WCL Glushko-Samuelson IP Clinic

Directed and produced by Kiran (Kiki) Kapany, Wired for Connection explores why human relationships are fundamental to our health and wellbeing. Drawing on Lydia Denworth’s book Friendship and pioneering research, including field studies and advanced neuroscience, the film traces the evolutionary roots of our social nature, reveals the serious toll disconnection can have across the human lifespan, and examines how modern technology has accelerated today’s rising loneliness crisis. 

IP Clinic students Daphne Singer and Katherine McGee delved deep into historical and news archival materials to provide IP counseling and fair use analysis. Among other materials, they used Clinic founder Peter Jaszi and Pat Aufderheide’s The Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use of American University’s Center for Media & Social Impact as a valued guide, https://cmsimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Documentary-Filmmakers.pdf. 

Congratulations to Kiki Kapany on the release of this important new film! 

The film is available to view now on PBS: https://www.pbs.org/show/wired-for-connection/.

For more information about the film and commentary from Kiki, click here: https://www.kqed.org/pressroom/12726/wired-for-connection.  

Since his earliest days playing soccer, a local high school student spotted a recurring problem: after shots on goal, play often had to pause so the net could be reattached to the frame. Determined to fix the issue, he developed a novel solution and came to the Intellectual Property Law Clinic to explore whether his invention could be patented.

In February, students in the IP Clinic secured Patent US 12,551,768 B1 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the young inventor. With this protection in place, he is now heading off to college and preparing to market his product.

This representation spanned two academic years and involved four IP Clinic student attorneys advised by patent supervisor David Grossman and Clinic Director Vicki Phillips. The IP Clinic at the American University Washington College of Law is part of the school’s highly ranked program that not only provides hands-on experience, but produces real-world results. We look forward to seeing our clinic students help grow the game of soccer and continue to make a positive impact in the D.C. community and beyond.

WCL and Washington Lawyers for the Arts (WALA) teamed up last week to co-host the Opening Reception for the “Frame the Lawyers” art exhibit. A large crowd of area attorneys, artists, students, and alumni kicked-off the month-long exhibit in Founders Lobby at WCL. The juried exhibit includes work by area lawyers and law students. Most of the works are for sale with part of the proceeds benefitting the pro bono legal education and assistance programs provided by WALA. The reception was proceeded by a panel on practicing at law organized by 3Ls Andrew Gamble and Kate Kramer.

Professor Funmi Arewa delivered the 2024 Jaszi Lecture. She spoke about her research group’s investigation into the ways the copyright system historically failed to protect the interests of Black creators, and what that has meant for their artistic legacies. She presented her group’s findings through a discussion of Lorraine Hansberry, acclaimed author of A Raisin in the Sun.

The D.C. Bar Intellectual Property Community gathered at the Bar’s headquarters on May 14 to honor Clinic Director and Professor Victoria Phillips with its annual Champion of Intellectual Property Award for impacting IP policy, fostering innovation, and passionately advocating for intellectual property rights. Also honored with its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award was Judge Pauline Newman, the longest-serving judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Prof. Phillips was introduced by Prof. Christine Farley and presented the award by Mayer Brown associate Courtney Krawice, Co-Chair of the IP Bar Community and a ’20 IP Clinic alum. Phillips accepted the award on behalf of all her colleagues and former clinic students who have helped to build a robust pro bono legal community for underrepresented creators and nonprofits.

The Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic at American University celebrates @wipo’s World IP Day theme “IP and the Sustainable Development Goals” every day!

Clinic students David Chaykowski and Katie Casado recently met with Clinic client Scott Buga, Director of Marketing and Communications at Community Forklift. The Clinic is proud to help the organization leverage intellectual property to support its mission of eliminating waste and fostering a healthier environment by recognizing, retaining, and returning the value of used and surplus materials to the community. #WorldIPDay #ChampionWhatMatters

Glushko-Samuelson IP Law Clinic Students presented the 8th annual IP Tips and Tricks program for startups on April 15th for the Veloric Center for Entrepreneurship at American University’s Kogod School of Business. The Veloric Center entrepreneurs are either at the initial stages of their startup ventures or in the process of building their businesses. At the session the students drew on their clinic representations over the past year and shared some key IP “tips and tricks” for startups and entrepreneurs and provided preliminary legal counseling on copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy and other issues. Clinic students Lex Baird, Tanner Harris, Alyssa Mottahed, Lauren Whyte, Tony Aviza, Brianna Barney, Peter Rozewicz, Spencer Seufert and Jill Crosby participated in this annual cross-campus collaboration between the IP clinic and the business school.

More than ten ventures were represented at the session including those working on a personalized language learning platform, financial education and professional development to women and underrepresented professionals, a process to turn food scraps into organic soil conditioner and quality animal feed and a multimedia children’s entertainment company creating content for under-represented children. For more information on these extraordinary Veloric Center startups see link below.

https://kogod.american.edu/students/entrepreneurship/current-ventures

Washington College of Law Intellectual Property Clinic student-attorneys Lex Baird and Isabel Thelen, and former student-attorneys Sumra Wahid, Eames Armstrong, Katharine Chamberlain, Helena Alvarez, Sydney Novoa, Isabel Garcia, Madeline Reed, Sheerin Tehrani, and Madeline Burkard have obtained a trademark registration for the Bethesda-based jewelry vendor, Viva Vida. The company’s founder, Mary Sapountzakis, incorporated elements of her cosmopolitan upbringing and family jewelry trade into her business, which she started in 2018 while battling leukemia. Clinic student-attorneys helped prepare and submit an application for the mark “Viva Vida”—”live life” in Portuguese—and supported Ms. Sapountzakis through various stages of administrative adversarial proceedings before obtaining a final registration in February, 2024. Ms. Sapountzakis hopes to expand her business with the federal protections afforded under the newly registered mark.