Other IIPSJ Education and Outreach Programs

On Thursday, April 19, Professor Lateef Mtima participated as a panelist on “Respecting IP: What Aspiring Innovators and Entrepreneurs Should Know” hosted by Young African Professionals (YAP). The panel took place in NW Washington, DC.  For more information, visit: https://www.yapdc.org.

As we all welcome the New Year IIPSJ continues its collaborative work in community IP education and empowerment initiatives as a co-sponsor of

IIPSJ is a co-sponsor for the RACE + IP Summit held at Boston College April 20-22.  The conference will feature five plenary sessions which develop and engage the subfield of critical race IP, concurrent sessions with scholars across disciplines conducting multimethodological research, roundtable discussions on special topics related to race and intellectual property (e.g. the intersections of social media, algorithmic culture, and racial justice), and a special presentation by Chinatown Dance Rock band and trademark renegades, The Slants. Accepted participants will be invited to participate in these and other conference events, including a Saturday evening dance party cocktail reception.

IIPSJ’s IP and Civil Rights Conference was held on Thursday, May 17, 2012 at the Howard University School of Law.  Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. was the keynote speaker.  The conference brochure in pdf form is available for download. The conference was cosponsored by IIPSJ and the Black Leadership Forum (BLF).

The goal of the Mosaic Conference is to bring together IP scholars, policy makers, and activists of diverse and multicultural backgrounds and perspectives to explore socially progressive and non-traditional ideas in IP law, policy, and social activism. Throughout the global community, intellectual property regimes play a critical role in human development, socio-economic empowerment, and the preservation and promotion of social justice. Many IP regimes, however, have been structured or interpreted to reflect only the interests of an entrenched status quo; socially cognizant IP theses are often ignored or rejected as tangential or antithetical to commoditization-centered theories of IP protection, often impeding broader social utility concerns including equitable access to IP protection and output and stimulating innovation. Through the First Annual Mosaic Conference, IP scholars and practitioners will come together with policy makers, social activists, and others to present ideas for progressive and activist-oriented scholarship for assessment as to social relevance, legal significance, and doctrinal integrity.

On December 1, 2011, the Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ) co-presented with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) the Second National IP Empowerment Summit. The annual IIPSJ/USPTO IP Empowerment Summit serves the general public and intellectual property professional and activist community in educating and empowering minority and marginalized artists, inventors, entrepreneurs, and other IP stakeholders in underserved communities. The Summit provides practical information and presentations for creators and inventors regarding the development, protection, and exploitation of their own innovative and creative works as well as works and inventions in the public domain.

IIPSJ has an ongoing IP Empowerment Program working to empower marginalized communities economically, socially, and politically through their development, use, and lawful exploitation of IP. One of the steps in this ongoing program was the IP Empowerment Summit held on November 5, 2010. (In addition to the information below, the Summit Circular can be downloaded in pdf form.) Ongoing work is being done by committees and interest groups working on particular projects identified at the Summit and through partnering with the USPTO, NAACP, and other organizations