Scholar
Professor Lolita Darden is a C-IP2 Scholar. As a registered patent attorney, Professor Darden’s scholarship focuses on the protection and preservation of intellectual property rights for creators and inventors, particularly those who are under resourced. More specifically, Professor Darden is interested in researching questions surrounding the constitutional impact of the recent changes in US intellectual property laws and exploring concepts regarding access and equity in the protection and maintenance of IP rights.
Professor Darden is a Visiting Associate Clinical Professor at George Washington University Law and Director of the new Intellectual Property and Technology Clinic. The Clinic’s primary focus is on patent and trademark application filing and prosecution, as well as appeals to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. The Clinic also represents clients before the Copyright Claims Board.
Prior to joining the GW community, Professor Darden was an Associate Clinical Professor (with tenure) at Suffolk University Law School. She was also a lecturer of law, teaching intellectual property courses such as intellectual property survey, trademark law and practice, trademark law, and patent law. Professor Darden was also the Director of Suffolk Law School’s Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Clinic (“IPEC”), a multi-disciplinary clinic providing pro bono counseling and legal services for new and emerging businesses.
Prior to joining Suffolk, Professor Darden was a partner at Sachnoff & Weaver, Ltd. (Chicago) and manager of the Firm’s patent prosecution group. She counseled emerging technology businesses on all aspects of IP protection, including rights in patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Professor Darden also served as Chief IP Counsel for Duracraft Corporation, where she worked closely with marketing and product development teams and managed all IP litigation and IP protection programs. During her career, Professor Darden has had the opportunity to participate in several precedent setting patent and trademark cases, including Atlantic Thermoplastics v. Faytex Corp.(precedential ruling regarding product-by-process claim interpretation), Micron Separations, Inc. v. Pall Corporation — the companion case to Markman v. Westview Instruments (precedential case setting claim construction as a question of law), and Curtin v. United Trademark Holdings (trademark opposition finding consumer standing to oppose registration).
In 2019, Professor Darden was selected to participate in the Thomas Edison Innovation Fellowship Program sponsored by the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School. Professor Darden’s participation in the Edison Fellowship resulted in the completion of her paper, Overlapping and Sequential Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Rights: A Case for Overruling the Per Se Bar, which has been selected by Thomson Reuters (West) as one of the best IP articles of 2021.