Intellectual Property experts from the business, legal and product development worlds will gather in Atlanta October 28-29 to discuss the latest best practices and ideas at the Second Annual Corporate Intellectual Property Institute at the Georgia State University Student Center.

Sponsored by Georgia State University's College of Law and J. Mack Robinson College of Business, the event features two full days of speakers, interactive panel discussions and networking, and covers such areas as technology transfer, brand licensing, open innovation, legal strategy, patent reform and much more.

Executives from more than 20 commercial enterprises representing best-in-class intellectual asset management across various industry sectors will be presenting at the Institute, including IP professionals from AT&T Intellectual Property, Caterpillar, The Coca-Cola Company, CompuCredit, FedEx, Georgia-Pacific, Hooters of America, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Newell-Rubbermaid, and UPS.

"The Corporate Intellectual Property Institute will provide a forum for IP professionals from around the world to recalibrate their best practices to the current business climate," explained Scott Frank, president of AT&T Intellectual Property and a founder of the College of Law's Intellectual Property Advisory Board.

Topics covered during the event include IP quality assessment and valuation, licensing for maximum value, and defending corporate portfolios. "With the theme of Offense-Defense-Strategy, the Corporate IP Institute will also offer CLE credits," added Institute Chair Chason Carroll, Director of Intellectual Property at CompuCredit. "We encourage lawyers to take advantage of this opportunity for continuing education credits."

Heads of both Georgia State University colleges involved believe the partnership is advantageous for IP professionals nationwide.

"The College of Business is extremely pleased to collaborate with the College of Law in developing the Corporate Intellectual Property Institute, Corporate IP Roundtables and the IP Legends Award event," commented H. Fenwick Huss, dean of the Robinson College of Business. "These initiatives will assist the business community in maximizing the value of their intellectual property assets and will honor those who have made exemplary contributions to IP development."

College of Law Dean Steven Kaminshine said he is delighted with this linkage between the law school's intellectual property initiative and the College of Business.

"These events all serve to demonstrate the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between law and business," Kaminshine said. "Effective lawyering requires practitioners to appreciate the context within which the law operates, and the Corporate IP Institute is an important example that highlights this truth."

For additional details, information and to register for the event, visit the 2008 Corporate IP Institute at http://www.gsuip.org/corporate.

For more information on Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business, visit http://www.robinson.gsu.edu/, and for the College of Law, go to http://law.gsu.edu/.