The first seminar will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Thursday, May 16 ,at the Robert C. Byrd Institute, 1050 Fourth Ave., Huntington, and will focus on 3-D printed designs and other manufactured goods.
On Friday, May 17, the second session, emphasizing IP issues related to pharmaceuticals, will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Marshall University School of Pharmacy, 1542 Spring Valley Dr., Huntington.
The third seminar—also scheduled for May 17—will feature discussions related to medical devices and applications from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Harless Auditorium, on the campus of Cabell Huntington Hospital.
Each program will begin with an overview of the main areas of intellectual property law—patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright—and will continue with a focus specifically on the various types of patent protection. The program will cover not only the statutory requirements for obtaining a patent, but also will include discussions about university ownership of inventions; the differences between a patent application and a technical publication; the differences between inventorship and authorship; issues to consider to preserve patent rights in an academic setting; and determining if an invention is ready for patenting.
The sessions will be led by attorney Terry Wright of the firm Stites & Harbison PLLC in Louisville, Ky., and Amy Melton, assistant director of the university’s Technology Transfer Office.
Wright has extensive experience advising clients ranging from small, privately held companies to multi-national, publicly traded companies. He regularly prepares protection plans for intellectual property associated with consumer goods, medical and other mechanical devices, and life sciences-associated technologies. He has a background in life sciences and experience with academic research in the areas of cardiovascular biology, molecular and cellular biology, pharmacology and biotechnology. He counsels companies and university technology transfer/licensing offices regarding strategies for protecting patent‐based intellectual property.
Melton has been with the Technology Transfer Office since 2008, providing intellectual property guidance for Marshall’s faculty, students and staff. In that time, she has gained extensive experience in all facets of the technology commercialization process, including idea generation; federal, state and foundation grant funding support and corporate sponsored research support; research collaboration networking; material transfer; export control; conflict of interest management; angel and venture capital; commercial licensing; and business startup development.
All three seminars are free and open to the public. Reservations are requested. Please e-mail reservations to tto@marshall.edu.
For more information, contact Melton at amy.melton@marshall.edu or 304-696-4365.