Section of Intellectual Property Law kicks off historic 125th anniversary year

The American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law kicked off its yearlong 125^th anniversary celebration with the swearing in of new Chair George W. Jordan III, the first African-American to lead the section, at a ceremony on Aug. 8, during the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. ABA President Bob Carlson and President-Elect Judy Perry Martinez attended the event.

Jordan, who will assume the section leadership on Aug. 13 at the end of the Annual Meeting, is IP senior counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright in Houston. In his role as chair, Jordan will lead the 17,000-member section, as it continues at the forefront of advancing the development and improvement of intellectual property laws and their fair and just administration.

“The justice profession needs our strong voice,” Jordan said. “My top priority overall is increasing the readiness of our section to really face the challenges that will come.”

Jordan has held several notable section positions over the years, including chair-elect, vice chair, membership officer, publications officer, content advisory board chair, diversity steering committee chair and computer programs committee co-chair. He has served in the ABA as a Texas Alternate Delegate to the House of Delegates and as a member of the Standing Committee on Publishing Oversight. Jordan chaired the State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Law Section’s Patent Committee and served on the board of directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation.

The ABA IP Section is beginning a yearlong recognition of this 125^th anniversary, which will culminate with a special dinner event on April 2, 2020 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., during the 2020 ABA-IPL Annual Meeting and 35th Intellectual Property Law Conference April 1-3.

The section, the first substantive section of the ABA, was founded in August 1894 as the Section of Patent Law and became the Section of Intellectual Property Law in 1993. The section continues it rich history of assuming a key role in the development of a fair and balanced system for intellectual property law protection. It has been a leader in advocating and advancing all major IP law legislation including the Lanham Act, Patent Act, Copyright Act, America Invents Act and Defend Trade Secrets Act and many others.