A Look Ahead to Boston
The 2018 Annual Meeting in Seattle may only just be coming to an end, but preparations for next year’s installment have been underway since the end of 2017.
Co-chairing the 2019 Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, are Cynthia Walden, a Principal at Fish & Richardson P.C. (USA), and Ronald van Tuijl, Intellectual Property Director, Trademarks, at JT International S.A. (Switzerland), who served as 2016 INTA President. “Every day there is a flurry of activity,” says Ms. Walden.
Ms. Walden says the planning process for the Annual Meeting, which will be held at the Boston Convention Center May 18-22, 2019, kicked off with a brainstorming session. The participants, who included INTA President-Elect David Lossignol, Head of Trademarks at Sandoz International GmbH (Germany), and INTA staff members, considered how the 141st Annual Meeting could align with issues relevant to the Boston area.
These ideas are still being finalized, but one is technology, given the big tech startup scene in Boston, as well as innovative ideas coming out of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sessions on artificial intelligence and robotics may be included in the program, she says.
Even though these technologies may be traditionally associated more with patents than trademarks, branding issues still affect companies in these fields, and some “traditional” industries, such as publishing, increasingly have an online element, says Ms. Walden.
She adds that the city is known for being strong in health care and medical research, so this could be a second focus of the Annual Meeting.
Another potential theme is sporting events, since the area is rich in sporting talent, boasting teams such as the Boston Red Sox (baseball), Boston Celtics (basketball), and New England Patriots (American football).
A small team of group leaders has been working on the main programming: Conference Programming (previously known as U.S. and International Programming), Regional Updates—with hot topics from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East—and Industry Breakouts. There will also be about 200 Table Topics.
While planning the program has kept the Co-Chairs busy, Ms. Walden says it’s great to see so many INTA members from around the world offering their ideas and support.
