Virtually every technology company has a patent portfolio. Whether they’re in the news for suing another company for patent infringement, being sued themselves (often by “patent trolls”), or selling their patent portfolio for billions of dollars, patents and technology are inextricably linked. Why is this the case, and what is a patent, anyway? If patents are so important to these companies, what should I know about patents prior to getting a job in computers? Does my CS or EE degree qualify me to get a job in the patent field? Come find out the answers to these questions, and ask your own. Stephen Shaw, who received a CS degree ‘03 and also has a law degree ‘97 from USC will present a colloquium Tuesday September 13 @5:45-6:45 in SWGN 2A31. Stephen currently lives in San Francisco and is working for a large firm there. This will be sponsored by the Software Engineering SIG of our student ACM chapter.