A Pittsburgh Intellectual Property Hall of Fame

This is one Pittsburgh-based law professor‘s effort to document the best, most influential, and/or most entertaining and provocative forms of Pittsburgh-focused intellectual property — copyright-protected works of authorship; patented inventions; trademarks and service marks; and trade secrets and confidential information — of the last 100-plus years.

This so-called “Hall of Fame” includes forms of IP developed and used by Pittsburgh-oriented developers (inventors, creators), businesses and other enterprises; forms of IP at the center of Pittsburgh-themed conflicts and disputes; and forms of Pittsburgh-based IP that have played important roles in law, public policy, business, and culture beyond Pittsburgh.

Items, people, and companies are included or omitted based entirely on one person’s judgment (mine), based on 20 years of living and working in Pittsburgh, 30 years of working in and studying intellectual property law, and more than 50 years of cultivating idiosyncratic tastes.

Copyrights: “Works of authorship” are illustrated by an image of Ahmad Jamal, a Pittsburgh jazz legend and creator of the “Pittsburgh” album, released in 1989

Trademarks: Distinctive marks are illustrated by an image of the product bearing a famous Pittsburgh trademark, the “Terrible Towel” design

Patents: Inventions are illustrated by an image from one of the most important inventions patented by a Pittsburgh company, the Westinghouse air brake

Trade Secrets: Confidential information is illustrated by an image of the most famous non-secret secret of them all [Image by Bradley Tinney]

Landmarks: Key moments in Pittsburgh IP History are illustrated by Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning, as decorated for the 2008 “Festival of Lights” [Image by Brian Siewiorek]

First posted: 26 May 2020