Wisconsin Law Review’s 2026 Symposium

Summary

On October 23rd, 2026, the Wisconsin Law Review will host its annual symposium. This year’s symposium, titled “The Politics of Intellectual Property, Technology, and Innovation,” is co-chaired by Professors BJ Ard, Paul Connell, Ben Sobel, and Jason Reinecke. The symposium will bring together recognized legal scholars from across the nation to explore the rapidly shifting political and legal landscape governing intellectual property.

IP law was once viewed as a domain of technocratic expertise, imbued with its own distinct politics that stood apart from the wild swings of partisan politics. That era has ended. Today, IP and innovation policy exemplify a fundamental realignment in American governance. From the use of administrative agencies as instruments of executive power to the “MAHA”-driven disruption of pharmaceutical industries, the legal structures governing innovation are being redesigned through shifting political economies and populist grandstanding.

This symposium, “The Politics of Intellectual Property, Technology, and Innovation,” examines this emerging landscape. It will bring together leading scholars and practitioners to explore how the traditional balance of public and private interests in innovation is buckling under the weight of the AI revolution, executive pressure, and a global race for technological supremacy. Through panel discussions ranging from the politicization of the Copyright Office and USPTO to the institutional design of the judiciary, we will seek to map the new political economy of innovation and chart a path toward realigning our legal institutions in service of promoting innovation.

 Panel discussions will focus on the political economy of IP in the AI age, IP administration as a political weapon in the context of ongoing developments in the Copyright Office and the USPTO, pharmaceutical innovation in the MAHA era, and international technology and innovation policy. Georgetown University’s Professor Madhavi Sunder will give the keynote address.

For donation opportunities and any questions regarding the 2026 Symposium, please contact our Symposium Editors, Morgan Gnam & Annalisa Bell, at wlrsymposium@law.wisc.edu.