History of the University of Baltimore Intellectual Property Law Journal 1992-2008

Prepared by Professor William T. Fryer, III, Faculty Advisor

The University of Baltimore Intellectual Property Law Journal was started in 1992 by law students, primarily with money raised from intellectual property (IP) alumni practitioners. It has developed into a school supported, major publication. The Journal staff is now working on Volume 17, with a major issue of Volume 16 already in the review process.

When the Journal was started the University of Baltimore had already established a significant reputation in the IP law field. Many IP practitioners had graduated from the school, especially from its night program.

Other backgrounds that encouraged the formation of the Journal was the 1989 UB School of Law two day National Conference on Industrial Design Law and Practice, followed by publication in its Law Review of the articles from that conference (19 UB L. Rev. Issues 1 and 2, 1990). This Law Review publication remains a landmark in resource materials for United States, foreign and international design protection law. In 1996, a second National Conference on Industrial Design Law and Practice was organized by UB School of Law and cosponsored with the American Intellectual Property Law Association.

The UB IP Law Journal has participated in several debates on major IP law issues. For example, the patent law subjects of first-to-file and first-to-invent were debated in the Journal by former Commissioner of Patents and Trademark Don Banner (Vol. 1 Issue No. 1) and Bob Armitage and Richard Wilder (Vol. 1, Issue No. 2). In Volume 2, issues No. 1 and No. 2, the issue of prior user right was debated by Bob Rohrback and Gary Griswold, et al. The Journal continues to address the most challenging IP law issues. In 1997 the Journal's Editor-in-Chief Beverly Flanagan was honored by receiving the first annual American Bar Association, Section of Intellectual Property Law Award for Outstanding National IP Law Student. The above accomplishments are the result of the hard work of all student staffs for the eight years of this Journal's existence and significant support from the University Baltimore School of Law.