On June 21, 2016, CincyIP welcomes Robert Lawson, of GE Aviation, for a discussion on the export of technology and corresponding intellectual property considerations.

Running afoul of export control laws is surprisingly easy.  If an American inventor in his Cincinnati lab hands data related to a patent application to a visiting Chinese scientist, this may be an export of technology.  Likewise, distributing or outsourcing information by email, surface mail, or the cloud to another country for patent application preparation purposes may be an export of technology.

Many U.S. companies fail to realize that some commercial technologies are subject to the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) as defense technologies.  Technical data and information in patent applications may intersect with ITAR or EAR.

Violations of export control laws, even inadvertently, can result in stiff penalties and denial of export privileges, among other things.  It is important for patent counsel to understand the intersection between patent and export controls to avoid any unintentional export violations.

This program will provide an overview of export control laws and the challenges that patent owners face.  Topics include when and where export control issues arise, licensing issues, and suggestions of best practices for compliance with export control laws.

Robert Lawson is a 26 year veteran of GE Aviation, with degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh and Princeton Universities.  He also holds a graduate degree in Mathematics from Miami University.  During his 20 year technical career, Rob became involved in technology export controls, and transitioned to the legal organization in 2010, where he now leads International Trade Compliance for GE Aviation as part of a larger GE Corporate Compliance team.  In his role, Rob supports export regulatory reform efforts with the US Government, export classification in the US and EU, as well as export licensing and internal compliance activities.

On March 15, 2016, Ted Davis will present on developments in trademark and unfair competition law over the trailing twelve months, with a particular emphasis on the invalidation under the First Amendment of the prohibition in Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act on the registration of potentially disparaging marks, continued judicial disagreement on the evidentiary value of registrations on the Principal Register, and emerging applications of the Supreme Court’s opinion in B & B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Indus., 135 S. Ct. 1293 (2015).

Ted is a partner in the Atlanta office of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, where he divides his practice between client counseling and litigation in the fields of trademark, copyright, false advertising, and unfair competition law.  He is a member of the Georgia and New York bars.

Ted is the Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law and a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Trademark Association, which he has represented in a number of amicus curiae briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.  He has taught as an adjunct professor at the Emory University, University of Georgia, and John Marshall law schools, and has testified before Congress on trademark and Internet issues.  His articles on intellectual property law subjects have appeared in the Ohio State Law Journal, the Minnesota Law Review, the University of Illinois Law Review, the Washington & Lee Law Review, the Wake Forest Law Review, the Florida Law Review, and the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, as well as in specialized publications such as the Trademark Reporter and the Journal of Intellectual Property Law.

Ted received his undergraduate degree from Davidson College and his law degree from the University of Virginia, where he was Notes Editor of the Virginia Law Review.

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