Fundamentals of Intellectual Property: A Workshop for Inventors

Greg Carlin headshot

Greg Carlin, M.S., J.D., Meunier Carlin & Curfman LLC

2 sessions will be offered:

Session #1 - 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. (Fundamentals)
Session #2 - 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. (Deeper dive)

Sat., June 18, 2022
Fitzpatrick Schiciano Auditorium, Room 1464

Registration is required
Attendance is limited to 75

Lunch will be provided between 12 p.m. - 1 p.m.

 

Register Here

If you have any questions or after registering you find that you will be unable to attend, contact Donna Crenshaw at donna.crenshaw@duke.edu.  

Parking is available in the Bryan Center Garage. Rates are $2/hour or daily maximum of $12. Get directions to the garage here.

Sponsored by Duke MEDx and Duke Engineering Entrepreneurship (EngEn)


As an engineer or scientist you conceive new product ideas, discover new treatments for disease, or write original software. But do you know how to protect these ideas so that they can be effectively disseminated? Do you know whether your idea is patentable, and what it takes to get a patent? Do you know what other forms of intellectual property are available to protect your innovations, such as copyrights for your software? 

Gregory J. Carlin will provide a morning session for beginners and an afternoon session for those looking to more deeply understand patent law. Both sessions will be interactive with the opportunity for questions. His insights for these sessions were developed over a career spent in academia, industry, and his own boutique IP law firm. 

The morning session, in particular, will introduce basics of intellectual property, including how to spot opportunities for your startup to capitalize on patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection. This will help you ward off competitors and gain or maintain market share.

The (optional) afternoon session will dive deep into patent protection including how to work with patent attorneys to develop effective patent applications and how to avoid patent pitfalls. This interactive workshop will teach you how to read a patent, understand its legal meaning, and protect your own ideas. 

Note that this workshop is not sponsored or endorsed by the USPTO or any other government agency.

Gregory J. Carlin received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. His M.S., also at Pitt, was directed at soft-tissue biomechanics. He is an author on over a dozen original research, peer reviewed publications in the biomechanics field. He received a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. He has worked as an Associate at Alston & Bird before joining Edwards Life Sciences as in-house Counsel. In 2010, he co-founded Meunier Carlin & Curfman to provide deep and personal support to inventors and founders. As a founder, he understands the challenges of building a business and the thrill of making your vision a reality.  

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