The 2025 Fall IP Institute will be held on Thursday, September 25th, starting mid-day, through Saturday, September 27th, ending mid-day, 2025, at the Moody Gardens Hotel. The event is organized and held by both the UH Law Center’s Institute for Intellectual Property & Information Law (IPIL) and the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association (HIPLA). This is a major continuing legal education ("CLE") event attracting several hundred intellectual property professionals from across Texas and the nation.
Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions for the 2025 Fall IP Institute, which is updated as needed.
Many thanks to our Sponsors
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Professor Dennis Crouch
University of Missouri School of Law
COMMUNITY IP SPEAKER
Randal Pinkett
BCT Partners, LLC
JUDICIAL PANEL
The Hon. Jeffrey V. Brown
U.S. District Court
Southern District of Texas
The Hon. Derek T. Gilliland
U.S. District Court
Western District of Texas
The Hon. Sean D. Jordan
U.S. District Court
Eastern District of Texas
The Hon. Barbara M. G. Lynn
U.S. District Court
Northern District of Texas
Moderated by
Natalie Alfaro Gonzales
Yetter Coleman LLP
Jeffrey Andrews (Yetter Coleman LLP)
TOPIC: Antitrust Issues in IP Litigation
Justen Barks (Barks PLLC) and Jammy Kiggundu (Douglass & Kiggundu, P.L.L.C.)
TOPIC: NIL + V: Athlete and Influencers
Meg Boulware (Boulware & Valoir)
TOPIC: How to Address AI in Contracts
Jennifer Carnahan (The Dow Chemical Company), Thomas Rooney (Halliburton), and Joseph Cleveland, Jr., Moderator (Brackett & Ellis, P.C.)
TOPIC: Trade Secret Protection
Michelle Eber (West U Capital)
TOPIC: Financing for Patent Owners and Ethical Considerations
Sparkle Ellison (LyondellBasell) and Valerie Moore (Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP)
TOPIC: USPTO 2025: Prosecution Tips amid evolving Guidelines
Kyle Friesen (Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.)
TOPIC: PTAB Update
Michael Hawes (Baker Botts L.L.P.)
TOPIC: Patent Law Update – Part 1
James Kurka (Weatherford)
TOPIC: Copyright Update
Chanler Langham (Susman Godfrey LLP)
TOPIC: Sanctions and Attorneys Fee in IP Cases
Tiffany Lewis (StoneTurn)
TOPIC: IP Damages
Karthika Perumal (Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP)
TOPIC: IP Licensing Trends
Leisa Talbert Peschel (Jackson Walker)
TOPIC: IP Cases in the Texas Business Courts
Catherine Rifai (Munck Wilson Mandala)
TOPIC: Trademark Law Update
Steven Spears (Munck Wilson Mandala)
TOPIC: Patent Law Update – Part 2
Matt Todd (Polsinelli PC)
TOPIC: Copyright and Ethical Issues in AI Litigation
Craig Watson (Cranach Patent Attorneys)
TOPIC: How to Draft Patents across Borders
George Webb (Rice University)
TOPIC: Ethics Pentathlon
̶ It will be an in-person event.
̶ The link for the event in the Whova app will be included in a subsequent Whova instructional email. Whova is available for both mobile and desktop/laptop computers.
̶ For assistance, please email IPIL@UH.EDU
̶ For assistance, please email IPIL@UH.EDU
̶ For assistance, please email IPIL@UH.EDU
̶ The cost for lunch will be included in the conference registration. An RSVP during the registration is needed for the conference administration to plan for your attendance.
̶ This course has been approved by the State Bar of Texas.
̶ We do not submit for CLE beyond the State Bar of Texas. However, if you need a certificate of attendance for another state please email IPIL@UH.EDU for assistance.
̶ We expect most of the materials to be made available a week prior to the start of the event. Any material not available one week out will be posted as soon as possible.
̶ No, the speaker sessions will not be recorded. However, if a written paper is provided by the speaker it is accessible in the Whova app.
