• 2011 Symposium

The Future of Patents

Bilski and Beyond

The symposium was held January 28-29, 2011 and co-sponsored by the Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology.

View the symposium schedule.
Read the keynote address.

About the event

The Symposium featured leading scholars in patent law, practitioners from law firms and technology companies, and representatives of public interest organizations. The Honorable James Ware, Chief Judge of the Northern District of California, gave the keynote speech, and panelists included:

  • Morgan Chu (Irell & Manella)
  • Rochelle Dreyfuss (New York University)
  • John Duffy (George Washington University)
  • Robin Feldman (U.C. Hastings)
  • Mark Lemley (Stanford)
  • Gary Loeb (Genentech)
  • David Jones (Microsoft)
  • Peter Menell (U.C. Berkeley)
  • Vern Norviel (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati)
  • Marc Pernick (Morrison & Foerster)
  • Jason Schultz (Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at U.C. Berkeley Law School)
  • Steve Weiner (SRI International)

The Symposium featured several panels representing diverse viewpoints on patents. The Symposium explored the effect of the Bilski case and other recent court decisions in patent law on research and innovation in areas ranging from business methods and software development to genetic engineering and diagnostic patents.

Morrison & Foerster and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati were law firm sponsors of the Symposium.

Symposium Print Issue

Several of our panelists contributed scholarship to the Symposium's companion print issue.

Why Business Method Patents?

Forty Years of Wondering in the Wilderness and No Closer to the Promised Land

Life After Bilski

From Bilski Back to Benson

Whose Body Is It Anyway?

Past Symposia