Susan Barbieri Montgomery

Susan Bar­bieri Mon­gomery, exec­u­tive pro­fessor of law and busi­ness, exam­ines the impact of a recent ver­dict in favor of Apple in a case involving product infringement.

On Thursday, stu­dents, fac­ulty, alumni and guests from the School of Law com­mem­o­rated World Intel­lec­tual Prop­erty Day, cel­e­brating visionary inno­va­tors, their con­tri­bu­tions and the role of IP.

North­eastern con­fer­ence brings together scholars, inno­va­tors and policy makers to dis­cuss the rela­tion­ship between intel­lec­tual prop­erty and innovation.

The months-​​long legal battle that has been raging between Sam­sung and Apple over patent infringe­ment on Apple’s iPad is just one example of the patent wars being waged throughout the tech­nology industry lately. Last month, Google acquired Motorola Mobility largely to obtain its slew of patents. We asked Susan Bar­bieri Mont­gomery, exec­u­tive pro­fessor of law and busi­ness in Northeastern’s School of Law and Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion, to explain why these tech giants are so deter­mined to build a “war chest” of patents.

Trade­marks have made plenty of head­lines this year. Sarah and Bristol Palin moved to obtain trade­mark pro­tec­tion for their names, Apple sued Amazon for trade­mark infringe­ment over use of the term “App Store” and a com­pany with ties to Charlie Sheen has filed for trade­mark reg­is­tra­tions on 22 of the actor’s catch­phrases. Susan Bar­bieri Mont­gomery, exec­u­tive pro­fessor of law and busi­ness at North­eastern, breaks down the role of trade­marks and how the Internet is changing the game.