Robert Katz, A/IDSA

Robert S. Katz, A/IDSA
Principal Shareholder
Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.

Robert S. Katz, A/IDSA, is a principal shareholder in the Washington D.C. office of Banner & Witcoff. He has helped procure more than 5,000 design patents in the United States, and more than 14,000 design patents/registrations outside the country. He is a former USPTO utility patent examiner and has a mechanical engineering degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a J.D. from The George Washington University School of Law. Katz also is a professor at The George Washington University School of Law and Georgetown University Law School. He serves as treasurer of the US Section and is a former chair of the Industrial Design Section of the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys.

IP, 3D Printing and Virtual Design Theft: What’s Legal and How Far Do IP Rights Extend in View of Emerging Technologies?

Emerging technologies, like 3D scanners and 3D printers, enable designers and manufacturers to be more flexible in their processes. They have helped achieve rapid prototyping with greatly reduced expenses. However, they’ve also created new avenues for people to take the intellectual property of creators and then distribute infringing, digital models.

Attorney Robert Katz, A/IDSA, takes a closer look at how designers can use intellectual property (design patents, utility patents, trademarks and copyrights) to protect their work from virtual design theft. It also will provide helpful tips on how to best protect innovation under IP laws in view of rapidly changing technology areas.