This Week in Washington IP: How European Tech Regulations Impact U.S. Businesses, The 5G Patent Race, and IP in Latin America

This week in Washington IP news, with Congress still on summer recess we look abroad to Brazil, which will be hosting the largest international intellectual property event in Latin America. Elsewhere, the Cato Institute discusses how EU regulations on tech companies are impacting U.S. businesses, and IPWatchdog hosts a panel on the 5G patent race.

Sunday, August 20 – Tuesday, August 22

ABPI (Brazilian Intellectual Property Association)

43rd International Intellectual Property Congress

From Sunday to Tuesday, in-person and online events

The Brazilian Intellectual Property Association is hosting a three-day international IP event with speakers from around the world. USPTO Director Kathi Vidal will speak at a closing event on Tuesday that will present the “Patent Award of the Year: Patent for Inclusion”. There will also be events on the Unified Patent Court as well as a speech from Sherif Saadallah, Executive Director of the World Intellectual Property Organization Academy. The event is the largest of its kind in Latin America.

Tuesday, August 22

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Inventors: Learn to think like a patent examiner with STEPP’s four-day course

At noon from Tuesday-Friday, online webinar

The USPTO is hosting a four-day online training to help inventors better understand how patent examiners make their decisions. The material available in this training is the same that the USPTO uses to train new patent examiners. A different module will be available every day, with the first day focusing on the steps an examiner takes when reading a patent application for the first time.

IPWatchdog

Who is Leading the 5G Patent Race? – Sponsored by LexisNexis

At noon on Tuesday, online webinar

This will be a wide-ranging conversation about who is leading the increasingly competitive 5G patent race, with geopolitical implications as companies and countries vie for technical leadership in critical technologies. IPWatchdog’s Gene Quinn will moderate the discussion with Dr. Tim Pohlmann, CEO and Founder of IPlytics, Robert Giles, Senior Vice President, and Chief IP Counsel at Qualcomm, Tuomas Saukkonen, Head of Cellular Standards Patent Portfolio at Nokia, and Mang Zhu, Chief IP Strategy Officer, and Head of Patent Asset Management at ZTE USA. Additionally, the panel will field questions and discuss how IP professionals need to approach 5G standard essential patents (SEPs).

Thursday, August 24

United States Patent and Trademark Office

PTAB Inventor Hour – Episode 21

At noon on Thursday, online webinar

The latest installment of the PTAB Inventor Hour features Scott Boalick, Chief Judge for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), as a special guest. The event is aimed at inventors, entrepreneurs, and new practitioners who want to learn more about the USPTO and the PTAB. The event will also mark the second anniversary of the Inventor Hour.

Cato Institute

The Brussels Effect: How EU and UK Tech Policy Impacts Americans and American Companies

At 2 PM on Thursday, online livestream

In this talk, the Cato Institute is hosting a panel of industry experts to discuss the impact of increasing tech market regulation in the UK and EU. The talk will discuss the so-called “Brussels Impact” or the effect of increased regulation on tech companies and how it will impact U.S. companies. The panelists will speak about how this regulation could impact competition and U.S. tech policy.