2022 agenda

Participants can schedule 30-minute meetings in-person, virtually, or hybrid (i.e., between in-person and virtual participants) utilizing our desktop/mobile app. Registered attendees will receive an invitation to login to the app the week prior to the event.

• The year’s biggest verdicts, settlements and deals
• Updates at the USPTO – how is Vidal doing?
• Patent reform: will it really happen & will it be what we need?
• Opportunities, outlook, and predictions for 2023

Speakers:
Elvir Causevic, Managing Director, Tech + IP (moderator)
Abha Divine, Managing Director, Techquity Capital Management
Aaron Fahrenkrog, Partner, Robins Kaplan
Jonathan Waldrop, Co-Chair of IP & Partner, Kasowitz Benson Torres
Keith Wilson, EVP, Partnerships & Acquisitions, IPVALUE Management

• The WDTX order and new venue developments
• Review of key stats in TX, DE, CA, VA & other busy patent courts
• District court dynamics and strategic filing considerations 
• Identifying the new hotspot

Speakers:
Fred Fabricant, Managing Partner, Fabricant LLP (moderator)
Michelle Eber, Portfolio Counsel, Validity Finance
Claus Melarti, Senior VP, Acquisitions, RPX
Erick Robinson, Partner, Spencer Fane
Gary Sorden, Member, Cole Schotz

• Recent rulings in key global jurisdictions
• Developments at the ITC and in US courts
• How the UPC impacts European SEP/FRAND strategy
• The latest on global rate setting

Speakers:
Michael Renaud, Chair of IP Division, Mintz (moderator)
Alexandra Brodie, Partner, Gowling WLG
Steven Geiszler, U.S. Chief IP Counsel, Huawei
Clemens Heusch, Global Head of Dispute Resolution, Nokia
Blair Jacobs, Principal, McKool Smith

WHY DIVERSITY MATTERS IN IP: WHAT THE DATA TELLS US

Speakers:
Holly Fechner, Executive Director, Invent Together 
Laurie Self, SVP & Counsel of Government Affairs, Qualcomm

• • Funders’ view of the patent litigation landscape
  • Evolving areas of funding: From patents to portfolios to partnerships
  • Use of SPVs and other creative deal structures
  • Funders hedging risk with insurance & secondary market

Speakers:
Ian DiBernardo, Partner, Brown Rudnick (moderator)
Megan Easley, VP, Contingent Risk, CAC Specialty
Russell Genet, Director, Longford Capital
Phil Hartstein, Partner, Soryn IP Capital
Anup Misra, Director, Curiam Capital

• New IP-backed financing options (beyond litigation finance)
• Who’s raising IP funding? How does it match up to traditional capital?
• Breakdown of deal diligence, valuation, and structuring
• Understanding the interplay with insurance

Speakers:
Nick Chmielewski, Chief Broking Officer, Aon (moderator)
Kimberly Cauthorn, IP Leader, WTW
D. Alexander Ewing, COO & General Counsel, LiquiGlide
Christopher Lipuma, Director, Fortress Investment Group
Drew Malozzi, Managing Director and Founder, Atlas Credit Partners

• Protecting innovation in the U.S. – is it still worth patenting?
• When is it best to protect as a trade secret and how?
• Seeking protection outside the U.S. in critical spots
• Best practices in managing the portfolio

Speakers:
Cyrus Morton, Partner, Robins Kaplan (moderator)
Glenn Edwards, VP, Chief IP Counsel, Trane Technologies
Lorie Goins, Director of IP Strategy, Kyndryl
William LaFontaine, General Manager, IP, IBM
Michael Waltrip, Managing Director, IP Strategy & Commercialization, Xerox

• Who should license IP and why? 
• Should there be a secondary market for IP?
• What’s the interplay with politics and other interests?
• What’s really best for innovation? How about global competition?

Speakers:
Emily Hostage, Director, Industry Relations, Columbia University (moderator)
Vishal Amin, Head of IP Policy, Intel
Marc Booth, Chief IP Officer, Acacia Research Group
Francis Rushford, Managing Director, Pretium Partners
Timothy Wilson, Head of Patents and IP Litigation, SAS Institute

• Current SEP landscape
• SEPs in the market: what’s being litigated, licensed, bought & sold?
• At what values are SEPs being transacted in and outside of the courts?
• Patent pools & licensing models to increase market efficiency

Speakers:
Taraneh Maghame, Founder & Principal, Maghame IP Consulting (moderator)
Leonid Kravets, Head of M&A, InterDigital
Kavon Nasabzadeh, Chief IP Officer, Offino Technologies
Hasan Rashid, Associate GC, GE Licensing

Participants can schedule 30-minute meetings in-person, virtually, or hybrid (i.e., between in-person and virtual participants) utilizing our desktop/mobile app. Registered attendees will receive an invitation to login to the app the week prior to the event.

• Developments in the tech landscape
• Building a strategic IP portfolio & dealing with patentability issues
• Examining IP litigation trends and identifying risks
• Patent pools, standards, and the market efficiency

Speakers:
Michael Connelly, VP of Operations, WIT Legal (moderator)
Mark Kokes, Chief Licensing Officer & General Manager Media IP Business, Adeia
Shui Li, Corporate Counsel, Cloud +AI, Microsoft
Shayne O’Reilly, Head of Licensing & Open Source, Meta
Aaron Waxler, Senior Director, Multimedia Licensing, Nokia

• Mining for the highest value patents 
• Leveraging IP to raise capital for spinouts and startups
• Patent assertion programs and funding partners
• Controlling the process and communications

Speakers:
Katherine Rubino, Partner, Caldwell IP (moderator)
Stephanie Adamany, General Counsel, WARF
Orin Herskowitz, Executive Director, Columbia Technology Ventures
Lesley Millar-Nicholson, Executive Director, MIT Technology Licensing Office
Marc Sedam, VP Technology Opportunities & Ventures, NYU

We’ll wrap up this year’s panels with a light-hearted and informative game designed to help the audience figure out what makes a patent valuable. Fashioned after the famous reality show series, our panel of experts will act as judges, reviewing a carefully curated selection of patents, to determine which ones get voted off the island and which ones survive. The series of challenges include the following: 

• Does it pass the PTAB gauntlet?
• Can it get out of the 101 maze?
• Invalidity at trial
• Have to have an infringement case/Is it really infringed?

Speakers:
Charles Eldering, CEO, CAsE Analysis Group (moderator)
Ari Jaffess, Partner, Liston Abramson
Vincent Rubino, Partner, Fabricant LLP
Bridget Smith, Assistant General Counsel, IP, Relativity Space
Jonathan Stroud, General Counsel, Unified Patents

Join us for our new open workshop lounge – designed as an alternative to one-to-one meetings for those who prefer connecting informally or in groups. We invite you to grab a seat at one of our roundtables, where you and your colleagues can brainstorm, problem solve, discuss opportunities, or just hang out. Snacks and refreshments will be provided, but BYOT (bring your own topic) for discussion!