UB Law Students Launching Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- What may be the hottest new legal publication to hit the market this year could well be the Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal, brainchild of an enterprising team of students in the University at Buffalo Law School.

It's clearly an idea whose time has come none too soon for those in the legal profession, as well as anyone who creates intellectual property and its potentially salable spin-off products in the 21st-century marketplace.

The bi-annual journal, debuting in April, will provide a multidisciplinary forum for addressing issues in patent law, copyrights, trademarks and related intellectual-property areas.

It boasts an editorial staff of some 50 UB law students who have undergraduate and graduate degrees in areas as diverse as archeology, music and molecular biology.

The 30-member advisory board of scientists, law professors and practitioners reflects the interdisciplinary traditions of the study of law at UB.

The format will feature four articles written by leading academics and practitioners and shorter ones by UB law students.

Paul Goldstein, a leading authority on intellectual-property law and Lillick Professor of Law at Stanford University, wrote the introduction for the 300-page inaugural issue.

Goldstein taught at the UB Law School from 1967-75.

"Everyone from inventors to authors, architects, designers, scientists, artists, composers and musicians always has sought to legally protect and secure their ideas from those who might try to claim them," says Dariush Keyhani, the journal's founder and editor-in-chief.

Intellectual-property law is of interest not only to those who teach it and members of the legal profession, he points out, but also to the "little guy" whose intellectual property, design or expression could be stolen, as well as to universities and corporations that invest in research and development to create new scientific breakthroughs.

"But often it's the 'little guys' who have been the most vulnerable, ending up on the short end of the stick with little or no monetary reward for their efforts," Keyhani said.

The journal will inform the legal community and others of evolving legal issues affecting emerging technologies and the creative arts.

The explosion of technology and the expanding scope of intellectual-property rights have made intellectual property law of increasing importance in the 21st-century economy, he pointed out.

The journal promises to be on the forefront of a new generation of professional publications with an expanded focus for the legal community and wider, multidisciplinary audiences.

Shubha Ghosh, UB law professor and recognized intellectual-property law scholar, is the journal's main advisor.

Keyhani said that plans are already in place to ensure that the journal will continue to thrive and grow. "This publication is not going to be a 'flash in the pan,' but one that will expand and flourish," Keyhani says.

The journal is accepting articles for consideration in future issues.

The annual subscription rate is $25.

Additional information about the Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal is available on its Web site, http://www.wings.buffalo.edu/law/iplawjournal.

Support for the first issue is being provided by Hodgson, Russ L.L.P., Buffalo's oldest and largest law firm. Additional support is provided by Lexis-Nexis Publishing.