Speakers

DLA Piper | Senior Associate

Dennis J. Parad is a Senior Associate at DLA Piper and a registered patent attorney with more than two decades of intellectual property experience, including ten years as a Primary Patent Examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Peel, Katherine

Page White Farrer | Partner

Katherine has worked in intellectual property since 2007. She is a European and UK Patent Attorney and is a partner at Page White and Farrer in London, where she has worked for over thirteen years. She has a background in Physics and her current practice focuses primarily on telecommunications, including standard essential patents.

Plassio, Patrick

O'Melvany | Counsel

With a practice including complex commercial disputes of all sorts and a focus on intellectual property and technology-related matters, Patrick Plassio adeptly translates and communicates complicated legal and factual issues to his clients, opposing parties, and courts. Offering key strategic insights and experience in trade secrets, and recognized by The Legal 500 US for his work on those matters, Patrick litigates in state and federal courts across the country, with extensive pretrial and trial experience and successes.

Polson, Margaret

Polson Intellectual Property Law | Founder and Principal Attorney

Margaret Polson is founder and principal attorney for Polson Intellectual Property Law. Overseeing the preparation and prosecution of utility and design patent applications, trademarks, and copyrights, she also assists clients with licensing and intellectual property strategy and management.

Pooley, James

James Pooley PLC | Founder

James (Jim) Pooley focuses on trade secret law and management, as a consultant and testifying expert. He has authored or co-authored several major IP works, including his treatise Trade Secrets (Law Journal Press), the Patent Case Management Judicial Guide and the Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide (both published by the Federal Judicial Center).

Ram, Jocelyn

The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard | Senior IP Counsel

With over two decades of intellectual property experience, including in-house, private practice, and the USPTO, Jocelyn D. Ram brings a unique perspective as Senior IP Counsel at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She currently manages a diverse portfolio of cutting-edge genomic technologies, focusing the convergence of AI and biotech.

Ranney, Kathleen A.

Attorney

Kathleen has experience as a biotechnology IP attorney in the pharmaceutical industry, and has both in-house and law firm experience. Prior to practicing law, Kathleen started her career as a bench scientist (Molecular biology) including experience at Pfizer Inc. Kathleen was in the pharma industry for 15 years and served as in-house counsel at Eisai Inc. for approximately 10 years.

Rea, Teresa

Rea Consulting LLC | Consultant

Teresa “Terry” is a consultant with Rea Consulting LLC. She is a testifying expert on patent practice and prosecution and provides trial testimony. She also consults on IP strategy.

Redden, Sydney

IP House | Associate Director for Global External Affairs

Sydney oversees IP House’s global public affairs and policy strategy including communications, marketing, and strategic partnerships. Before joining IP House, Sydney served as Director of IP Enforcement for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center, working closely with industry, government, and international stakeholders to advance enforcement priorities and public-facing campaigns. She began her career on Capitol Hill where she served on the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations.

Reischle-Park, Matthias

WIPO | Deputy Director, PCT Legal Division

Matthias Reischle, a national of Germany, is Deputy Director of the PCT Legal Division of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Matthias holds a degree from the University of Constance, Germany (1993), and a LL.M in European Legal Studies from the College of Europe, Belgium (1994). After qualifying to practice law in Germany in 1996, he worked as a legal adviser for the International Labour Organization in Geneva.

Ritscher, Michael

MLL Legal AG | Founding Member

Michael Ritscher studied at the University of Zurich and received his PhD, then passed the bar exam, completed an LL.M. at Georgetown University and, after research stays at Stanford University and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich, founded the intellectual property team of the Swiss law firm MLL Legal AG, which he has headed ever since.

Santone, Christopher

McAndrews | Design Patent Agent

Christopher Santone is a Design Patent Agent at McAndrews focusing on design patent matters. He has over a decade of experience as an industrial designer. As the first individual to pass the USPTO Design Patent Bar exam, Christopher’s unique background positions him as an exceptional resource for helping clients identify protectable assets and navigate the design patent process.

Santoro, Sofia

Società Italiana Brevetti S.p.A.

Sofia Santoro is a European and Italian Patent Attorney and a Unified Patent Court Representative, with experience in intellectual property since 2016. Her practice focuses primarily on patent matters in the chemical and pharmaceutical fields, including patent drafting and prosecution, opposition and appeal proceedings before the European Patent Office, and strategic patent advice.

Schick, Ian

Paximal | Co-Founder & CEO

Ian C. Schick is Co-Founder and CEO of Paximal, an agentic AI platform for patent drafting, and has worked on patent automation since 2017, when he co-founded Specifio — the first commercially available mass-content generator in legal tech — which was acquired in 2024.

Seidner, Ariel

Duane Morris | Senior Associate

Ariel Seidner is a Senior Associate at Duane Morris LLP in New York and Washington, D.C., where she practices in the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group with a primary focus on technology transactions and complex commercial contracts. Ariel represents clients across industries to help maximize the value of their owned, licensed, and jointly developed commercial assets.

Simon, Elizabeth

Akin | Associate General Counsel

Liz advises on a wide range of ethics and compliance-related matters to support the firm’s offices worldwide. Liz is involved in issues impacting firm risk management and client relations. These include resolving conflict-of-interest situations, advising on ethical questions and developing firm policies to support ethics and compliance best practices.

Smith, Brandon

Morgan Lewis | Partner

Brandon Smith is a partner at Morgan Lewis, where he represents clients in intellectual property (IP) litigation and counsels on IP protection and enforcement. His practice focuses on patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, false advertising, unfair competition, and breach of contract disputes.

Southwick, Stephanie

Burford Capital | Director

Stephanie Southwick is a former first-chair commercial litigator who now partners with companies and law firms to unlock the strategic value of litigation through legal finance. Stephanie Southwick has over 15+ years in the courtroom- including serving as managing partner of her firm. She led high-stakes commercial and trade secret matters through mediation, trial and settlement. She saw firsthand how capital constraints shape legal strategy, influence risk tolerance and impact outcomes.

Sunder, Madhavi

Georgetown University Law Center | Professor

Madhavi Sunder is the Frank Sherry Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Georgetown University Law Center. She is an internationally recognized scholar of law, culture, and technology. Her wide-ranging scholarship ranges from access to medicines to AI, art law, brands, cultural appropriation, design thinking, the experience economy, and international intellectual property.

Tang, Timothy

Sterne Kessler | Director

Timothy L. Tang is a Director in Sterne Kessler’s Electronics Practice Group. His practice focuses on patent office litigation, patent prosecution, and portfolio development. Before the PTAB, Tim has represented both Petitioners and Patent Owners in numerous proceedings.

Todd, Hope

District of Columbia Bar | Associate Director Legal Ethics, Regulation Counsel

Hope C. Todd oversees the legal ethics program at the District of Columbia Bar. Since 2006, Ms. Todd has provided legal ethics guidance through the Bar’s Ethics Helpline on the interpretation and application of the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct. She regularly teaches ethics CLEs and serves on panels for local and national audiences.

Tsujimoto, Nobuyuki

Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) | Chair

Mr. Tsujimoto has been a member of the First International Affairs Committee of the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) since 2022, where he conducts research and studies on U.S. patent practices. He is a chair of the First International Affairs Committee. He is a registered Japanese Patent Attorney at Daikin Industries, LTD. He joined Daikin Industries, Ltd. in 2013. Since then, he has been consistently engaged in patent filing, prosecution, validity and freedom to operate, in chemical products.

Van Voorhis, Kim

Nike | Assistant General Counsel, Global IP Litigation

Kim is Assistant General Counsel, Global IP Litigation & Director of IP Europe at Nike, Inc. She is a committed IP professional, bringing nearly 20 years of experience litigating, managing portfolios, and providing strategic counseling on all aspects of global intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, design, copyright and trade secrets, in both elite law firm and Fortune 100 corporate settings.

Vculek, Bree

Solve Intelligence | Legal and Product Engineer

Bree Vculek is a Legal and Product Engineer at Solve Intelligence and a U.S. registered patent attorney. Her career has run from the lab to private practice to legal technology. She began in industry, working on antibody discovery and then in R&D at a global agricultural biotechnology company.

Von Bomhard, Verena

Bomhard IP | Partner

Verena von Bomhard has been involved with EU trademarks from the very beginning, having founded her former firm’s office in Alicante in early 1996. She has extensive experience in all matters relating to prosecution and enforcement of EU trade marks and designs, has handled over 100 proceedings before the General Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg, and advises on complex IP conflicts in the European Union and effective dispute resolution.

Wagner, Matthew

Arthēa | General Counsel

Matt Wagner is General Counsel of Arthēa, a global leader in wellness and personal care headquartered in White Plains, New York. Arthēa's portfolio includes category-leading brands such as Cantu®, Dr Teal's®, Eylure®, bodycology®, and Body Fantasies®, sold at major retailers throughout the U.S. and U.K. and in more than 80 markets worldwide.

Watanabe, Yuichi

Osha Bergman Watanabe & Burton LLP | Partner

Yuichi Watanabe understands the importance of intellectual property (IP) to businesses. He leverages his diverse experience and international background to deliver unique insights and practical, cost-effective solutions to help clients succeed in today’s global marketplace.