Judges speak to IP lawyers in Southern California

On Feb. 28, the Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association (LAIPLA) and the Orange County Intellectual Property Law Association (OCIPLA) hosted their annual Judges' Night, which took place at Cicada restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. Panelists at the event included Judge Kara F. Stoll of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. District Court Judge Josephine L. Staton and U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue of the Central District of California.

The judges announced during the discussion that the Patent Pilot Program in the Central District would wind down on March 21. The program sought to steer complicated patent cases to a few judges who were interested in taking them but there was little interest, the judge's said.

The organizations also announced two diversity fellowships aimed at attracting a broader range of attorneys into intellectual property law. Patent law was long been dominated by white and Asian men, but that has changed in recent years, evidenced by the all-women panel of judges at the event.

-- Jessica Lynn Murray