Maryland Intellectual Property Legal Resource Center Moves to UM

Legal Services Provider to be Headquartered in Mtech's TAP Incubator

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Maryland
Intellectual Property Legal Resource Center (MIPLRC), which offers free legal
services on intellectual property and related matters to entrepreneurs and
emerging technology companies and explores relevant legal, ethical and policy
issues in the high technology and intellectual property areas, is moving to
the University of Maryland, College Park on September 1, university officials
announce today.

The center, a joint initiative of the University of Maryland School of Law,
the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, and now the
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech), will be headquartered at the
Technology Advancement Program (TAP) incubator, the state's first business
incubator established in 1985.

MIPLRC's legal services will be available at no charge to university faculty
and students, as well as to regional entrepreneurs and startup companies.

"One of the most common obstacles confronting entrepreneurs is an inability to
properly protect their intellectual property and legal rights due to lack of
knowledge or lack of funds," says Patricia Campbell, Law School Associate
Professor and MIPLRC Director. "MIPLRC helps to eliminate those obstacles, and
relocating to TAP will bring the center's valuable services directly to the
vibrant community of technology entrepreneurs at the University of Maryland."

"A comprehensive and affordable offering of legal expertise and services is
every bit as important to creating great new university ventures as unique
technology, business mentoring, and seed funding," says Dean Chang, Director
of Mtech's venture and education programs and Director of TAP. "The MIPLRC is
an ideal legal entree for any University of Maryland entrepreneur just
starting a company on a limited budget, and the center perfectly complements
and can naturally transition these entrepreneurs when they are ready for the
practices of seasoned attorneys at Mtech's partner law firms like Fish &
Richardson P.C. and Nixon Peabody LLP."

University of Maryland School of Law students provide the center's legal
services, working under the supervision of experienced faculty members and
other practitioners. Types of services routinely provided include:
-- General counseling on all areas of intellectual property law,
including
patents, trade secrets, copyrights, and trademarks and service marks.
Students provide advice and education on issues such as the
requirements
for obtaining a patent; preparation of detailed invention disclosures;
requirements for trademark and copyright registration; maintenance of
trade secrets; keeping a laboratory notebook; domain name
registration;
impact of public disclosures; and obtaining foreign patent protection.
-- Assisting in the preparation, filing and prosecution of trademark and
service mark applications.
-- Assisting in the preparation and filing of copyright registrations.
-- Undertaking limited patent and prior art searches.
-- Assistance in the preparation of various agreements, such as
nondisclosure agreements, employment and consulting agreements, and
licenses.

-- Providing basic counseling on business entity selection and formation.

The center was created in 2002 to educate law students, entrepreneurs, and the
community about the legal aspects of intellectual property. It was previously
located at the Maryland Technology Development Center in Rockville, Md.

MIPLRC also offers academic courses for credit to law students and presents
workshops and lectures on intellectual property issues of interest to start-up
companies.

For more information on the center, visit: http://www.miplrc.org/.

About Mtech's Technology Advancement Program (TAP) (www.tap.umd.edu)
For over 20 years, TAP has helped entrepreneurs build some of the most
successful technology companies in the mid-Atlantic region. TAP's staff is
comprised of seasoned veterans of startups and venture capital firms who
provide business advice and support, market intelligence, introductions,
access to funding and other critical assistance that can accelerate the growth
of technology ventures. TAP offers furnished offices and flexible lab space as
well as a multitude of other benefits and services that can only be found at a
technology business incubator situated right on the campus of one of the
nation's top public universities, the University of Maryland. TAP was the
first technology business incubator in the state of Maryland and is the
birthplace of two of Maryland's billion dollar companies: Gaithersburg-based
Digene Corporation (now part of Qiagen) and Columbia-based Martek Biosciences.

About the Mtech (www.mtech.umd.edu)
The mission of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) is
tri-fold: educate the next generation of technology entrepreneurs; help
entrepreneurs create successful technology-based ventures; and connect
Maryland companies with university resources to help them succeed. Founded in
1983, Mtech has had a $19.6 billion cumulative impact on the Maryland economy
through its programs. Mtech is a unit of the A. James Clark School of
Engineering at the University of Maryland.

SOURCE University of Maryland, College Park

Eric Schurr of University of Maryland, +1-301-405-3889, schurr@umd.edu