The presentation will provide an overview of intellectual property and include topics, such as, types, ownership, protection, management, enforcement, and commercialization.  Intellectual property is intangible property derived from mental work. Principal types of intellectual property include patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights which can be protected, enforced and commercialized based on federal and state laws in the United States. In general, patents relate to new and useful inventions; trademarks relate to any word/symbol used to identify a source of goods or services; trade secrets relate to confidential information that provides a competitive advantage; and copyrights relate to original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium. 

Tom Basso is currently a partner in the Intellectual Property Department of K&L Gates LLP in Chicago. He is a US registered patent attorney with a practice focus in providing counsel relating to strategy development and implementation to secure, protect and commercialize patent rights in an ever-changing competitive landscape. His practice experience relates to a number of technology areas including patent counseling for global tech companies based in Japan in the consumer electronics market. Tom has a B.A. from Albion College, a M.S. in chemical engineering from Northwestern University, and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.