Hope all is well, I am back in China following the INTA meeting in San Diego. On my long plane ride back I jotted down these random thoughts and recollections I would like to share with you based on my perspective of attending INTA over decades. There is always something to learn.
I was lucky enough to have been one of two of my four siblings to accompany my father, an intellectual property attorney, and my mother in attending the first INTA conference in 1974, then called the USTA, which took place in Florida. The event took place around the pool and as disinterested teen far more focused on jumping into the pool than walking around it, I couldn’t quite grasp what I was experiencing. My parents branded my as “incorrigable”, perhaps a premonition that I would one day work in the most chalenging place to work as an intellectual property attorney on the planet: China. I have since been to my fair share of conferences as a professional and have even had the opportunity to attend more with my father and mother. Although the pool is no longer the center of the event at INTA as it was 41 years ago, my father and mother have long since passed away, the conference has expanded and I joined almost 10,000 registered attendees in San Diego.. Over my years at the conference I have created and maintained long-term sustainable relationships and learning how to be a better intellectual property profesional which is the goal… isn’t it? Without further adieu-
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If you can make it they can fake it.
Is that the definition of a paradox? The universe is expanding and so are counterfeit markets. Rumor has it that even INTA meeting ID cards have been counterfeited; how ironic is that? Real life is indeed stranger than fiction. Some people who’s profession is to protect intellectual property rights, infringe on the INTA’s intellectual property to enter a conference about intellectual property to maybe discuss how to stop intellectual property infringement. In China we call that “Rule by Law” not “Rule of Law”. Nice there are always some surprises at the event. -
Much like the American elections, this thing is
starting earlier and earlier
. There are so many pre-conference events that when I arrived for check in I felt like I had already missed half of it! -
Beware the dreaded
Shadow INTA
there are another 3,000 unregistered representatives lurking around the city. Just because the person staring at you from across the lobby doesn’t have a nametag doesn’t mean they don’t want your business… whatever that means. -
They say the best things in life are free, well I say
the best things at these meetings are unplanned.
The word of the game is serendipity- opportunities are everywhere, so just let them happen. While you’re waiting for someone to get out of the bathroom you might end up having your most genuine conversation with someone you wouldn’t have ordinarily sought out. -
A feeling unique to this crazy conference is
feeling lucky when the bar is closed
, yes I said CLOSED. With parties going until sometimes 2am and having to wake up everyday at 7am there is no room for the “how about another beer” situation, I lucked out this time when the bar had shut down, I can only wish the same for you. -
When it comes to programs on sessions on Asia, its like bringing water to the dessert
– there is never enough. There will assuredly be more at future conferences but the push to the east is undeniable. -
F. Scott Fitzgerald knew what he was talking about when he said,
“I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”
Don’t be afraid to talk to people because the best thing about these big parties is you have the freedom to walk away if you feel uncomfortable. -
Just because you don’t have a ribbon that says mentor doesn’t mean you can’t be helpful
, there was a man who I met who asked if I wouldn’t mind if he followed me around for the day. My family doesn’t even want to hear me talk so of course I said yes. As cheesy as it sounds these types of experiences remind me of “the joy of why you got involved.”
If I could conduct a conference and only have 8 lessons that I didn’t teach, I would consider it a huge success. I am continually impressed with the INTA’s remarkable planning as to the uploading of data to their portal, how did they know I would only be able to make it to only two sessions? I was glad to watch all of the material online once I got home.
I have lived away from my siblings and the USA for 28+ consecutive years, yet here it is 46 years later and back to Florida, the Sunshine State. When I include my Father and Grandfather, who was also an intellectual property lawyer, this will make it three generations of our family proudly participating in this organization for 94 years. And so it goes.
Most importantly, we would like to show our appreciation to the organization for the praise and accolades (whether or not we deserved it) LEHMAN, LEE & XU has received for our firm’s modest contribution as the first private mainland Chinese firms to develop China for the INTA organization itself with then Executive Director Alan Drewson and then President Kim Mueller of Shell (both long time family friends). I was in a unique position in mainland China as I was the first foreign lawyer to work at a Chinese law firm. Because of that, my longstanding role in the Chinese mainland media and our law firm’s unique standing in the development of intellectual property laws in China, we were tasked by Alan and Kim at the INTA to establish ties with the CTMO and Chinese regulatory authorities, recruit Chinese brand owners and foreign associates, and obtain an invitation by the Chinese government to have INTA officially open an office in Shanghai, China.
Each year INTA staff, Brand Owners, and leadership refer to me as the first foreign trademark lawyer in China, or the “father” of the China development within INTA. Or, a person who has helped shape Chinese trademark law and practice through my work with the Chinese Government, as a fellow at the China Academy of Social Sciences, and advise to the World Bank China office, providing guidance on interpretation, implementation of IP laws, and regulations. While I am grateful for these thoughtful words, frankly, it is mostly hyperbole, simplistic, and undeserved. The Chinese are the best lawyers, and the Chinese government and judiciary has helped shape intellectual property within China. The best days and opportunities for foreign and domestic lawyers in China are in front of us. We have a good firm, I like to think a great firm, but I am proud to report China has many dynamic outstanding intellectual property firms. My role in China has been largely due to hubris, stubbornness, coupled with being simply in the right place at the right time due to my exposure to Chinese language in high school starting in the same year I attended the INTA, 1974. I am like so many of my almost 10,000 colleagues at INTA, doing a job as a passionate trademark professional as best as can be expected. I have been flattered to have been drafted by the INTA leadership as China based member to serve in higher office within the INTA and take charge of various committees within the INTA. I have respectfully declined because I think it important that other China based attorneys, brand owners, and firms have the opportunities instead. The other firms in China are not my “competition” we are own competition. Our reward as a firm, my reward, is the China work keeping clients and associates happy, pushing the envelope among courts, administrators, and regulators, and a job well done. Last year for example our firm (Grace Wang and Yolanda Li) argued three of the top ten Seminole cases before the China Supreme Court.
It would seem that this conference has some full circle for me, I am excited to join everyone again next year in Orlando, but doubtful we would all “fit” in the same hotel that my teenage self and my father stayed in when we were there in 1974 (now maybe only the INTA staff could fit in that hotel). I am a little worried for the attire attendees might wear these days around the pool… because if there is one thing worse than seeing IP lawyers on the dance floor, it’s seeing them in casual dress (myself included).
See you all in Orlando. Please email me with any thoughts you might wish to share about the INTA San Diego or the upcoming INTA Orlando.
Yours truly,
Edward Lehman