Loyola Spotlight

IP Lawyer-ing in a Pandemic World: a Conversation with Jessica Fenton

I had the chance to interview Loyola Alumni Jessica Fenton about her legal career and how it’s been affected by the COVID pandemic. Jessica is currently in-house counsel for RUSH University Medical Center. Working as in-house counsel means an attorney provides legal assistance solely to a single corporation or entity, rather than working at a law firm for multiple clients. She was previously an Intellectual Property (IP) litigator. As an IP litigator, Jessica defended and challenged intellectual property in court. Continue reading “IP Lawyer-ing in a Pandemic World: a Conversation with Jessica Fenton”

Madison Causey
Trademarks

Getting A RISE Out of PepsiCo

While big companies may have dozens of trademarks, smaller and lesser-known companies can also have valid trademarks, as long as they satisfy the trademark criteria.

Can a large company infringe a smaller company’s mark? Yes! This is sometimes referred to as “reverse confusion,” where the small company is the first user and the large company is the later user. But, there can still be confusion among consumers. The larger company may use its money and resources (like ads) to infiltrate the smaller company’s market with a similar mark on similar goods or services.

Continue reading “Getting A RISE Out of PepsiCo”

Suet Lee
Loyola Spotlight

“TRIPS” Down Memory Lane: An Interview with Sarah Johnson

Sarah Johnson is an in-house attorney at Kemin Industries. She handles the everyday business concerns regarding intellectual property (IP), international business, and contracting. Prior to working at Kemin Industries, Sarah learned successful litigation strategies as an associate attorney at Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff.

She graduated from Cornell College in Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a minor in Religion before attending Loyola University Chicago School of Law. While at Loyola, she competed on the National Health Law Moot Court Team and the Appellate Lawyers Association Moot Court Team. She wrote for the Annals of Health Law and Journal of Regulatory Compliance. Sarah externed at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and clerked for the Honorable Judge Neil Hartigan in the Court of Claims. She was also a research assistant for Professor Cynthia Ho, who mentored Sarah during her time at Loyola after connecting during a prospective student tour. Sarah then went onto take all of Professor Ho’s IP courses in addition to completing the Advocacy and Health Law certificates. She was also a member of IP Bytes.

We recently spoke about her background, her Loyola experiences, and how IP has influenced her legal career.

Continue reading ““TRIPS” Down Memory Lane: An Interview with Sarah Johnson”

Suet Lee
Fun Facts, Patents

Eight Great Pumpkin Patents

Fall is here which means stores and front stoops are full of all things pumpkin! Taking IP this Fall has made me realize that many great fall items may have some kind of intellectual property (IP) protection. That’s been one of my favorite parts of learning more about IP, the realization that it truly impacts all areas of our lives. To help prove my point I rounded up some of the most interesting pumpkin related patents I could find. Continue reading “Eight Great Pumpkin Patents”

Madison Causey
Why Loyola

Following the Science? My Story of a Non-Science Major Joining IP Law at Loyola

When I first learned about intellectual property (“IP”) law, my initial impression was that a large portion of IP involves patents and that patent law was only reserved for former science majors. However, my impression was wrong. In the past year, I learned that IP law is not solely focused on patents and that not every aspect of practicing patent law requires a science background.

Let me explain how I learned that and how Loyola Law played a major role in that story.

Continue reading “Following the Science? My Story of a Non-Science Major Joining IP Law at Loyola”

Brendan Zdunek
Loyola Spotlight

TRIPS and International Access to COVID-19 Vaccines – An Interview with Professor Cynthia Ho

Professor Cynthia Ho is the Director of the Intellectual Property Program at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She teaches courses in Intellectual Property as well as Civil Procedure. She has made particular contributions in the area of international intellectual property, as well as patent issues involving biotechnology or health policy.

Continue reading “TRIPS and International Access to COVID-19 Vaccines – An Interview with Professor Cynthia Ho”

Louay Meroueh
Copyrights

Demystifying the Public Domain: How Expired IP Promotes Creativity

Before coming to law school, I only had a vague understanding of what the public domain was. Mostly, it seemed like a phrase people would throw around when describing music that was insanely old. However, a few of my friends make music in their spare time and seeing how they used music they found within the public domain” helped me understand its importance and how it functions.

Continue reading “Demystifying the Public Domain: How Expired IP Promotes Creativity”

Kayla Stetzel
Copyrights, Fun Facts, Patents

Was Harry Houdini’s Most Famous Trick Understanding IP Law?

Intellectual property (IP) law probably isn’t the first thing you think of when you think of Harry Houdini. One probably envisions dramatic performances involving straightjackets, water barrels, or sleight of hand illusions. However, Houdini’s greatest trick may have been leveraging IP to his personal advantage.

While many know of the magician for his impressive feats of escape, the Hungarian-born immigrant was also an avid inventor. Harry Houdini, born Erik Weitz, came of age during the Industrial Revolution. As a product of his time, Houdini had high esteem for feats of mechanical engineering. This, along with a few other incentives discussed later, led him to patent the machines he created for his magic performances.

He designed created new machines that would dazzle his audiences with exciting performances. Patenting his inventions served a few important functions for Houdini. But before describing those functions, let’s first explain how patents work and what they do.

Continue reading “Was Harry Houdini’s Most Famous Trick Understanding IP Law?”

Kayla Stetzel
Copyrights

Quilting and Copyrighting: Part 2

In my last post I analyzed whether the design of a quilt top meets the statutory requirements for copyright protection and determined that it does. But there are still some unanswered questions. For example, if I wanted to create and sell a pattern with instructions on how to make my original quilt, would that also be protected under copyright law? And, if so, what might infringe?

Continue reading “Quilting and Copyrighting: Part 2”

Lily Parker