The Syracuse University College of Law Innovation Law Center (ILC) is once again partnering with the Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars at Syracuse University Libraries to hold office hours for innovators and inventors this academic year.
Law students will lend their technical expertise to SU innovators working to commercialize their ideas at bi-weekly office hours. Third year Syracuse University law students working with the LaunchPad this coming 2020 – 2021 academic year include: Viviana Bro, Kaitlyn Crobar, Nikkia Knudsen, Rickson Galvez, Sohela Suri and Sehseh Sanan. Hours for the 2020 – 2021 academic year are below:
Fall 2020:
- Wednesday, September 2: (3-5 p.m.) Nikkia Knudsen
- Thursday, September 17: (3-5 p.m.) Sohela Suri
- Wednesday, September 30: (3-5 p.m.) Kaitlyn Crobar
- Thursday, October 15: (3-5 p.m.) Sehseh Sanan
- Wednesday, October 28: (3-5 p.m.) Rickson Galvez
- Wednesday, November 11: (1-3 p.m.) Viviana Bro
Spring 2021:
- Thursday, January 28: (3-5 p.m.) Sohela Suri
- Wednesday, February 10: (3-5 p.m.) Nikkia Knudsen
- Thursday, February 25: (3-5 p.m.) Sehseh Sanan
- Wednesday, March 10: (3-5 p.m.) Kaitlyn Crobar
- Thursday, March 25: (3-5 p.m.) Rickson Galvez
- Wednesday, April 7: (1-3 p.m.) Viviana Bro
From market landscapes to intellectual property protection, to licensing options and potential funding sources, the ILC helps companies turn their technology into a commercial reality. While the ILC does not file for or prosecute patents, and does not provide legal advice or opinions, the LaunchPad can refer inventors and entrepreneurs to IP law firms to implement patent, trademark, copyright filings, licensing agreements and other legal work.
In the past two years, the partnership between the ILC and the LaunchPad helped Syracuse University students produce solid patent research and landscape reports that positioned them for winnings in campus, state and national business plan competitions. Additionally, working collaboratively with programs such as Invent@SU, students were able to complete patent searches that helped them file more than 60 provisional patents, and go on to work with outside counsel to turn seven of them into non-provisional patent applications. The Innovation Law Center helped Syracuse startups with four aspects of developing a comprehensive landscape: IP, competition, market and regulatory environment. Notable Syracuse University ventures who directly benefitted from this were In-Spire, MedUX and SugEx, as well as many other student inventors.
Many inventors and entrepreneurs aren’t aware of the myriad legal and regulatory challenges their business or technology is facing. The ILC (and the New York State Science and Technology Law Center which it oversees) utilizes the experience and expertise of faculty and law students to analyze legal, regulatory, and market issues relating to commercializing new technologies. Research is compiled into proprietary reports to help clients identify potential challenges such as protecting intellectual property and devise effective strategies to bring emerging technologies to market. ILC students have completed hundreds of research projects on real technologies on behalf of universities, federal research laboratories, technology development organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurs.
The ILC is the first program of its kind in the country to provide law students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams to provide intellectual property, market, and regulatory research to clients commercializing new technologies. It is considered a leader in providing informed IP, market, and regulatory research to startups, established companies, and tech transfer offices that are fostering innovation economy jobs.
To schedule an appointment with the ILC team, e-mail LaunchPad@syr.edu. Reservations are highly suggested to plan for individual time. Appointments during the pandemic will be by video conferencing.
