In August 2024, Professor Christal Sheppard presented on Intellectual Property law, fielded questions and engaged with an Iraqi delegation invited to the United States by the U.S. State Department. Dr. Sheppard discussed the U.S. intellectual property system including the multiple agencies and their roles, the judicial and legislative branches, and the States’ roles in intellectual property law and policy, nationally and internationally. This discussion was of particular interest to the Iraqi delegation as, in July 2024, after a 16-year delay, Iraq restarted the negotiations on their application for accession to the World Trade Organization, which includes many important intellectual property implications and obligations.
Later that month, Professor Sheppard, the inaugural Director of the first United States Patent and Trademark Office regional office, spoke at the USPTO’s Rocky Mountain regional office 10th anniversary conference. Dr. Sheppard discussed the origination and implementation of these offices. She also discussed the goals and aims envisioned almost two decades ago and the current alignment and divergence from those initial ideals.
In September, the Board of Directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AILPA) held a board meeting at the University of Nebraska College of Law. Professor Sheppard, as an AIPLA board member, was integral in providing this very rare opportunity for the Nebraska Law community to interact one-on-one with the leadership of a premier national intellectual property (IP) association and multiple well-regarded IP experts, including lead attorneys from Nike, Johnson&Johnson, Kirkland&Ellis, 3M, DLA Piper, and others.
