The Georgia State University / Georgia Tech Intellectual Property Community Service Awards are given to recognize members of the IP community who have made outstanding contributions to community service.

The nomination deadline is Monday, April 17, 2017.

Nominees should meet criteria such as:

• Demonstrating an outstanding commitment to community service (e.g., longstanding record of, or recent significant contributions to, community service).
• Motivating others to contribute to community service.
• Displaying a high degree of professional ethics.

If you would like to nominate someone for the award, please Click here for details.

On April 21, 2016, Georgia Lawyers for the Arts (GLA) hosted the Georgia PATENTS Appreciation Reception to recognize the attorneys and firms that made a meaningful contribution to the Georgia PATENTS pro bono program during 2015. Alston & Bird sponsored the event, which included remarks from Meredith Ragains, Executive Director of GLA, John Kirkpatrick, a pro bono coordinator at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and Michelle Imoukhuede, Georgia PATENTS Director.

The Attorney of the Year award was presented to Chris Lightner of Alston & Bird. The Firm of the Year award was presented to Ballard Spahr LLP. Special awards for Significant Contributions to Georgia PATENTS were presented to Joyce Klemmer and Gibson Lanier of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, Chris Lightner and Cheryl Naja of Alston & Bird, Rivka Monheit of Pabst Patent Group, and Nicole Morris of Emory School of Law.

Charley Brown accepting the Firm of the Year award on behalf of Ballard Spahr.

Chris Lightner (Alston & Bird) receiving the Attorney of the Year award.

John Kirkpatrick, pro bono coordinator at the USPTO (Michelle Imoukhuede and Meredith Ragains to the left)

The CLE event held by the Patent Committee on February 25 was a great success!

The speakers discussed changes in the law on recovering attorney’s fees. There were 52 in attendance to hear insights on this topic from panelists Nathan Sloan (VMWare, Inc.), Theodore Davis, Jr. (Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton), and Peter Jones (Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd). There was a lively discussion about Supreme Court cases Octane Fitness and Highmark and the impact on recovering attorney’s fees in patent and trademark cases. A special thanks goes out to the moderator David Moreland (Meunier Carlin & Curfman) and to Coby Nixon (Taylor English) for organizing the event. The Patent Committee would also like to thank Alston & Bird for graciously hosting the event.