Ken Germain (left) and Lou Sitler (right) of Wood, Herron & Evans LLP

Please join us on February 21, 2023, for our next Webinar event. We anticipate 1.00 General CLE credit in Ohio for this event.

Our speakers will be Ken Germain and Lou Sitler of Wood, Herron & Evans LLP. Ken and Lou will explore the industry standard of “stacking” (concurrently or consecutively) design patents and product design trade dress to protect nonfunctional designs—and its potential Constitutional implications. In particular, Ken and Lou will carefully examine the origin, nature, and meaning of these two types of IP protections in the context of their two Constitutional bases—the Patent/Copyright Clause and the Commerce Clause—and will provide thoughtful analysis concerning the Constitutional compatibility of these protections, especially in view of the concept of Superfluity. 

This webinar will be 60 minutes and will share information on how intellectual property attorneys may challenge the Constitutionality of the industry standard of protecting nonfunctional designs with both design patents and product design trade dress.

Registration is: 

• free for CincyIP members, 
• free for students and academics, and 
• $15.00 for non-members. 

Register here by February 17th at 5:00 PM.

About the Speakers:

Ken Germain has more than 45 years of varied experience in the trademark/unfair competition field and is a former full-time law professor. He focuses his practice on expert witness work, consulting and litigation, including Early Neutral Evaluation. Ken often has been retained as an Expert Witness on issues relating to trademarks and unfair competition, working on cases involving some of the nation’s largest companies in high-stakes, cutting-edge cases. He has testified in court over 15 times.   Lou Sitler counsels clients on all aspects of intellectual property law, with a primary focus on patent matters including U.S., international, and foreign patent preparation and prosecution, as well as patentability, infringement, and clearance investigations. Lou has experience in a variety of technology areas with a primary focus on matters in the mechanical arts.