Susan Farley is a registered patent attorney whose practice is heavily focused on patent, trademark and copyright legal issues involving design commercialization. She represents a wide range of businesses whose products are in demand largely because of their design aesthetics. As lead trial counsel in a number of landmark trade dress and patent cases, she has also been instrumental in several precedent setting Federal Appeals Court decisions. As a result, she co-authored an Amicus Brief on behalf of a group of design-oriented businesses at the United States Supreme Court. As a former adjunct law professor, Ms. Farley is frequently asked to lecture on the application of patent, trademark and copyright laws to product protection issues. She is a consulting legal advisor to the Foundation for Design Integrity, a non-profit organization of design industry professionals whose principle goal is to educate the industry on the importance of protecting, rewarding, and encouraging the creation of designs. Ms. Farley graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Union College with a B.S. in Chemistry, and cum laude from Albany Law School. As a former business attorney, she continues to advise companies and lenders on how to purchase, transfer, license and secure intellectual property as collateral. Fluent in German. Admitted in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and several federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Member: International Trademark Association; N.Y.S. Bar Association (Trademark Law Committee); Legal Advisor to the Foundation for Design Integrity; Board of Trustees of Albany Law School (1984-86); Adjunct Professor of Law, Union College (1986-88); Adjunct Professor of Law, SUNY-Albany (1986-1988); Chairman of Board, Junior Achievement of Capital District, Inc. (1999-2003); Board of Directors Junior League of Schenectady (1989-1994); Board of Directors Law, Order & Justice Society (1988-1990); Albany – H.E.L.P. for the Homeless (1988); Idlewild Housing for The Elderly (1987-1989); Chairman of Battered Woman’s Shelter – YMCA of Schenectady (1988); Board of Directors Northeast Parent & Child Society (1990-1992).

Publications: Author:  Guarding Against Knock Offs: Protecting Your Blood, Sweat and Design, ASID- ICON Magazine (Spring 2005); Trademark Law Quick Reference Practice Tips, New York State Bar Association (2001); Protection of Designs, Foundation for Design Integrity (1997); Protection of Product Configuration Using Copyright Laws, New York State Bar Association (1996); Pitfalls of Practice, Intellectual Property Law, Chapter 13, New York State Bar Association Guide for Young Lawyers (1994); Introduction to Trademark Law, Bright Ideas, New York State Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section Newsletter (1992); Primer on Intellectual Property Law, New York State Bar Association Pitfalls of Practice (1991). Co-Author: New York State Bar Association Bright Ideas, The Road to Trade Dress Protection for Product Configuration: Not a Dead End Despite TrafFix and the Functionality Roadblocks (2004); Presenting the Trade Secret Owner s Case, Trade Secrets, Practicing Law Institute. Quoted in: Los Angeles Times, The Great Pretenders (June 2004); New York Times, Showroom Guilty in Counterfeiting Case (May 2004); The Law and Product Protection – Hearth and Home (May 2003); Knock Offs – Laying Down the Law, In Furniture Magazine (September 2002); Getting Burned By a Knock Off, Home Furniture Magazine (1998); Designers Want Copycats to Knock it Off, Wall Street Journal (1997); and San Francisco Examiner, To Catch a Design Thief (March 1996).

Lecturer:

International Trademark Association 2005 Annual Meeting San Diego, CA; Mock Jury Trial Lead Counsel: Tiger Woods Trademark Infringement Mock Case - Runaway Jury Presentation (May 2005)

NeoCon World’s Trade Fair ‘05 (June 2005), Promoting Original Design: An Intellectual Property Primer

New York State Bar Association (October 2004), Program Chair, Bridging the Gap - Intellectual Property Law

NEWH Presentation (February 19, 2004), Promoting Original Design

HD2003-Expo & Conference: Defining Hospitality Design (May 2003), Promoting Original Design: An Intellectual Property Law Primer

NeoCon World’s Trade Fair ’02-Chicago (June 2002), Protection against Knock- Offs

Smithsonian Institute: Cooper Hewitt Conference on Authenticity (April 2002), Standards of Authenticity

New York State Bar Association (October 2001), The TrafFix Debate

New York State Bar Association (September 2001), Bridging the Gap - Intellectual Property Law and the Internet

Lightfair 2001 (June 2001), Liability For Designers: Lighting and Law

San Francisco Design Week (January 2001), Intellectual Property Law in the Design Industry

New York Design Week (October 2000), Intellectual Property Law in the Design Industry

Neocon –West (March 2000), Intellectual Property protection in the Design Industry

Neocon 1999-Chicago (June 1999), Intellectual Property Law in the Design Industry

International Trademark Association (April, 1999), U.S. Roundtable Program-Product Configurations and Packaging

New York State Bar Association (February 1997), Trade Dress Litigation Update

New York State Bar Association-IP section (January, 1996), Protection of Product Configuration Using Copyright Laws

Foundation for Design Integrity (Fall 1996), "Don't Knock It Off"

Affiliations:  Foundation for Design Integrity: www.ffdi.org