Constitution of the Association
The Cincinnati Intellectual Property Law Association
CONSTITUTION
Article I: Name*
The Association shall be called “The Cincinnati Intellectual Property Law Association.”
Article II: Object*
The Association is established for such purposes permitted an organization exempt from• federal income tax under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended, including the maintenance of the honor and dignity of the profession of the law of patents, trademarks and copyrights; the promotion of the development and administration thereof; and the cultivation of the exchange of ideas and information among the members of the Association.
Article III: Members
Section 1. Membership. There shall be three classes of membership in the Association—Honorary, Active and Associate.
Section 2. Honorary Members. All judges of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the United States District Courts for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, and the Eastern District of Kentucky, subject to their acceptance, and any other distinguished person who shall be elected from time to time, may be Honorary Members of the Association, and shall be entitled to all privileges, except that of voting, and shall be exempt from payment of dues.
Section 3. Active Members. Any lawyer admitted to the bar in any state or the United States or the District of Columbia engaged wholly or partly in the practice of patent, trademark or copyright law, or registered patent attorney or agent entitled to represent applicants before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, of good character, dwelling for at least three months of the year, or having his only or principal office in the Sixth Judicial Circuit as now or hereafter fixed by law, or within one hundred and fifty miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, shall be eligible for election to active membership.
Section 4. Associate Members. Any person not eligible to admission as an Active Member who is wholly or partially engaged in the practice or patent, trademark or copyright law or interested in any phase of such practice, and of good character, shall be eligible for election to Associate membership. Associate Members shall have the powers and privileges of Active Members except that of voting and those expressly limited to Active Members.
Section 5. Admission of Members. No person shall hereafter be admitted to Active or Associate Membership of the Association unless he has been recommended by the Committee on Admissions and elected by a majority vote of the members of the Association then voting and has qualified by payment of dues.
Section 6. Transfer of Members. Whenever any Associate Member becomes eligible for Active Membership, the facts rendering him so eligible shall be made known to the Secretary and Treasurer and said Associate Member shall thereupon become an Active Member upon payment of the difference between the then required admission fee for Active Membership and any admission fee he may theretofore have paid to the Association. Whenever any Active Member shall change his office lodging or dwelling in such a way as to make him ineligible for Active Membership, he may be transferred by the Treasurer to the Associate Membership list.
Article IV***
The officers of this Association shall be a President, a Vice President, a Secretary and a Treasurer. A Board shall also be elected from other members of the Association. The Board and officers shall serve from the date of their election until their successors are elected. The President, Vice President, the Secretary and the Treasurer shall hold office for one year. The terms of service for the shall, at the first election, be chosen to hold office for periods of one, two and three years, but thereafter for a period of three years
.
Article V
The Board of Managers shall manage the affairs of the Association subject to the Constitution and may authorize the payment of the necessary operating expenses of the Association. All appropriations of funds of the Association must be made by this Board.
Article VI: Standing Committees ***
Committees of the Association shall be appointed by the President. Chairs of said committees shall hold office for one year.
Article VII: Meetings of the Association
Section 1. The annual meeting of the Association shall generally be held in January of each year beginning with the year 1950. Other stated meetings of the Association may be held from time to time on the call of the President or Secretary or of any three members of the Board of Managers or of any ten Active Members of the Association. ***
Section 2. Meetings of the Board of Managers shall be held (1) immediately after the annual meeting of the Association, and (2) thereafter upon the call of the President or the Secretary or any three members of the Board.
Section 3. At any meeting of the Association twelve Active Members shall constitute a quorum.
Article VIII: Annual Dues**
The annual dues of Active and Associate Members shall be fixed by the Board and Officers.
Article IX: Suspensions and Expulsions
Any member may be suspended or expelled from this Association upon the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the membership.
Article X: Elections
All elections shall be by ballot and a plurality of votes shall be required for election. The officers selected shall enter upon their duties immediately upon their election. In case of a vacancy in any office, it shall be filled by appointment of the Board of Managers until the next annual meeting except in the case of a vacancy occurring in the office of President, which shall be filled by the Association at a meeting called for that purpose by the Board of Managers promptly after the vacancy occurs.
Article XI: Property
All interest in the property in the Association held by persons resigning or otherwise ceasing to be members shall vest in the Association.
Article XII: Dissolution*
In the event of dissolution, the assets of the Association are to be distributed as follows:
a) pay, or adequately provide for, all indebtedness of the Association, including the expenses of liquidation and all unfunded liabilities, and provide for the return, transfer, or conveyance of assets held upon condition requiring such, if such condition shall have occurred; and
b) the balance shall be used and expended until exhausted to carry out the objectives of the Association as set forth in Article II of these Regulations.
Article XIII: Amendment
The Constitution may be amended, but only by a two-thirds vote of the members present at an annual meeting of the Association, or at a stated meeting called in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution after notice mailed ten days before the meeting to each Active Member of the Association, such notice to contain a copy of the proposed amendment with a precise statement of the purpose thereof.
*as amended 11/30/89
**as amended 01/20/81
*** as amended 5/18/2007
CinLibrary 1716850v1