Today we welcome a guest post by Meredith Williams, a member of the University of Georgia School of Law Class of 2024. Meredith is one of several UGA Law students to participate in a semester-long international externship, a pilot extension of our existing Global Externships Overseas initiative. This pilot is a joint initiative between the Dean Rusk International Law Center and the law school’s Clinical and Experiential Program. Meredith’s post describes her experience attending an international convention as part of her externship.
I am spending the fall semester of my 3L year working as a legal extern with Weickmann, an intellectual property law firm located in Munich, Germany. I work under Dr. Udo W. Herberth (LL.M., ’96), who heads the firm’s brands and designs group.
A highlight of my global externship thus far has been attending the second annual Bavarian International Trademark Association (“BITMA”) convention, which Dr. Herberth founded. The conference took place over two days, during which I met trademark and patent attorneys from fourteen different countries. On the first day, attorneys from each country presented on the topics of 1) use and 2) jurisdiction.
My externship and this conference in particular have crystalized for me how intellectual property is an increasingly international area of law. Many clients and companies wish to register, maintain, and prevent infringement of their trademarks in more than one country; yet, there are nuanced and important distinctions between different jurisdictions’ requirements and timelines. In a field of law where adding value to a brand is crucial, it is important to be aware of these differences and stay on top of deadlines.
I enjoyed learning from the diverse group of individuals at the BITMA conference. For example, a topic I found compelling was the question of translation of trademark languages. In Canada, the Quebec charter regarding French language has been amended. Attorneys at the conference suggested this will have an impact on trademarks because the French portion of the mark must be twice the size, yet the entire trademark need not be translated. For example, in Quebec, an Apple store could display a large “Le Magasin” before “Apple,” and not have to translate “Apple” into “Pomme.” Further, in Japan, there are four different scripts, which create even more nuance to registering a word mark. These evaluations go into much more detail than we had time to cover during the conference, but it has piqued my interest as something I had never thought about living in the English-dominant US.
Another aspect of the BITMA conference that I enjoyed was the balance between personal and professional. The group of 25 of us shared many meals, watched the traditional Bavarian parade for the opening weekend of Oktoberfest, and eventually made our way to the festivities. While the substantive knowledge I acquired from this group is important, I also learned a lot from interacting with everyone on a personal level. Dr. Herberth fostered a warm and supportive atmosphere throughout the convention. This type of collegial experience served as a reminder that there is value in getting to know colleagues as people outside of work. The BITMA group treated me as an equal and were interested in my path and life. It reminded me that I want to lend a helping hand to law students and those in the early stages of their careers as I progress through mine.
I look forward to the second half of my semester working at Weickmann. I thank UGA Law for leaving such a lasting, positive impression on Dr. Herberth; it is for this reason that he was incentivized to provide educational experiences for UGA Law students like myself, and it is also why I know that I, too, want to provide this type of experience to a UGA Law student one day.