“Virtual Women – Emerging Issues in Gender and Intellectual Property Law”

This conference will explore the various ways that the field of intellectual property can create an atmosphere for women that can be ‘virtual,’ offering rights and regimes that can appear less than genuine. Because of the more prominent role women and women’s issues are playing in the field of intellectual property, Virtual Women: Emerging Issues in Gender and Intellectual Property Law explores this disparity and raises questions addressing these distinctions.  The conference will address such questions as the role gender plays in motivating creativity, the gender of patent, how feminist theory can reconceptualize intellectual property, and the challenges women face in the practice and execution of intellectual property.

Keynote speaker Rochelle Dreyfuss, will deliver the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture, Girls Just Want to Have Fun: What Can Feminist Theory Tell Us About Incentives?, will investigate ways that feminist theory can explain and support incentive structures to make sure the laws are achieving the goals necessary to support the endeavors.  Confirmed panelists include Ann Bartow, Dr. Boatema Boateng, Dan L. Burk, Dr. Carys J. Craig, Mallary DeMerlier, Michele Goodwin, K.J. Greene, Christine Haight Farley, Eileen Kane, Mary LaFrance, Doris Estelle Long, Malla Pollack, Adrien Pruetz, and Rebecca Tushnet.  Panelists will present academic and professional work that ranges from exploring issues of gender on the Internet to examining the role of women in the field of biotechnology; from considering feminist roles in authorship and creativity to considering the feminine mystique of brands; from questioning issues of sex and fair use in copyright to issues of breast cancer and baby rights in patent; and from hearing women’s voices in the arts to hearing feminist concerns in intellectual property.

Since 2001, Thomas Jefferson’s Women & The Law Project has hosted an annual conference, the first annual event in the West focusing exclusively on gender issues and the law.  The conference series aims to advance the legal rights of women, promote gender-related scholarly work, share the expertise of faculty with the wider community, and facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue.