The Student Intellectual Property Law Association (SIPLA) is a group of students interested in pursuing intellectual property (IP) law as a field of practice post-graduation and wish to share their passion for IP by providing educational and networking opportunities for its members and the student body.
“We believe in the need to educate the legal community on the field of IP, one of the most rapidly growing fields of practice in the U.S. and abroad,” said second-year law student and founding President Kyle Gerstner. “We also believe in the critical role that IP plays in societal and economic development,” he added.
Since being founded in November 2020, SIPLA has held a number of programs for its members as well as events in conjunction with other student organizations. They also launched a “Talk Shop with SIPLA” series. The first event in the series was hosted in partnership with another new law student organization, the Business Law Society, which covered data privacy and cyber security law with a local cyber law attorney. The second event was a webinar hosted in partnership with Phi Alpha Delta where they received insight into the life of a patent prosecutor.
IP fosters innovation and creativity in society by providing legal protection for the original creators of inventions, works of authorship such as written and spoken language, trademarks that provide distinction for its creators in their respective marketplaces, as well as trade secrets utilized by companies to gain a competitive advantage in the market. SIPLA is open to all students at the College of Law and intends to achieve the above goals by fostering an environment of diversity, inclusiveness, and collaboration.
