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2025 Ⓒ Boston Intellectual Property Law Association
BIPLA Fifth Annual Symposium
BIPLA Fifth Annual Symposium
The Boston Intellectual Property Law Association held its 5th Annual Symposium on April 2-3, 2025. The symposium was hosted by President Emily Whelan at the WilmerHale offices in Boston. With nearly 100 attendees and 8 sponsor organizations, this year’s symposium brought together intellectual property professionals from a variety of practice areas for two stimulating days of panel discussions and networking. The highlight of day one was a fireside chat with David Kappos, former USPTO director and co-chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion.
Day one of the symposium also featured six interactive panel sessions which provided a variety of choices for attendees with different backgrounds and interests. The discussions covered a range of substantive topics including global developments in litigation of standard essential patents and FRAND licensing terms, best practices for trademark litigation surveys, prosecution of life sciences patents in Canada, pending congressional legislation related to IP, clearance actions against third party patents in Europe, and how partners and associates can support each other at trial. The day ended with a networking mixer which provided opportunities for additional discussion and building new connections.
Day two of the symposium included four plenary sessions, including a discussion of ethics issues in litigation funding, pro bono opportunities for IP attorneys, copyright and artificial intelligence, and strategies for patent term extension and adjustments in biotechnology patents. At the end of the day, participants chose between panel discussions on the careers in intellectual property and challenges of functional claiming and AI involvement in innovation. We look forward to seeing you for next year’s Symposium in mid-April 2026! Please be on the lookout for further information as the event is finalized and registration is opened.



















