On October 9-10, 2015, more than 40 intellectual property scholars visited Texas A&M University School of Law to participate in the inaugural Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable ​hosted by the Center for Law and Intellectual Property (CLIP).

Tim McFarlin, a fellow at Elon University School of Law, discusses the idea of authorship during the Copyright Law session

The roundtable provides intellectual property (IP) and technology law scholars with an annual forum to share research and network with peers. In addition to six full-time Texas A&M Law IP professors, the speakers and commentators featured scholars from all over the country as well as IP​ scholars from Australia, Canada and India.
 
"We are very excited to launch this roundtable as one of our annual events," said Professor Peter Yu, who created the top IP program among the Big Ten law schools before joining T​exas A&M Law as CLIP's co-director. "The event allows Texas A&M students to study the law not only from textbooks, but also through face-to-face interactions with scholars whose writings they study in class."
 
Professor Megan Carpenter, who founded CLIP in Spring 2009, said it was an honor to welcome many leading IP scholars to campus.

Prof. Megan Carpenter, Texas A&M School of Law; Dilan Thampapillai, Australian National University College of Law (Australia); Prof. Jessica M. Kiser, Gonzaga University School of Law; Prof. Peter Yu, Texas A&M School of Law; and Prof. Oren Bracha, University of Texas School of Law; in discussion at the IP Scholars Roundtable

"Throughout this two-day conference, scholars shared a diversity of views and engaged in lively discussion about cutting-edge intellectual property topics," she said.
 
The Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable marked the first major CLIP event since the recent expansion of the IP faculty of Texas A&M School of Law. The law school currently boasts one of the lowest student-faculty ratios in the IP field in law schools across the country. Its accessible faculty includes not only leading scholars in all major IP "food groups," but also two patent attorneys and a former attorney advisor of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
 
"This conference, which Peter previously ran at Michigan State and Drake, is well-known for an unusual format that provides just as much time for comments and questions as it does for the presentations themselves," said T​exas A&M Law Professor Brian Holland, who chaired the panel on international IP law. "It is the kind of substantive peer review that makes scholarship a whole lot better."

Texas A&M University School of Law Intellectual Property faculty with an Aggie Gig 'em for the inaugural IP Scholars Roundtable. L-R: CLIP Co-Director Prof. Peter Yu, Prof. Saurabh Vishnubhakat, Prof. Brian Holland, CLIP Co-Director Prof. Megan Carpenter, Prof. Glynn Lunney, and Prof. Srividhya Ragavan (joining T​exas A&M Law in Jan. 2016)

- Article by Jennifer Nassar, Communications Specialist, Texas A&M University School of Law