Letter from the Editor-in-chief

• Citation: Vol. 39 No. 1
• Publication year: 2014
• Author: Thomas A. Ward

Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Thomas A. Ward

Arris

Welcome to the first edition of New Matter for 2014. The cover art signals changes to the publication that are intended to get your attention and emphasize that New Matter is an Intellectual Property (IP) publication featured by the State Bar IP Section. The compact fluorescent light bulb has graced the cover for years and this issue is our way of saying goodbye to the light bulb design. The light bulb shown in this issue is displayed as a tribute to Thomas Edison, a prolific inventor with hundreds of patents. The Edison patent shown as part of the front cover, issued when civil war veterans were just reaching age forty and less than a quarter of a million patents had been granted by the U.S. government. The light bulb remains the subject matter of patents today, millions of patents later. And, as the light bulb is phased out from the New Matter cover, so also will be the manufacture of the incandescent light bulb, championed by Edison, starting this year in the U.S.

Future New Matter covers will replace the light bulb with insignia from other areas of IP, including trademarks and copyrights as well as the possibility of submissions from other IP fields featured by the State Bar IP section including sports & entertainment, international, in-house, licensing, legislation, trade secrets and litigation. Look for the New Matter publication provided quarterly to members of the IP section. The publication will continue to provide articles keeping you up to date in the field of IP law, activities of Interest Groups of the IP section, and articles providing on-line MCLE.

This issue features seven articles covering all of the...