IPAS2017 is the first conference devoted to mitigating audiences’ confusion about the role of IP rights in creating value and improving lives

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, USA, November 8, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- International economist and entrepreneur David Teece said this week that the environment for licensing, essential to future United States prosperity, is slipping away. His remarks were a part of a keynote address on Monday at the Intellectual Property Awareness Summit, IPAS2017, held by the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding (CIPU) at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology.

Dr. Teece, Director of the Tusher Center for Intellectual Capital Management (UC Berkeley-Haas), who was identified by Accenture as “one of the World’s Top 50 Business Intellectuals,” delivered the keynote: "IP Rights Erosion: A Growing Threat to U.S. Economic Leadership."

He stated that “large vertically integrated companies are not always the ideal business model for technology development today. If the licensing model breaks down, independent inventors and start-ups will be relatively disadvantaged."

The Intellectual Property Awareness Summit (Enhancing Value Through Understanding) is the first conference to dissect the widespread confusion over the purpose and use of IP rights, like patents and copyrights, and its impact on innovation, authorship, and jobs. IPAS2017 explored ways to improve IP recognition while diminishing theft through education, outreach, and information sharing.

Panels and breakouts are included: What Audiences Need to Know About IP Rights and Why?, Identifying ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ IP Behaviors – A Candid Discussion, and IP & Theft: The High Cost of Confusion.

Facilitators and panelists included Hon. Randall Rader, Chief Judge for the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, ret., Scott Frank, CEO of AT&T IP, Todd Dickinson, former Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, copyright activist, leader of the rock band “Cracker” and artists’ rights activist David Lowery, and more than thirty other thought-leaders.

“The IP Awareness Summit was a unique and significant gathering of people and organizations concerned about the barriers to full IP acceptance,” said Marshall Phelps, Vice-Chairman of CIPU and former Vice President of IP business and strategy at Microsoft and IBM. “It brought together a diversity of IP holders, professionals, and creators, with various points of view, and laid the groundwork for identifying specific activities on which to build.”

The audience attending IPAS 2017 included significant IP holders, organizations, researchers, and investors, as well as executives from the EUIPO, the International Chamber of Commerce, the IPO education foundation, the USPTO, the Michelson Foundation and other organizations engaged in IP education. The EUIPO reported via Skype on its 26,000-person IP perception study from its headquarters in Alicante, Spain.

For the full program, panelists and conference partners, go here.

The intended take-away of IPAS 2017 is to begin to identify what non-legal audiences need to know about IP rights, how best to convey it, and when.

About the Center for IP Understanding

The Center for Intellectual Property Understanding is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness of intellectual property rights and their impact on people’s lives. CIPU provides information, conducts research and facilitates education that seeks to improve awareness of IP rights and deter theft. The Center also tracks attitudes toward IP rights, including patents, copyrights, and trademarks, and through outreach provides an education framework for facilitating ideas, promoting competition and creating jobs. CIPU is a 501(c)(3) organization. For more information please visit www.understandingip.org.

Bruce Berman
Center for IP Understanding
212.508.9664
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