It’s October, which means it’s time for the AIPLA annual meeting.
And it’s at the AIPLA annual meeting that AIPLA committees get new leadership. Each committee position (chair, vice-chair) normally has a term of two years. So in a particular October a two-year term might be half way through or might be beginning. About half of AIPLA’s committees thus change leadership in a particular October.
This year is the year for the Industrial Designs Committee to change leadership. The news is that the new chair of the Industrial Designs Committee is Richard Stockton of Banner & Witcoff, and the new vice-chair is James Aquilina of Design IP.
Richard and James are each very active in the world of design patents, having filed and prosecuted many design patent applications. Richard’s firm, Banner & Witcoff, has ranked in first place in the 2012 US Design Patent Toteboard, the 2013 US Design Patent Toteboard, the 2014 US Design Patent Toteboard, and the 2015 US Design Patent Toteboard.
This coming two years will be an important time for industrial designs. New countries, including China, are likely to join the Hague Agreement. Important court cases, including a Supreme Court case in Apple v. Samsung, are likely to be decided. It will be good to have Richard’s and James’s leadership.