Groups: CARE Senior Fellows
Gary Rinkerman earned an undergraduate degree from Rutgers University where he graduated summa cum laude with a custom degree that integrated science and liberal arts. He then attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, where he wrote an award-winning paper on US equivalents to European “moral rights” and also worked for an intellectual property (IP) law firm, where he performed litigation tasks, transaction work, and clearance opinion work. Upon graduation he took a position in the Petrochemical and Engineering Division of the General Law Department in E.I. du Pont de Nemoures & Co., Inc. in Wilmington, Delaware. He moved back to Washington, DC in the early 1980s and co-founded Computer Law Reporter, one of the earliest publications devoted exclusively to legal issues and developments concerning computer technology. Gary then became a Senior Investigative Attorney at the US International Trade Commission where he was the first chair litigator for the US Government in investigations under 19 USC §1337 concerning trade secrets, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and unfair competition. Among his cases were the series of semiconductor chip technology disputes that are now referred to as “The Chip Wars,” as well as a seminal case that involved copyright protection for object code.
Gary’s move to law firm practice gave rise to his dual role as intellectual property (IP) partner and lecturer. He has worked with Fortune Ten companies in IP litigation and internal IP management programs as well as in the creation and administration of IP generation and clearance systems, IP-related agreements, and IP training programs. His work has ranged from digital technologies to consumer products and apparel to content creation and licensing in the advertising and entertainment industries. For decades, Gary has been an in-demand IP lecturer, and he has taught at institutions such as Queen Mary University in London (where he is an Honorary Professor), ETH Zurich, EIPIN, New York University, and George Mason University. He has written original course materials and has published articles on, e.g., the development of US rights of publicity laws and disparate fair use principles and developments in the areas of visual arts and music. He has testified before the US Copyright Office on licensing practices. Among Gary’s latest projects are updating and creating new IP course materials and working on artificial intelligence (AI) projects, with a goal of identifying and protecting points of authorship and inventorship in AI-assisted creations. He is currently working on an article on IP and AI-assisted creations in language, music, and the visual arts, including “fine art” and cinema.
Gary is a member of the Boards of the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center in Florida.