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CHICAGO - The intellectual property law firm Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione and the University of Chicago have teamed to share their expertise during a half-day symposium entitled, "Innovation @ the Speed of E-Commerce." This program will explore how e-commerce and high-tech business executives and other industry players can maximize the opportunities that e-business and innovation provide, while creating winning intellectual property strategies. The symposium is September 7, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center.

Four speakers will discuss e-business and legal issues throughout the morning, followed by a luncheon address entitled "Strategy in the Internet Economy" presented by keynote speaker, Austan D. Goolsbee, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Speakers include Mark Zmijewski, the Leon Carroll Marshall Professor of Accounting at the University's Graduate School of Business who also serves as deputy dean for full-time MBA graduate students and Michael Krauss, partner and chief marketing officer of Diamond Technology Partners and a former member of the faculty at the University's Graduate School of Business. They will discuss setting the framework of the four stages of e-business growth: concept, seed, product development and market development.

Additional speakers include Brinks, James R. Sobieraj and Jeffrey A. Handelman, who will discuss key IP issues, present several case studies and recommend actions to create winning strategies in a panel session that allows audience interaction.

"This symposium allows us to superimpose strategic intellectual property methods on top of business models, in one approach," said Sobieraj. "We're merging these two aspects in a way that creates more value for e-commerce companies, and so far, response has been overwhelming." Sobieraj is a patent attorney at Brinks who obtains, defends and enforces IP rights relating to web sites for high-tech and e-commerce clients.

"We will be able to show how businesses can use their intellectual property to strengthen their competitive position and maximize their e-commerce opportunities," noted Handelman, who co-chairs Brinks' Internet Group and counsels clients on a wide range of Internet-related matters, including web-site oriented trademark and trade dress infringement, unfair competition and copyright infringement.

Founded in 1917, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione is based in Chicago, with offices in San Jose, Calif., Indianapolis, Ind., Ann Arbor, Mich. and Arlington, Va. Brinks Hofer was voted the Best Intellectual Property Law firm in the Central U.S. for the fourth year in a row by Managing Intellectual Property Magazine, which also named the firm first in both patent and trademark litigation in 1999. The firm is one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the country, with more than 100 attorneys who specialize in intellectual property litigation and all aspects of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret work, unfair competition and technology and licensing agreements.