Fun Facts, Trademarks

A Tale of Two Donut Shops: “Dunking” Into Trademark Troubles

IP Here, IP There…IP Everywhere   

IP is everywhere and affects everyone.  This principle was reinforced when I took Intellectual Property Law with Professor Ho during the Fall 2018 semester.  We regularly had examples in class regarding the many ways IP intersects with everyday life, even including a copyright infringement case involving Kanye West.  There were more examples at the end of the semester when students presented real and/or realistic applications of IP law.  I especially enjoyed working on my final presentation with Jessica Fenton involving a local mom-and-pop donut shop called “Dunk Donuts.”  If you’re thinking that sounds like Dunkin’ Donuts, so were we—and wondering whether this Oak Park donut shop might be liable to the national donut chain.

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Carrie Park
Loyola Spotlight

PharmD to JD: Working at the Intersection of Science and Law with Carrie Park

Carrie Park is a second-year law student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law with interests in patent and health law. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy in 2016 and went on to work as a pharmacist before coming to law school to pursue a career at the intersection of health, pharmacy, and patent law. She is an associate blogger for IP Bytes, serves on the executive boards for IP Law Society and Health Law Society, is a Legal Writing tutor, and is a member of the Annals of Health Law and Life Sciences journal.

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Becky Bavlsik
Why Loyola

In Pursuit of Patents & Public Health: Finding Both at Loyola

If you know you’re interested in exploring intellectual property (IP) law before even beginning your law school career, you probably have a specific set of interests, distinct from the “average” law student. Something has sparked your curiosity in IP. For me, working at the University of Wisconsin Madison’s technology transfer office, helping professors and university researchers apply for patents, sparked my interest in IP. Around the same time, I was completing a Certificate in Global Health and I became fascinated with the way the law can shape health outcomes in populations of people. For a long time, I thought I would have to choose: patents or public health.

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Elise Fester
Fun Facts, Patents

Slowly But Surely: Closing The Patent Gender Gap

Women’s voices are underrepresented. Recent examples abound in news reporting, Op-Eds, economics, and politics. The patent world is no exception. Women still continue to make up just a small fraction, about 21 percent, of inventors on patent applications, as noted in a recent USPTO Report. However, women have been creating, designing, and innovating for centuries.  So, why is there a gap?

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Monika Malek
Why Loyola

IP at Loyola: Building Success Through Supportive Culture

My highest priority when researching law schools was to find a school that would give me the best opportunities for a career in Intellectual Property (IP). I completed my PhD in chemistry at Purdue working on the development of a wide range of technologies for biomedical applications prior to coming to Loyola. In graduate school, I saw the many challenges that come with technology transfer and the need for people who understand both the scientific and legal sides of the process. I wanted to find a school that would allow me to build on my scientific background towards a career in IP, and patent law in particular. Now that I have completed my first semester, I can confidently say that I made the right choice.

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Bradley Loren
Fun Facts

Loyola Law Student Still Standing at Final Bell

Ladies and Gentlemen…

On March 14, 2019, the at-capacity crowd in the ceremonial Federal Courtroom at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, IL, buzzed with anticipatory excitement.  The audience gathered for this evening’s presentation of arguments was not the typical smattering of members of the public, interested parties, and news reporters.  Rather, the audience sitting in the gallery consisted of attorney members of the Richard Linn American Inn of Court, an organization committed to the principles of professionalism, civility, and ethics in the practice of intellectual property law.  The attorney members and guests, such as myself, were in attendance for the Annual Oral Advocacy Challenge.  This event involves Inn participants in oral arguments regarding current IP issues for which there is no settled law before a panel of actual judges that simulates proceedings before appellate court judges. 

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Edward Mahan
Fun Facts, Trademarks

“Big Mac” Trademark Gets Burned In Europe

Chicago-based, fast-food powerhouse McDonald’s has locations in over 100 countries.  Accordingly, it is difficult nowadays to find people in the world that are not familiar with the Big Mac, a McDonald’s staple since 1967.  Regardless of which language a McDonald’s menu is displayed, consumers relate the word “Big Mac” to the burger’s signature structure: two all-beef patties, “special sauce,” American cheese, lettuce, pickles, and onion, all served in a three-part sesame seed bun.

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Michael Sanko
Loyola Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight: William Cassin, JD ‘06

IP Alumni Spotlight: William Cassin
Head of IP for North America at thyssenkrupp North America, Inc.

One day, as you diligently work through engineering design calculations, your manager puts a competitor’s product on your desk and says: “Our competitor’s have product X in the market and we need to make a similar product. Find out if they have a patent on this product, and if so, how can we design around it so we don’t infringe their patent.”  If this scenario sounds familiar, your self-guided exploration of the merger of technology and law may have you contemplating a transition into the exciting world of intellectual property legal practice.  Loyola’s Alumni Spotlight is pleased to share an interview with William Cassin (’06) about his journey to Loyola University Chicago School of Law and beyond.

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Edward Mahan
Loyola Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight: Daniel H. Shulman, JD ’99

Daniel H. Shulman is currently the Chief IP Counsel at Reynolds Group Holdings Ltd. and FRAM Auto Group and is a Loyola University Chicago School of Law alum. Dan has a math and science background from Northwestern University and had the intention of becoming a physicist. But throughout his schooling, including his 4th grade mock trial over Alice in Wonderland, Dan realized he had a knack for arguing and loved it. After reconsidering his interests, Dan decided that going to graduate school for physics was not his career path. Instead, he came to law school with the intention of becoming a patent lawyer. We recently had the opportunity to talk and ask Dan a few questions on his experience during and after law school in the field of IP.

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Sneha Nyshadham
Loyola Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight: Heather Steinmeyer, JD ’90

IP Alumni Spotlight: Heather Steinmeyer
Managing Senior Associate General Counsel at Anthem, Inc.

You’re interested in Intellectual Property (IP) and you’ve decided you want to go to law school: now what? Law school is the first step down a pathway towards an engaging and rewarding career. However, simply choosing a law school can take a great deal of diligent research and once admitted, students may not know how to best navigate the system. But have no fear, Loyola’s Alumni Spotlight is here! This week, I spoke with Heather Steinmeyer (’90) about why she chose Loyola Law School, how she fell in love with IP, and where that intersection has taken her in her career.

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