Two of the hottest topics in U.S. intellectual property law involve efforts to curb “patent trolls” and cyber-based trade secret theft. A legislative solution to the “patent troll” problem has eluded the U.S. Congress due to the difficulty of drafting meaningful legislation that targets trolls but does not harm universities, small inventors and other legitimate patent holders. In the absence of legislation, patent reform is now happening in the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Patent Office and at the state level. At the same time, the problem of economic espionage has exploded on the public scene. American efforts to curb Chinese trade secret theft – including the unprecedented indictment of five Chinese military officials under the U.S. Economic Espionage Act – is hampered by accusations of America’s own cyber snooping made public by Edward Snowden. This seminar will explain, analyze and discuss these important developments from both academic and practical perspectives. The event has been co-organized by the Centre for Information and Innovation Law (CIIR) and the Centre for Enterprise Liability (CEVIA) at the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with Plesner.