William Mitchell College of Law is pleased to announce that Jay Erstling, Director of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and Advisor to the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), will join the faculty in fall 2007. The PCT allows inventors to preserve the right of their inventions in 135 countries around the world.
“Jay Erstling brings an international background and depth of experience that will attract people from around the world,” said Professor Ken Port, director of Intellectual Property Law Studies at William Mitchell. “Our students will learn about cutting-edge issues from someone who has studied and shaped patent law policy worldwide.”
Erstling joins a strong intellectual property program. With 17 courses, three full-time nationally recognized faculty, and adjuncts from the top intellectual property firms in the Twin Cities, William Mitchell is recognized as a leader in intellectual property legal education.
“We are quite fortunate to have Jay rejoin our intellectual property community from the international patent system in Geneva,” said Philip Goldman ’85, partner in Fredrikson & Byron’s Intellectual Property Group, an international law firm based in Minneapolis. “Having served in the upper echelons of global patent policy and administration, his return to Minnesota will bring well-deserved attention and activity to our region and confirm both nationally and internationally that not all intellectual property expertise needs to be found within the shadows of the patent office in Washington.”
Before working at the PCT, Erstling was an officer and member of the intellectual property and international law practice groups at Fredrikson & Byron. He has also served as professor and chair, Department of Legal Studies in Business at St. Thomas University; senior legal officer, Industrial Property Division, WIPO; legal officer, International Labor Organization, and associate at Thorp, Reed and Armstrong in Pennsylvania. Erstling received his J.D. from Cornell University Law School and a B.S. degree from Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
“I view him as one of the most important individuals in the intellectual property community today, and I expect he will continue to be influential in the international patent arena,” said Samson Helfgott, director of patents at KattenMuchinRosenman in New York and head of international intellectual property matters for the American Bar Association intellectual property section. “His knowledge of patents, countries, technologies, significant industries, and economic trends for the future, can play a significant role in providing strategic plans for the industry.”
Mary.Grant @wmitchell.edu
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William Mitchell College of Law, founded in 1900, is an independent, private law school located in St. Paul, Minnesota. The college is known for cultivating practical wisdom and for creating an environment that welcomes both traditional and non-traditional law students. The largest law school in Minnesota, William Mitchell has produced many distinguished leaders at the bench and bar and in the business and civic arenas, among them the 15th Chief Justice of the United States, Warren E. Burger ’31.