OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi School of Law hosted the first Mid-South Intellectual Property Institute on Feb. 10-11. The institute allowed law school faculty, staff and students, as well as lawyers and entrepreneurs, to share knowledge and learn the latest about intellectual property.
Cosponsored by the University of Mississippi School of Law, FNC Inc. and the UM Center for Continuing Legal Education, the conference featured expert speakers on patents, copyrights and trademarks, as well as music, film and the Internet. The law school plans to make the institute an annual event.
“We’re trying to engage students and lawyers throughout the Mid-South on intellectual property issues,” said Neil Olson, chief legal officer of FNC Inc., a mortgage technology company based in Oxford. “At events like this, people interested in intellectual property can meet [one another] and have a community to relate to.”
The conference kicked off with a breakfast and welcome from Richard Gershon, dean of the School of Law. Other presenters included Lee Ann Lockridge, professor of law at Louisiana State University Law Center; Bob Tucker, intellectual property attorney for Jones Walker LLP; and David Lange, professor of law at Duke University School of Law.
Gary Myers, UM associate dean for research and professor of law, helped coordinate the event.
“This conference was a great opportunity for law school students at the University of Mississippi to have an intensive two-day discussion of major issues in this increasingly important field of law,” Myers said.
Free of charge to law school faculty, staff and students, the event concluded with an optional panel discussion at The Lyric theater on Saturday evening.
“This community supports the development of technology, and we really want Oxford to be a place where technology is fostered,” Olson said.
For more information, please visit www.msipi.org, or contact Jenny Kate Luster, communications specialist for the School of Law, at jkluster@olemiss.edu.