes that govern their naming including international non-proprietary names, both in the U.S and internationally. Speakers will share best practices from an in-house and outside counsel perspective. The panel will explore topics including:
- Trademark legal issues that arise in the context of wellness wearables, and the best practices for addressing them.
- The latest trademark hot topics in the consumer healthcare and over-the-counter (OTC) field, including the rise of the niche beauty brand, the leveraging of social media influencers, and how not to get tripped up even as iconic consumer brands expand into mobile apps and medical devices.
- A biosimilar, and how a company can navigate the sometimes conflicting rules for naming a biosimilar medicine.
Moderator:
Tiffany Trunko, Pfizer Inc. (United States)
Speakers:
Jake Feldman, Johnson & Johnson (United States)
Meredith Pavia, Fitbit, Inc. (United States)
Maury Tepper, Tepper & Eyster, PLLC (United States)
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3:30 pm–4:45 pm |
In-House Practitioners Industry Exchanges
(Exclusive to in-house practitioners; advanced registration required)
In-house practitioners have the ability to participate in moderated discussions with their corporate colleagues. Onsite registration will not be available.
PLEASE NOTE: A valid passport/driver’s license will be required for admission, in addition to your INTA badge.
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5:00 pm–7:00 pm |
In-House Practitioners Reception
(Exclusive to in-house practitioners)
NEW DAY AND LOCATION! Join fellow in-house practitioners and corporate trademark professionals for cocktails and light refreshments during this exclusive networking opportunity hosted by Amazon. We are excited to share that the reception will take place at Amazon Headquarters located at Amazon Day 1, 2121 7th Ave., Seattle, WA, 98121.
PLEASE NOTE: A valid passport/driver’s license will be required for admission, in addition to your INTA badge.
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5:00 pm–6:00 pm |
India Reception
This reception provides registrants from India with an invaluable opportunity to network with colleagues and share experiences concerning the benefits and challenges of doing business in India. This reception provides an opportunity to meet with INTA’s CEO, India Representative staff, and other INTA staff.
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5:00 pm–6:00 pm |
Africa Reception
This reception provides registrants from Africa with an invaluable opportunity to network with colleagues and share experiences concerning the benefits and challenges of doing business in the region. This reception provides an opportunity to meet with INTA’s CEO and other INTA staff.
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5:00 pm–6:00 pm
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Asia-Pacific Reception
Network with colleagues and share experiences of doing business in Asia. This is the must-attend reception for those in the INTA community who want to be plugged into our extensive Asia network and presents the opportunity to meet with INTA’s CEO and the Chief Representative of the Asia-Pacific office.
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9:00 pm–12:00 pm |
President’s Dessert Reception
(By invitation only) |
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