Pitt's School of Law to Host Expert on Industrial Design Protection for The 2009 Distinguished Intellectual Property Law Lecture Feb. 26.

PITTSBURGH-Intellectual property patents are used to protect the creativity invested in the design of everything from digital music players to furniture. These patents will be the focus of the University of Pittsburgh's 2009 Distinguished Intellectual Property Law Lecture featuring Annette Kur, senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Intellectual Property, Competition, and Tax Law, at 4 p.m. Feb. 26 in Pitt's Barco Law Building, 3900 Forbes Ave., Oakland.

Kur's talk is titled "The European Community Design Right: A Uniquely Tailored System for Protecting Industrial Designs."

Kur, at the forefront of international legal protection for industrial design for more than 25 years, spearheaded the Max Planck working group proposal that formed the basis of the European Union's Community Design Right Legislation. She is president of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property, an associate professor at the University of Stockholm in Germany, and a visiting professor in the Hauser Global Law School Program at New York University's School of Law. Kur coedited "Intellectual Property and Private International Law" (Hart Publishing, 2005) and is the author of German language books and articles focused on the field of international trademark, unfair competition, and industrial design law.

Immediately following the lecture, a group of panelists will discuss the future of global industrial design protection. Panelists are Janice M. Mueller, a professor of Law in Pitt's School of Law and author of An "Introduction to Patent Law" (Aspen, 2003); Donald S. Chisum, an expert on patent law and intellectual property rights as well as coauthor of "Understanding Intellectual Property" (IrwinMcGraw Hill, 1992); and Daniel H. Brean, an intellectual property attorney with the Webb Law Firm in Pittsburgh.

The program is free and open to the public. The course has been approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Board for one and one-half (1.5) hours of substantive CLE credit. For more information, contact Lila Turner Steffy at 412-648-1305 or steffy@pitt.edu.

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