Section History

I. Committee No. 34

Thirty years ago there were about 30 patent, trademark and copyright attorneys practicing in Oklahoma. Corporations such as Phillips, Conoco, Amoco, Halliburton and Kerr-McGee employed most of them. A few were in private practice in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The majority of the patent attorneys were members of the Oklahoma Bar Association, but the Bar Association had no section, division or other part that had any special interest in the patent law or its practitioners.

In 1964 a few of the Oklahoma patent attorneys, led principally by Jerry Dunlap, went to the Oklahoma Bar Association and attempted to convince the administrators of the bar association that it should have a section that those attorneys interested in patent, trademark and copyright law and developments could join and become active in. The bar apparently was skeptical that there would be enough interest, by agreed to allow a committee to be formed which could be joined by members of the bar, and if the committee was successful, the bar would entertain converting it at some point in time to a section. Thus, a committee on patents officially designated as Committee No. 34 was created in 1964.

The patent attorneys who were involved in the forming of the Committee on Patents and who were its first members were:

Jerry Dunlap and Bill Laney, both of whom were in private practice in OklahomaCity; Bill Miller and Henry Huth of Conoco in Ponca City; Dr. Paul Hawley of Amoco in Tulsa; and Jim Head and Paul Johnson, of Head and Johnson in Tulsa.

The Committee on Patents existed for seven years. It met each year at the same time that the Bar Association held its annual meeting and had speakers on various subjects relating to the patent, trademark and copyright law and developments therein.

Jerry Dunlap was the committee's first chairman and continued as its chairman during the years 1965-1970. The bar association records show that Jerry Dunlap was singularly very active in the committee in that he was not only chairman, but he gave a numbers of talks at the meetings and did many other things to promote the committee and convince the bar association that it should bestow full "sections" status on the committee.

In 1971 Bill Dorman took over as Chairman of the Committee on Patents, and Jerry Dunlap continued his activities as Vice-Chairman. The aims and the objectives of the committee at that time, as printed in the 1971 Handbook Issue of the Oklahoma Bar Journal, were:

1. To establish a Patent Law Section of the Oklahoma Bar Association for maintaining the honor and dignity of the profession of the law of patents, trademarks and copyrights;

2. To promote the development of the administration of the section:

3. To disseminate information for the promotion of science and the useful arts to the public at large for maintaining good public relations; and

4. To enhance the knowledge, improve the professional status and cultivate social activities among the members of the Patent Section.

II. The PTC Section

In October 1972 the aim of establishing a section was realized and the Committee on Patents was elevated to a full section of the Oklahoma Bar Association named the Patent, Trademark and Copyright Section.

Bill Dorman was the section's first President in1973, and at that time the Section had 38 members. The section continued to meet one per year at the same time as the bar association annual meeting.

The spring meting and continuing education seminar was started at Shangri-La on Grand Lake in 1975 and that meeting has continued ever since.

The section adopted the Inventor of the Year Award in 1976, and the first such award was given. The recipient of the award in 1976 was J. Paul Hogan of Phillips, who had a large number of patents in the area of high-density polyethylene.

At the end of 1999, the name of the section was changed to "The Intellectual Property Law Section of the Oklahoma Bar Association."

III. Present Membership and Activities

At the present time, the Intellectual Property Law Section has more than 140 members, and every year the section has a two-day mid-year meeting at Shangri-La during which seminars relating to developments in intellectual property law and related matters are presented. At its last mid-year meeting in June, the section had more than 150 members and guests in attendance.

The section also has an annual year-end meeting in association with the Oklahoma Bar Association meeting where the Inventor of the Year award is given. The section also has a speaker at the year-end meeting and the officers for the next year are elected.