Patent Masters™ Faculty

The Patent Masters™ Symposium is a high-level, interactive, limited enrollment seminar for attorneys and executives interested in an in-depth exploration of topical legal issues facing those that prosecute, litigate, license and monetize patents. Discussions are led by top thought leaders in the industry and will cover what is happening in the Courts, on Capitol Hill, and at the USPTO.

Below are the Patent Masters™ faculty. Not all members of the Patent Masters™ faculty will be present for each symposium, so please check the Program Agenda and registration page prior to registration if faculty will influence your decision to attend.

The Patent Masters Symposium will feature several distinguished faculty members from within the intellectual property community.  The current pool of Patent Masters Faculty who have or will be at an upcoming symposium is as follows:

Faculty

(in alphabetical order)

 

Alden AbbottAlden Abbott
General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

As the Commission’s chief legal officer and adviser, the General Counsel represents the agency in court and provides legal counsel to the Commission and its bureaus and offices. Prior to rejoining the FTC in April 2018, Alden served in legal management positions at the Heritage Foundation (2014-2018) and BlackBerry (2012-2014). He has also held a variety of senior positions in the federal government, including at the FTC (Deputy Director of the Office of International Affairs and Associate Director of the Bureau of Competition); the Department of Commerce (Acting General Counsel, Assistant General Counsel, and Chief Counsel of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration); and the Department of Justice (Senior Counsel in the Office of Legal Counsel and Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust). March 2019, June 2019

 

Meredith Addy
Partner, AddyHart P.C.
Named as One of the Most Influential Women in IP Law by Managing IP

Meredith “Mimi” Addy is a business and legal strategist with over 25 years of litigation experience. She has handled more than 30 cases before trial courts and argued more than 40 appeals to the Federal Circuit. Addy has held leadership positions at several AmLaw100 firms and is a recipient of many awards and honors. She has testified before Congress to address issues relating to the Federal Circuit and the state of patent law.  Addy has been a member of the Federal Circuit’s Advisory Council and a member of the board of directors of the Federal Circuit Bar Association.  She is also a founder of the Richard Linn American Inn of Court, which is directed to intellectual property, and she served as its first president. Addy has been recognized as one of the Most Influential Women in IP Law by Law360. March 2019, June 2019

 

Jeffrey Blumenfeld
Partner and co-chair of the Antitrust & Trade Regulation Practice Group
Lowenstein Sandler

Jeffrey Blumenfeld is a partner and co-chair of the Antitrust & Trade Regulation practice group at Lowenstein Sandler.  He is a leading figure in the competition issues that shape today’s economy, particularly those affecting telecommunications, ecommerce and other technology-based companies. Clients value his understanding of a wide variety of industries as well as his collaborative approach to accomplishing business goals. With more than 35 years of government and private practice experience Jeff has an in-depth knowledge of competition principles, technology, regulation, and economics.  He  represents companies and their investors on competition issues, including those at the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property. September 2019

 

James Carmichael
Partner, Carmichael IP, PLLC
Former Administrative Patent Judge, Board of Appeals & Interferences

James T. Carmichael is a former Administrative Patent Judge on the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (now the Patent Trial and Appeal Board).  Jim was employed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for eight years, including working in the electrical and computer division of the Board as an Examiner-in-Chief.  Currently he represents inventors and patent challengers before the PTO in patent prosecution and inter partes review proceedings.  Jim regularly serves as an expert witness on PTO prosecution and post-grant procedures.  Before becoming a Judge, Jim served for five years as an Associate Solicitor of the PTO., where he represented the agency in federal court litigation and argued more than thirty cases at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. June 2019

 

Dana Colarulli
Former Director of the Office of Governmental Affairs and Executive Manager, USPTO

Dana Robert Colarulli is a senior government affairs professional with more than two decades of  experience working on legal-related technology policy and intellectual property issues in and with the private sector, the Executive Branch and the U.S. Congress. He most recently served as the Director of the Office of Governmental Affairs and served on the Executive Management team at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As the top legislative liaison at the Department of Commerce on Intellectual Property issues, Mr. Colarulli facilitated substantive patent, copyright and trademark and related policy discussions and advocated for USPTO operational priorities through two Administrations and nearly 10 years.  Prior to this role, Mr. Colarulli served as Director of Government Relations for the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO). He has worked in the U.S. Senate, in a DC-based Law Firm and at the U.S. Small Business Administration. June 2019

 

David Cohen
Intellectual Property Strategist, David L. Cohen, P.C.
Former Chief Legal and IP Officer and Corporate Secretary at FORM Holdings Company, (formerly Vringo)

David Cohen is an intellectual property strategist with experience in the offensive and defensive sides of global, intellectual property monetization. He operates on an outsourced Chief IP Officer model and provides legal services through his law firm and IP-business related services (including patent brokering and legal process and/or IP-business or M&A focused consulting) through Kidon IP Corporation. David is the former Chief Legal and IP Officer of Vringo Inc. Prior to Vringo, he was senior in-house counsel at Nokia Corporation. He worked at the law firms of Lerner David and Skadden Arps before joining Nokia. David also clerked for Chief Judge Carman of the Court of International Trade. September 2019

 

Todd Dickinson
Senior Partner, Polsinelli
Former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, USPTO

Todd Dickinson is a senior partner with Polsinelli, is a former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Todd has also been Chief IP Counsel for two Fortune 50 companies, with management responsibility for all IP, including management of extensive patent and trademark portfolios. Most recently, Todd served as the Executive Director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), which is one of the world’s leading policy and advocacy organizations in the field of intellectual property, where he played a key role in the drafting and passage of the America Invents Act and the subsequent PTO rules. Todd has been recognized by IAM Magazine as one of the World’s Leading IP Strategists (2016) and was inducted into the IP Hall of Fame in 2012. He has been recognized as one of the 50 Most Influential People in IP by Managing Intellectual Property numerous times. March 2019, September 2019

 

Tracy-Gene Durkin
Partner, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC
Named as One of the Most Influential Women in IP Law by Managing IP

Tracy-Gene Durkin is a partner with Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC. Simply stated, she is widely regarded as the leading authority on design patents in the United States. She is the head of the firm’s Mechanical and Design Patent Group and has been the attorney representing some of the world’s most iconic brands. With nearly thirty years of experience obtaining and enforcing intellectual property rights, Durkin is sought out by leading consumer product companies around the world for her deep understanding of utility and design patents, trademarks, and copyrights. June 2019

 

Theodore Essex
Senior Counsel, Hogan Lovells
Former Judge, U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)

Theodore Essex served as a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) judge for a decade and is now Senior Counsel at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. In addition to being admitted to the bars in the District of Columbia and Louisiana, he is also a registered solicitor in England and Wales. Ted has been hailed an unofficial ambassador to intellectual property lawyers and judges throughout the U.S., Asia, and Europe, and during his time at the ITC handled some of the most important and noteworthy Section 337 intellectual property infringement proceedings involving the world’s most valuable and renowned companies. Before joining the ITC, Ted served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force as a Judge Advocate, where he had extensive international practice, gained experience working with labor, criminal and EEO law, and managed large offices of lawyers and staff. During this time Ted trained hundreds of attorneys, gave numerous lectures and published in a variety of areas. September 2019

 

Kate GaudryKate Gaudry, PhD
Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend
Preeminent Data-Driven and Strategic Patent Prosecution Expert

Kate Gaudry, Ph.D., is a partner with Kilpatrick Townsend. Kate focuses her practice on data-driven and strategic patent prosecution. Specifically, she routinely performs empirical analyses of general, portfolio-level or application-level prosecution techniques to inform her clients’ selection amongst various prosecution strategies. Through this research, she identifies probabilities and predictive factors of success for various approaches. She has authored over fifty publications. Dr. Gaudry also frequently consults with legal-services companies to help avail big-data, statistical and artificial intelligence tools to prosecution professionals. Most of her clients are in the software, computers, and quantitative-biology technical areas. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law, a Ph.D. in Computational Neurobiology from UCSD, and a B.S. in Physics from Fort Hays State University. June 2019

 

Judge Douglas GinsbirgDouglas H. Ginsburg
Senior Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia

Douglas H. Ginsburg is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which he served as Chief Judge from 2001 to 2008. After studying at the University of Chicago Law School, he clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the United States Supreme Court. Thereafter, Judge Ginsburg was a professor at the Harvard Law School, then Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. While on the bench, he has taught at the law schools of the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and New York University; he is currently Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, and a visiting professor at the University College London, Faculty of Laws. Judge Ginsburg is the Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Global Antitrust Institute at George Mason University. He is the author of numerous articles on antitrust and intellectual property. September 2019

 

Michael Gulliford
Founder, Managing Principal, Soryn IP Group, LLP

Michael Gulliford is the Founder of Soryn IP Group, as well as its sister company Soryn Capital, which offers a number of financial solutions designed to protect and unlock the value of intellectual property. At Soryn, Michael is a trusted advisor and investor to a number of the world’s most prestigious universities, law firms and companies, and has closed close to $200 million in patent-centric deals. He is the name behind a number of the most talked about patent deals, and he has repeatedly been named to the List of Leading IP Strategists in the World.  Prior to founding Soryn, Michael was a partner in the patent litigation group at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.  He holds a BA in Neuroscience from Columbia University and a JD from the Seton Hall University School of Law.. March 2019

 

Dr. Kirti Gupta
Vice President for Technology and Economic Strategy, Qualcomm

Dr. Kirti Gupta is Vice President for Technology and Economic Strategy at Qualcomm specializing in  Intellectual Property (IP) and Competition issues. She is responsible for leading the substantive direction of the global intellectual property and competition policy and advocacy efforts of Qualcomm, and has been involved in various international antitrust and litigation cases. Kirti has also been responsible for developing economic models for determining Qualcomm’s optimal IP strategy world-wide and on designing algorithms for IP portfolio valuation. Prior to her role as an economist, she spent over a decade as a wireless systems engineering expert, working on research and development of third and fourth generation (3G and 4G) wireless cellular systems and has represented Qualcomm in various global technology standards bodies. Dr. Gupta s a co?inventor of ten granted U.S.patents and several pending patent applications in the field of wireless communications. She holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego. September 2019

 

Phil Hartstein
President and CEO, Finjan Holdings, Inc.

Phil Hartstein is president and CEO of Finjan Holdings, Inc. He oversees the direction and management of current assets and future investments and works with the company’s executive management team to execute the shareholders’ vision of a public technology company.  Mr. Hartstein has worked in a number of technology and IP-related roles for over a decade. He started with a boutique IP law firm, before working in an in-house IP function for a venture capital-funded start-up and spending time in IP consulting and IP brokerage firms. Before joining Finjan, he spent four years with two groups focused on introducing both private and public market capital, expertise and credibility into licensing and enforcing patent rights on behalf of owners. June 2019

 

Dori Hines
Partner, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow Garrett & Dunner, LLP
Named as an IP Star (Litigation) by Managing IP, Named as an IAM Patent-1000 Leading Patent Professional

Doris “Dori” Hines is a Partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farrabow, Garrett & Dunner, where she focuses her practice on patent litigation, leading teams in U.S. district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and before arbitration panels.  Dori has argued a number of cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and hHer experience spans a wide range of technologies, but has focused primarily in the electrical area on semiconductor, the Internet, electronics, smartphone, and telecommunications technologies.  Dori has received numerous recognitions from The Legal 500 and Intellectual Asset Management for her patent litigation practice, including specifically for ITC litigation and for contentious patent licensing work. In 2012, she was featured in the firm’s profile for The American Lawyer Litigation Department of the Year.

 

Chris Israel
Partner, American Continental Group
Former U.S. Coordinator for Intellectual Property Enforcement

Chris Israel is a partner at American Continental Group, one of Washington’s top government affairs and strategic consulting firms. Chris is an accomplished public and private sector executive with senior-level appointments by the President of the United States, service on Capitol Hill and a senior-level experience within a Fortune 50 company. A frequent speaker on IP and innovation issues, Chris was named one of the 50 most influential people in IP by Managing IP Magazine in 2006. Serving nearly seven years in senior leadership roles in the Bush Administration, he was also appointed in July 2005 by President Bush, as the first U.S. Coordinator for International Intellectual Property Enforcement. Prior to that, he was the Director of International Policy a Time Warner, Inc. June 2019

 

Phil Johnson
Johnson-IP Strategy
Former Senior Vice President IP Policy & Strategy, Johnson & Johnson

Phil Johnson recently retired from his position as senior vice president and chief IP counsel at Johnson & Johnson after serving nearly two decades in various leadership roles for the multi-national corporation.  Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson as Chief Patent Counsel, he was a well-respected patent litigator for nearly two decades. Johnson played a key role in both the drafting and passage of the America Invents Act and was subsequently appointed a member of a six-person committee formed by the director of the USPTO to make recommendations on regulations to implement the inter partes review and post grant review proceedings that were established by the Act. Johnson has served numerous industry organizations during his career, including as president of the Intellectual Property Owners Association, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. He was inducted into the IP Hall of Fame in 2017. July 2018, March 2019, June 2019

 

David J. Kappos
Partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Former Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office

David J. Kappos is a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost leaders in the field of intellectual property, including intellectual property management and strategy, the development of global intellectual property norms, laws and practices as well as commercialization and enforcement of innovation-based assets. From August 2009 to January 2013, Mr. Kappos served as Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Prior to leading the USPTO, Mr. Kappos held several executive posts in the legal department of IBM, the world’s largest patent holder.  From 2003 to 2009, he served as the company’s Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for Intellectual Property. September 2019

 

Efrat KasznikEfrat Kasznik
President of Foresight Valuation Group and Lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Efrat Kasznik is President of Foresight Valuation Group and a Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Efrat is a Silicon-Valley based valuation and intellectual property expert with two decades of consulting experience, focusing on assisting IP holders across industries with the creation, commercialization, and monetization of their intangible assets. She helps clients, ranging in size from Fortune 100 companies to start-ups, with IP and business valuations in support of licensing deals, IP and technology acquisitions, M&A transactions, financial reporting, strategic planning, and fundraising. She frequently serves as a testifying expert in disputes involving IP and startup valuations and damages. Efrat currently serves as Chair of the High-Tech Sector – LES USA-Canada and has been recognized as one of the top IP strategists in the world by IAM every year since 2013. June 2019

 

F. Scott KieffF. Scott Kieff
Professor of Law, George Washington University
Former Commissioner, US International Trade Commission

The Honorable F. Scott Kieff is the Fred C. Stevenson Research Professor at GW Law School in DC. He specializes in international trade; intellectual property; antitrust; finance and securities regulation; bankruptcy; biotechnology and medicine; governance and compliance; cyber; privacy; and security. Formerly a Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission, he was nominated by President Obama for a Republican seat and confirmed unanimously by the Senate during Democrat control. He also has served as an advisor to high-level government offices during the Bush, Obama, and Trump Presidential Administrations on national security and economics. He previously held secondary faculty appointments as a professor in the Neurosurgery Department at Washington University School of Medicine, in the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center at Germany’s Max Planck Institute; and as a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution; as well as visiting faculty fellowship appointments in the law schools at Northwestern, Chicago, Stanford, and Harvard. In the private sector, through Kieff Strategies LLC, he brings together fellow academics and former government officials to collaboratively engage complex challenges facing firms in technology, finance, business, and law by conducting investigations and crisis management, and providing strategic consulting, expert advice and testimony, and neutral services as mediators, arbitrators, and compliance monitors, directly for private parties or on appointment by tribunals. He previously practiced law as a partner at McKool Smith in DC, as a counsel and associate at Jenner & Block in Chicago, and as an associate at Pennie & Edmonds in New York.  A former law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge Giles S. Rich, and graduate of MIT and Penn Law School, he was recognized as one of the Nation’s Top 50 under 45 by the magazine IP Law & Business in 2008. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2012. September 2019

 

Sherry Knowles
Principal, Knowles Intellectual Property Strategies
Former Senior Vice President and Chief Patent Counsel, GlaxoSmithKline

Sherry Knowles is an intellectual property attorney with 30 years of experience in global corporate and private practice. From 2006-2010, Ms. Knowles was the Senior Vice President and Chief Patent Counsel at GlaxoSmithKline, where she served as the worldwide head of patents for all litigation and transactional matters, and managed a global department of over 200 people in 12 offices, including the US, Europe, China, and Australia. At GSK, Ms. Knowles was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, the Technology Investment Board, the Product Management Board, the Legal Management Team and she led the Global Patents Executive Team.  In 2008, Managing IP Magazine named Ms. Knowles one of the top 10 most influential people in Intellectual Property, referring to her as a “Patent Owner’s Advocate.” March 2019, June 2019

 

Stephen Kunin
Partner, Maier & Maier
Former Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, USPTO

Steve Kunin is a Partner at Maier & Maier PLLC, where he specializes in all areas of patent practice. His expertise includes post-issuance proceedings at the United States Patent Office, opinions of counsel, advising attorneys and our clients on complex patent prosecution matters, patent litigation strategy, and United States Patent Office patent policy, practice and procedure, for which he is highly sought after for expert testimony.  In addition to serving as an expert witness, Mr. Kunin has vast experience in providing lectures on recent US patent law developments across the USA, Europe, and the Far East.  He has more than 48 years of experience in the patent profession. March 2019

 

Jack Lu
Partner and Chief Economist of Intellectual Property Market Advisory Partners (IPMAP)

Jack Lu, Ph.D., CFA, is a Partner and Chief Economist of Intellectual Property Market Advisory Partners (IPMAP) at Austin, Texas. An economist & financial analyst with an engineering background & research credentials, Jack specializes in economic study, financial analysis, assets valuation, & strategic advisory for IP transactions & litigation, and for IP-intensive corporate transactions & disputes in financing (VC & PE), M&A, equity investment, & distressed assets investment. He currently serves as the Sr. VP for Economic Analysis & Survey, Licensing Executives Society (LES USA Canada). June 2019

 

Chief Judge Paul Michel (ret.)
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

The Honorable Paul Redmond Michel was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in March of 1988 by President Ronald Reagan. On May 31, 2010, Chief Judge Michel stepped down from the bench after serving more than 22 years on the court. Judge Michel was inducted into the IP Hall of Fame in 2010. In his years on the bench, Judge Michel judged thousands of appeals and wrote over 800 opinions, approximately one-third of which were in patent cases. Judge Michel continues to be a forceful advocate for a strong patent system and testifies regularly on Capitol Hill.  July 2018, March 2019, June 2019, September 2019

 

Kristen Jakobsen Osenga
Professor of Law, The University of Richmond School of Law

Kristen Jakobsen Osenga is an Austin E. Owen Research Scholar and  Professor of Law at The University of Richmond School of Law. Professor Osenga teaches and writes in the areas of intellectual property, patent law, law and language, and legislation and regulation. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection between law and linguistics in patent claim construction as well as other aspects of patent law, including Standard Setting Organizations (SSOs) and the IEEE amended guidelines. Professor Osenga is a frequent speaker at symposiums on patent law and intellectual property and has made numerous presentations to academics and practitioners on these topics. Prior to joining academia, she practiced patent law at Finnegan Henderson and clerked for Judge Richard Linn of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She is also a Senior Scholar at the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property. September 2019

 

Grant Philpott
Chief Operating Officer for Information and Communications Technology, European Patent Office

Grant Philpott is the Chief Operating Officer for Information and Communications Technologies Patenting for the European Patent Office, overseeing the end-to-end patent grant process and with responsibility for approximately 2000 scientists and engineers based in The Hague, Munich, and Berlin. His unit grants patents throughout the EPO’s 38 member states and delivers over 140,000 patent searches and examinations per year.  During his 28 years at the EPO, he has gained substantial experience of managing an international, multi-site workforce engaged in a complex patenting process and requiring a broad range of technical, legal and administrative competencies. Areas of particular focus have included change management, effectiveness, quality assurance (ISO 9001), HR-related matters and global patent system stakeholder engagement.  Prior to joining the EPO Grant spent 3 years as director of the Brazilian subsidiary of a German industrial manufacturer and 9 years as an engineering officer in the British Army. June 2019

 

Gene Quinn
President & CEO, IPWatchdog, Inc.
Patent Attorney & Publisher of IPWatchdog.com

Gene Quinn is a patent attorney and a leading commentator on patent law and innovation policy. He is the Founder and Publisher of IPWatchdog.com.  IPWatchdog.com has been recognized multiple times by the American Bar Association as a top 100 legal blog, multiple times as the top IP blog, and in 2014 was inducted into the ABA Blawg Hall of Fame. Gene has twice (2017 & 2018) been recognized by IAM Magazine as one of the top IP strategists in the world. He has also been recognized by Managing Intellectual Property as one of the 50 Most Influential People in IP (2014). Regarded as an expert on software patentability and U.S. patent procedure, Gene’s particular specialty is in the area of strategic patent consultancy, portfolio building, and patent prosecution strategies.

 

Chief Judge Randall Rader (CAFC, ret.) at the AIPLA annual meeting in 2014.

Chief Judge Randall Rader (ret.)
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

The Honorable Randall Rader was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush.  He assumed the duties of Chief Circuit Judge on June 1, 2010 until he retired from the bench on June 30, 2014. Since retiring, Judge Rader founded the Rader Group, initially focusing on arbitration, mediation, and legal consulting and legal education services. He has presided over a major arbitration under ICC rules in Paris; conducted mediations to settle ongoing litigation; joined law faculty at Tsinghua University; conducted full-credit courses at leading law schools in Washington, D.C., Seattle, Santa Clara, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, Munich; consulted with major corporations and law firms on IP policy and litigation; and advised foreign governments on international IP standards. September 2019

 

Mike Renaud
Division Head, Intellectual Property Section, Mintz, Levin, Cohen, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

Mike Renaud is Division Head for the Intellectual Property Section at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, P.C. and serves as a member on the firm’s Policy Committee. He is an experienced litigator with a background in mechanical engineering and 25 years of experience practicing law, he has the combination of technical and legal skills essential to strategic patent practice. Mike has significant experience litigating Section 337 matters before the International Trade Commission (ITC) and has also achieved significant success in Federal District Courts. Michael’s technology experience includes electromechanical systems, digital cameras, embedded microprocessors, telecommunications and network software, cellular phones, and e-commerce, among others. September 2019

 

William Rinner
Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General

William Rinner is Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, joining the Antitrust Division in September 2017. Among other responsibilities, he has advised the Assistant Attorney General on matters in the Appellate, Healthcare and Consumer Products, and Competition Policy and Advocacy sections, as well as on policy issues involving technology and intellectual property. Before joining the Division, Bill was an antitrust litigator in private practice in Washington, D.C. Bill previously clerked for the Honorable Richard Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Bill is a graduate of Yale Law School and University of Notre Dame. September 2019

 

Matteo Sabattini
A Director of IP Policy, Ericsson

Matteo Sabattini is a Director of IP Policy for Ericsson. In addition to his duties with Ericsson, Sabattini also serves as Senior Vice President of Standards for the Licensing Executives Society (USA and Canada), is a Member of the Intellectual Property Committee of the IEEE-USA and is Technical Policy Coordinator for IEEE Region 2. Previously, Sabattini was the Chief Technology Officer for Sisvel Group and he also served as President and CEO of Sisvel technology. Sabattini holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bologna, a Ph.D. in Communication Theory and Systems from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA in Business Administration from The George Washington University. September 2019

 

J. Gregory Sidak
Chairman, Criterion Economics, LLC

J. Gregory Sidak is Chairman of Criterion Economics, LLC. Greg has extensive experience in matters concerning antitrust, patents, and regulation of network industries (including the Internet, telecommunications, media, content, and energy). studied law and economics at Stanford University and served as Judge Richard Posner’s first law clerk. He has served as a senior staff member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and Deputy General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission. He currently edits the Journal of Competition Law & Economics for the Oxford University Press and has held academic positions at Yale, Georgetown, Tilburg, and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. His books and articles have been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Canada, the European Commission, and other courts and regulatory agencies. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on multiple occasions, and he has written extensively on the topic of Standard Essential Patents.  September 2019

 

Russ SliferRuss Slifer
Principal, Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner
Former Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO

Russ Slifer is a registered patent attorney and principal of Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner. Russ served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the last two years. As Deputy Director, Russ managed all of the day-to-day operations of the USPTO. He was also the first Director of the Rocky Mountain Region Patent Office prior to his appointment as Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce serving as the agency’s primary liaison with the innovation community in the Rocky Mountain Region. Russell has practiced intellectual property law for the last 23 years. Prior to his government service and work at Micron Technology, he was a design engineer for Honeywell and spent more than eight years in private practice in Minnesota, helping a wide variety of clients build patent portfolios to protect their innovations, including individual inventors, universities, and Fortune 100 companies. March 2019

 

Bob StollBob Stoll
Partner, Drinker Biddle
Former Commissioner for Patents, USPTO

Bob Stoll has 40 years of experience in intellectual property prosecution and a thorough understanding of both foreign and domestic intellectual property laws thanks to his experience with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is currently co-chair of Drinker Biddle’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. Bob retired from the USPTO as Commissioner for Patents at the end of 2011 after a distinguished 34-year government career. Bob manages patent prosecution for several multi-national corporations and troubleshoots particularly difficult patent applications himself. He conducts portfolio analysis and provides opinion work. Bob advises on post-grant procedures before the USPTO and engages in policy work on patent issues. Bob regularly testifies as an expert on patent practice and represents other attorneys and firms before the Office of Enrollment and Discipline at the USPTO. July 2018, March 2019, June 2019

 

Jonathan Stroud
Chief IP Counsel, Unified Patents

Jonathan Stroud is Chief IP Counsel at Unified Patents. Jonathan manages litigation, appeals, PTAB proceedings, licensing, and settlement negotiations, legal strategy, and prior art analysis, and prepares, drafts, and files proceedings for Unified. Previously, he litigated at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP, before the PTAB, in district court litigation, and on appeal, and prior to that he examined implantable medical device patents at the USPTO for 5 years. He interned at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) for Judge Robert K. Rogers and earned his J.D. with honors from American University Washington College of Law; his B.S. in biomedical engineering from Tulane University; and his M.A. in print journalism from the University of Southern California. September 2019

 

Timothy Syrett
Partner, Wilmer Hale

Tim Syrett is an intellectual property and antitrust litigator with Wilmer Hale. Mr. Syrett has particular experience with disputes at the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property law. He has litigated through trial a variety of issues relating to standard-essential patents in the telecommunications industry, including antitrust and contract claims, the determination of FRAND royalties, patent exhaustion and license defenses, as well as defenses to infringement arising from standard-setting participation. Mr. Syrett also has extensive experience litigating damages issues in patent infringement cases involving a variety of technologies. He has represented clients before federal and state courts, the International Trade Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. September 2019

 

John White

John White
Founding Partner, Berenato & White
Principal Lecturer, Practicing Law Institute Patent Bar Review Course

John White is a US patent attorney and a patent lecturer. He is an Adjunct Law Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, and he is also the principal lecturer/author of the PLI Patent Bar Review Course, a course that he originally created. Since John began teaching patent bar review courses in 1995, he has personally taught close to 50% of all practicing patent attorneys and patent agents how to successfully become admitted to the Patent Bar. John has also taught numerous US Patent Examiners at the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in the “Law and Evidence Course” necessary for them to advance to Partial Negotiation authority as Examiners. John serves as an expert witness in patent litigations and is regarded as a leading authority on patent practice and procedure. He maintains a select patent practice largely aimed at assisting start-up technology companies to increase and monetize their patent portfolios. June 2019

 

Christine Wilson
Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission

Christine Wilson was sworn in on September 26, 2018 as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. Wilson previously served at the FTC as Chairman Tim Muris’ Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush Administration, and as a law clerk in the Bureau of Competition while attending Georgetown University Law Center.  In between her periods of service at the FTC, Wilson has practiced competition and consumer protection law both at law firms and as in-house counsel.  When nominated, Wilson was serving as Senior Vice President — Legal, Regulatory & International for Delta Air Lines. Prior to joining Delta, Wilson was a member of the Washington DC antitrust practice groups of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and O’Melveny & Myers LLP.  Early in her career, Wilson worked with former Assistant Attorney General James F. Rill at Collier Shannon Rill & Scott on a variety of competition law and policy initiatives, including the final report of the International Competition Policy Advisory Committee commissioned by Attorney General Janet Reno. September 2019