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CHICAGO – Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the United States, today announced that James R. Sobieraj, chair of the firm’s Litigation Group, Vice President of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago and past president of the Licensing Executives Society (USA and Canada), was a member of the nominating panel of 18 internationally known IP experts chosen to select the first honorees inducted into the newly established Intellectual Property Hall of Fame. Twenty-three luminaries, past and present, from across the globe were installed into the IP Hall of Fame at an inaugural dinner held recently in London.

"It was an honor to be a member of the nominating panel," said Mr. Sobieraj. "The founders of the Hall of Fame deserve a lot of credit. The stature, diversity and achievements of the initial inductees demonstrate that the IP Hall of Fame was well conceived and administered."

Founded by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine, in association with Computer Patent Annuities Limited Partnership (CPA), an IP management specialist, the IP Hall of Fame was created to recognize the significance of intellectual property as “one of the most important assets an organization owns in the 21st century,” said IAM editor, Joff Wild, and to celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of those contributors to the field of IP law and practice.

"When setting up the panel for the IP Hall of Fame, we only approached acknowledged leaders in IP to take part, as this was the best way to ensure the credibility and quality of the final list of inductees. For this reason, we were delighted when Jim agreed to join up."

According to information provided by the IP Hall of Fame, the initial inductees include:

• Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, who was the author of the first US patent law and was the first director of the U.S. Patent Office.
• James Madison, the fourth President, who is credited with including the Patent and Copyright Clause in the U.S. Constitution.
• Korekiyo Takahashi, who was the first commissioner of the Japanese Patent Office, later became the Prime Minister of Japan, and in 1885, instituted Japan’s first patent system.
• France’s great author, Victor Hugo, who was the Honorary President and founder of the Association Litteraire et Artistique Internationale and the foremost promoter of the Berne Convention on Copyright, which still protects the rights of authors and other copyright owners in over 150 countries.
• Judges Giles Rich and Howard Markey, who served on the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The IP Hall of Fame is an on-going initiative. A new set of inductees will be announced next year, by which time an on-line Hall of Fame museum will also have been established.

For additional information, please contact Jim Sobieraj at jsobieraj@brinkshofer.com or Joff Wild, Editor, IAM magazine at jwild@iam-magazine.com.

Founded in 1917, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione is based in Chicago with three other offices across the country and serves the intellectual property needs of clients from around the world. The firm is one of the largest IP law firms in the country, with more than 150 attorneys, scientific advisors and patent agents who specialize in all aspects of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and unfair competition, licensing agreements, technology, nanotechnology and bio-pharma work, intellectual asset management and intellectual property litigation.