CARY – The Carolinas Chapter of the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) will kick off its 2007 professional development program with an intellectual property (IP) seminar.  Tracy-Gene Durkin, Director of renowned Washington, D.C. IP law firm Sterne Kessler Goldstein Fox, and Joel Eisner, associate principal of Cato BioVentures, will present the seminar, entitled “Intellectual property – the top 10 things you need to know when developing and bringing a new product to market.”

Topics addressed will include integrating intellectual property into the product development process, the importance of protecting intellectual property both internally and externally, and methods of protecting product configuration.

The seminar will be held Thursday, Feb. 22 at MCNC Auditorium, located at 3021 Cornwallis Road in Research Triangle Park.  Registration and networking will begin at 6:00 p.m., and the seminar will run from 6:45 to 8:00 p.m.  The cost, which includes handouts, is $20 for PDMA members, $35 for non-members and $10 for students and volunteers.  Pizza and drinks will be served.  Attendees are encouraged to register online at www.pdma.eventbrite.com.  Pre-registration is not required, but walk-ins will be charged an additional $10. 

“As many businesses have learned the hard way, failure to consider in advance intellectual property issues and fully integrate IP into the product development process can result in loss of revenue or litigation costs,” said Montie Roland, PDMA president.  “This is an important subject that can easily become muddled, hence it is a good topic for our first seminar of the year.  I invite all product managers, engineers, designers and business managers to attend, as they will surely benefit from our speakers’ insights.”

This event qualifies as two professional development hours toward PDMA’s New Product Development Professional (NPDP) recertification.

Speaker Background

In addition to serving as a director, Tracy-Gene G. Durkin heads the mechanical patent and trademark group of Sterne Kessler Goldstein Fox.  She has over 20 years of experience obtaining and enforcing worldwide intellectual property rights, including utility and design patents, trademarks and copyrights.  Tracy-Gene’s client counseling experience includes helping clear new products and trademarks for use in the marketplace, selecting appropriate intellectual property protection and enforcing such protection through mediation, litigation and licensing.  Tracy-Gene has spoken internationally on topics such as design patents, intellectual property audits, mediation, intellectual property protection on the Internet, and trademark co-branding and licensing for non-profit organizations.  She is chair of the Industrial Design Committee for the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and a member of the Industrial Designs Committee of the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

In addition to his role as an associate principal of Cato BioVentures, Dr. Joel Eisner also serves as an integrated drug development scientist of Cato Research and vice president of corporate development of two portfolio companies, Hemodynamic Therapeutics and Durham Pharmaceuticals.  Eisner has product development experience in both pharmaceuticals and medical devices as well as 12 years research experience in endocrinology and reproductive physiology.  He is a member of the Endocrine Society.

About PDMA

The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) is the premier global advocate for product development and management professionals.  For more information about PDMA, visit www.pdma.org.  For more information about the Carolinas Chapter, call (919) 481-1845, email Montie Roland at montie@montie.com or visit www.pdma.org/carolinas.