Speakers

Procter & Gamble | Director & Assistant General Counsel - Patents

Ali Anoff is Director and Assistant General Counsel at Procter & Gamble. She is the primary patent attorney for renowned brands such as Olay® skin care, as well as Old Spice®, Secret®, and Native® antiperspirant and deodorants. Ali provides strategic legal counsel to the business to create and protect global intellectual property assets. Her practice focuses on IP strategy development, preparation and prosecution of global patent applications, conducting freedom-to-practice assessments and enforcement.

Bajaj, Raghav

Latham & Watkins | Partner

Raghav Bajaj is a partner in Latham & Watkins’ IP Litigation group and serves as co-chair of the firm’s PTAB practice. Raghav focuses on high-stakes patent litigation and contested proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, including inter partes reviews, post-grant reviews, and related appeals to the Federal Circuit. He represents both petitioners and patent owners across a range of technologies and industries, drawing on his technical background to develop effective strategies in complex intellectual property disputes.

Banner, Brian

Slayden Grubert Beard | Shareholder

Brian Banner is the managing shareholder of Slayden Grubert Beard in Austin, Texas. He focuses on patent litigation and has nearly two decades of experience in district courts, the Federal Circuit, and before the PTAB. Brian served as lead IPR counsel in the first-ever sua sponte Director Review of an institution decision in 2022 and has since closely tracked the rise of Director authority. His practice draws on more than seven years of prior industry experience in semiconductors, processor architecture, and software design.

Boundy, David

Potomac Law Group | Partner

David Boundy is a Partner in our Intellectual Property and Administrative Law practices, advising clients in strategic development of intellectual property as an integrated asset of the business, and synergizing intellectual property with legal, R&D, finance, and marketing. Mr. Boundy is listed as one of the 300 leading intellectual property strategists in the world. He has represented and counseled inventors, investors, startups, and established companies in intellectual property matters. The scope of representation includes patent prosecution, licensing, counseling to avoid litigation, opinions, financing and public offering transactions, due diligence, acquisitions, and spinoffs. His special expertise is in structuring startups’ IP portfolios to maximize financing.

Burgy, Adriana

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP | Partner

Adriana Burgy, a partner in Finnegan’s Washington DC’s office, specializes in patent opinion work, client counseling, prosecution, portfolio management, and litigation within the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology sectors. Combining legal and technical expertise, she is recognized by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) and The Legal 500 U.S. for her accomplishments in patent matters across a broad array of technologies.

Chin, Brad

Duane Morris, LLP | Partner

Brad Y. Chin is a partner in Duane Morris' Intellectual Property Practice Group. He represents clients in intellectual property litigation and counseling matters, with a focus on patent and trademark-related disputes and transactions for companies operating in the energy, technology and high-tech sectors.

Collin, Sean

Elastic NV | Vice President Legal for Innovation

Sean Collin is Vice President Legal for Innovation (Product, IP, Marketing) at Elastic NV, the world's largest B2B and B2G search, observability, and security software company. He was educated at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand (BCom. LLB (Hons)) and at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. (LLM (Dist.)). He has been called to the Bar in New Zealand, New South Wales, Australia, and in both New York and California in the United States. He has lectured at Universities, Institutes and Global Conferences in 20 countries on international IP law and technology business.

Cooper, William

Cooper Legal Group | President

William Cooper is a US Patent Attorney and the founder of Cooper Legal Group, LLC, an IP boutique. William handles many aspects of intellectual property, with a focus on patent preparation and prosecution, including filings into and out of the US in many different technology areas. William is a seasoned practitioner with nearly 30 years of experience and has been actively involved with several different AIPLA committees for many years.

Curcio, Stephanie

NLPatent | CEO and Co-Founder

Stephanie Curcio is a recognized leader at the intersection of artificial intelligence and patent law, with a focus on modernizing patent practice through workflow-aligned AI. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of NLPatent, where her work centers on applying proprietary AI models to support established patent research and intelligence workflows by automating high-friction tasks, surfacing conceptually relevant context, and reducing manual review - while preserving practitioner judgment, legal rigor, and explainability.

Curtis, Anthony

Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner | Principal

Tony Curtis is a Partner at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner. His practice includes patent procurement, portfolio management and strategic counseling in a wide range of electrical, software, and mechanical technologies. Tony previously worked as senior counsel in patent operations and portfolio management in the communications field at Verizon and Motorola Solutions. He has worked on diverse technology, including short and long-range telecommunication devices, semiconductor devices, materials, and processing, software (including AI), healthcare-related software and devices, big data analysis and usage, Internet-related software including advertising, and business methods.

D’Amore, Matthew

Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School | Director and Professor

Matthew D’Amore is a professor of the practice and the director of the Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship Program at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School. At Cornell Tech, D’Amore teaches and conducts research in technology transactions, trade secrets, intellectual property, legal technology, and the changing practice of law.

Davis, Theodore

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP | Partner

Ted Davis is a partner in the Atlanta office of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, where he has practiced trademark, copyright, false advertising, and unfair competition law since 1990. He is a past member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Board of Directors and currently serves as an editor of the A.I.P.L.A. Quarterly Law Journal. He also has served on the American Bar Association’s Board of Governors and the International Trademark Association’s Executive Committee. He frequently serves as an expert witness in trademark-related matters and is an adjunct professor at the Emory University School of Law. His articles on intellectual property subjects have appeared in such general-purpose journals as the Minnesota Law Review, the Ohio State Law Journal, the Wake Forest Law Review, the University of Illinois Law Review, the Washington & Lee Law Review, the Florida Law Review, and the Akron Law Review, as well as in specialized publications like the Trademark Reporter, the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, the Journal of Intellectual Property Law, and the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal.

Eichner, Sam

Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP | Senior Counsel

Sam Eichner, a member of Pillsbury’s Intellectual Property practice, focuses on copyright and trademark disputes in federal court and before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). As a copyright and trademark litigator, Sam represents clients across industries—from fashion e-tailers and blockchain developers to universities and non-profit organizations. Sam has litigated cases to trial, and resolved many disputes through settlement and mediation, invariably seeking practical business solutions for his clients.

Fink, Karl

Nixon Peabody | Senior Counsel

Karl Fink works with clients in various intellectual property litigation, patent litigation, and IP protection matters. He routinely litigates cases regarding an extensive range of technologies.

Fried, Ian

DME Law LLP | Founding Partner

Ian Fried has spent two decades at the intersection of media and technology. He serves as Chair of DEG.AI, the AI-focused alliance within DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, and as DEG’s General Counsel. He is also a founding partner of DME Law LLP, a boutique firm that advises companies ranging from Fortune 500 enterprises to early-stage startups. As a fractional executive and advisor, he works with major studios, producers, platforms, technology and machine learning companies on AI strategy, rights frameworks, content creation, distribution and protection. His career tracks the industry’s major turning points: helping build Paramount’s digital business, structuring the Netflix deal for House of Cards, and shaping YouTube’s creator-centric original content strategy. Today he works across the divide between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, helping companies navigate transformation.

Gale, James A.

Cozen O'Connor | Co-Chair, Intellectual Property Litigation

James A. Gale is the co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice. He is a registered patent attorney with more than 40 years of experience and is Chambers Band 1 ranked in Florida, Martindale AV Preeminent© rated, Board Certified in Intellectual Property by the Florida Bar, and the former inaugural chair of Florida's IP Board Certification Committee. Jim has handled hundreds of cases involving patents, theft of trade secrets, restrictive covenants, trademarks, unfair competition, and internet disputes. He has appeared in over 400 federal cases in more than 48 federal district and circuit courts, as well as handled hundreds of injunctions in over 35 different states around the nation. An accomplished intellectual property litigator, Jim’s client list includes national and international high-technology manufacturers, as well as traditional brick-and-mortar clients.

Garberg, Morten

Hoffmann Eitle | Partner

Morten Garberg is a partner and co-head of HOFFMANN EITLE’s Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals practice group. Since starting his patent law career in the firm’s London office in 2002, Morten has gained extensive experience in representation of clients at the European Patent Office, specializing in opposition and appeal work. Now based in Munich, his expertise with patent work spans a wide variety of technical fields, including pharmaceuticals, polymers, foods and medical devices.

Goldberg, Joshua

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP | Partner

Joshua Goldberg, partner in Finnegan’s Washington, DC office, is a former leader of Finnegan’s PTAB trials section, focusing on inter partes review (IPR), post grant review (PGR), and ex parte reexamination (EPR) proceedings before the USPTO, as well as related appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has served as lead or backup counsel in more than 350 PTAB proceedings across a wide range of technologies, representing both petitioners and patent owners.

Goldberg, Joshua B.

Nath, Goldberg & Meyer | Co-Managing Partner

Joshua Goldberg is Co-Managing Partner and the Partner-in-Charge of the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Department of Nath, Goldberg & Meyer. Mr. Goldberg’s practice involves preparing and acquiring U.S. and foreign patents for his clients across a wide range of technology areas. His current practice places a particular emphasis on pharmaceutical, agriculture, and alternative energy technologies. He also advises corporate, university, and independent clients not only in how to obtain patents, but also how to bring new products to market without infringing someone else’s patents.

Harris, Phil

Holland & Hart | Partner

Phil Harris is a partner, registered patent attorney, and patent practice group leader at Holland & Hart. His practice focuses on client counseling along with preparing and prosecuting U.S. and foreign patent applications (with special focus on cutting-edge technology) for clients of various structures and industries, including wireless communications, network design, machine learning and artificial intelligence, memory and computer architecture, circuit and chip design, methods of manufacturing, medical devices, and other complex technologies.

Herman, Michele

JusTech Law, PLLC | Founder

Michele’s practice at JusTech Law focuses exclusively on legal and business issues affecting technology development and commercialization such as technology standards, open source software, and intellectual property transactions.

Irving, Thomas L.

The Marbury Law Group, PLLC | Senior Partner

Tom Irving is Senior Partner at the Marbury Law Group with some 50 years of experience in the field of intellectual property law. My practice emphasizes patent law experting, due diligence investigations, Orange Book listings, and counseling and opinion work, particularly on ODP and MPF. I successfully reissued the patent for the drug Lovenox®, a blockbuster product, and represented targets Agouron, Principia Biopharma, and Endocyte in patent work resulting in deals respectively garnering $2.1, $3.68, and $2.1 billion USD, as publicly reported. I filed an expert report and was cross examined on prosecution laches for CureVac against BioNTech /Pfizer. In settlement, CureVac received $740 million and a running royalty on Covid-19 vaccine sales in the U.S. I have also filed two expert reports dealing with inequitable conduct and one on duty of care in patent filing and prosecution.

Jungreis, Rivka

Teva Pharmaceuticals USA | Patent Litigator

Rivka Jungreis is a patent litigator at Teva Pharmaceuticals USA. She handles an extensive docket of pharmaceutical patent litigation involving Teva’s generic, branded, biologic, and biosimilar products. Rivka also advises the company on a variety of trade secret, FDA regulatory, and antitrust issues in the pharma space.

Landy, Barry

Ciresi Conlin, LLP | Partner

Barry Landy is an accomplished trial lawyer at Ciresi Conlin, renowned for his expertise in complex commercial litigation, with a particular focus on trade secrets, breach of contract, fraud, financial services litigation, and class actions. He represents businesses and individuals nationwide in high-stakes disputes in federal and state courts, and brings extensive experience in appellate advocacy, having appeared before multiple federal and state appellate courts.

Levine, David

Levine Bagade Han LLP

Mr. Levine’s practice includes domestic and foreign patent drafting and prosecution, trademark prosecution, IP portfolio management, and strategy development. Mr. Levine’s practice also includes intellectual property due diligence and all aspects of intellectual property licensing and patent litigation support.

Liang, Mark

O’Melveny & Myers LLP | Partner

Mark Liang is a partner with O’Melveny & Myers LLP. He focuses his legal practice on patent and technology-related litigation, and AI counseling. He has experience in all stages of patent cases, including claim construction, fact and expert discovery, dispositive motions, trial, post-trial, and appeal. He represents clients in federal courts, the International Trade Commission, and United States Patent and Trademark Office, including reexaminations and inter partes review (IPR).

Marrone, Matthew

Dennemeyer & Associates | Senior Patent and Trademark Attorney

Matthew is the Lead Intellectual Property Attorney in Dennemeyer & Associates Chicago office. Matthew is a strategic leader committed to building the US practice, leading and managing legal teams to deliver high-value IP counsel to clients. A skilled legal strategist and a business-minded leader, Matthew is energized by building and protecting client's innovations, as well as managing client relationships, and mentoring attorneys.

McCrackin, Ann

AI-Enabled Attorney, LLC | Founder

Ann McCrackin is a patent attorney, Adjunct Professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, and founder of AI-Enabled Attorney LLC. She provides practical AI training and IP operations consulting for law firms and legal teams, with a focus on helping professionals use AI effectively in real patent and trademark workflows.

McDermott, Mary

CNA | Risk Control Consultant

Mary is a Risk Control Consultant for CNA’s Lawyers Professional Liability Program. In this role, she is part of the CNA team helping insureds practice better by providing risk control services. Mary helps craft risk control publications, and she provides direct assistance to insureds when insureds reach out with a concern about their practice. Mary also presents on risk control and best practices for addressing the latest troubling issue.

Miros, Robert

3rd Stone Design | CEO

Robert Miros is a designer, engineer, entrepreneur and executive. He presently serves as CEO for 3rd Stone Design, a company he founded 20 years ago in Northern California. The company engages in development and commercialization of health focused products for unmet global needs.

Myles, Mary Beth

Greenberg Traurig | Of Counsel

Mary Beth Myles recently returned to private practice after over nine years at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), where she served first as an Interlocutory Attorney and then as an Administrative Trademark Judge. She is currently Of Counsel at the Los Angeles office of Greenberg Traurig where she counsels clients on all aspects of trademark law, copyright law, brand protection and enforcement, and represents clients in disputes before the TTAB and in federal court.

Olson, Shana

Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC | Counsel

Shana L. Olson is counsel at Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC, where she focuses on trademark protection as part of a multidisciplinary brand strategy. She advises clients on U.S. and international trademark clearance, prosecution, enforcement, and portfolio management, with significant experience in inter partes proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Pennington Rhodes, Tammy

Supercharger | Principal

Ms. Tammy Pennington Rhodes currently serves as Principal at Supercharger. She is a registered patent attorney with over 20 years of experience in patent litigation, drafting, and prosecution. She holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and began her legal career at a general civil litigation firm in Atlanta, Georgia.

Pool, Ryan

Millen, White, Zelano & Branigan, P.C. | Partner

Ryan Pool is a Partner at MWZB who specializes in chemical and life sciences patent prosecution. He is experienced in patent drafting, patent prosecution, and portfolio management. His practice has involved considerable work in the international patent sphere and he is the current Chair of the AIPLA IP Practice in Europe committee. Mr. Pool is interested in using data to find patent prosecution advantages for is clients to increase both prosecution effectiveness and efficiency. He has authored a number of papers to that end. His works have published in both US and international patent law industry publications. He will be discussing one such work today.

Potter, Karen

Morrison Foerster | Partner

Karen Potter, Ph.D., J.D. is a nationally recognized patent attorney and a leader of Morrison Foerster’s Cell and Gene Therapy Patent practice, based in San Diego, California. With more than 20 years of experience in life sciences intellectual property, Karen advises biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on patent strategy, prosecution, and global portfolio management for advanced cell, gene, and immunotherapy products.

Rattray, Adam

WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center | Head of the External Relations and Planning Section

Adam Rattray is the Head of the External Relations and Planning Section of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. He works closely with the WIPO Center’s IP Disputes Section to facilitate the provision of efficient ADR services and to provide training on mediation and arbitration for IP and technology-related disputes. Before joining WIPO he worked at the Geneva office of the law firm White & Case as a member of the WTO and international trade law practice.

Richmond, Douglas

Lockton Companies | Senior Vice President

Doug Richmond is a Senior Vice President with the Lockton Companies, where he advises Lockton’s law firm clients on professional responsibility and liability issues. He joined Lockton after retiring as a Managing Director of Aon’s Professional Services Practice, where he led Aon’s loss prevention services across all professions. Before joining Aon, Doug was a partner with Armstrong Teasdale LLP in Kansas City, Missouri (1989–2004), where he had a broad civil trial and appellate practice. He is a former member of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability (2020–2023) and the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2016–2019). Doug earned his J.D. from the University of Kansas..

Roby, Rebecca

Warshawsky Law Group | Senior Intellectual Property, Marketing, and Commercial Law Executive

Sebor, Angela

Tolmar | Director Intellectual Property

Angie Sebor is the Director Intellectual Property at Tolmar, Inc., a Colorado-based, fully integrated pharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative, specialty pharmaceutical products in the areas of urology, oncology, pediatric endocrinology and men’s health. Angie is a registered U.S. patent agent with a Ph.D. in Immunology and more than 27 years’ experience in patent law, both as an in-house practitioner and in private practice, primarily in the areas of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

Sheppard, Christal A.

University of Nebraska College of Law | Law Professor

Dr. Christal Sheppard has over 3 decades of science, intellectual property law and policy experience covering a large proportion of the IP ecosystem. Her experience includes serving as chief counsel of patent and trademarks in the United States House of Representatives, as the first Director of the first USPTO Regional Office, as a member of the Administration's Public Patent Advisory Committee, and in the International Trade Commission’s General Counsel’s Office. Currently she is Lecturer at University of Nebraska College of Law, and has served as a Distinguished Fellow at the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center.

Slavich, Michelle

Promise Advanced Imagination | Chief Marketing Officer

Michelle Slavich is Chief Marketing Officer at Promise Advanced Imagination, a groundbreaking entertainment studio harnessing generative AI to reimagine how films and series are made. A global marketing and communications leader, she has guided giants like Google (YouTube), Netflix, Warner Bros., and NBCUniversal through transformative growth, high-stakes product launches, and organizational change.

Smalley, Laura W.

Harris Beach PLLC | Partner

Laura W. Smalley is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group of Harris Beach PLLC, one of the leading law firms in New York State as ranked by the National Law Journal. She was selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America and represents clients in patent licensing, litigation and prosecution. Laura focuses on protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights and clients’ development of their technology. She has litigated numerous patent infringement suits involving medical devices, electronic components and imaging technology, including acting as trial counsel in a patent infringement action over key components for pacemakers and implantable defibrillators that resulted in a $27 million judgment.

Smythe, Alexandra

IDE Group | Director of Regulatory Affairs

Alexandra Low Smythe is Director of Regulatory Affairs for IDE Group, a global medical device commercialization firm building meaningful medtech ventures. She has nearly a decade of experience deeply involved in all phases of the medical device product lifecycle, managing both global regulatory and the intellectual property strategy for multiple employers and clients, including a major innovator in the radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging industry. With a unique background combining engineering and law, Alexandra carefully balances maintaining regulatory compliance and respecting and protecting intellectual property rights with achieving strategic business objectives.

Stignani, Mark

Barnes & Thornburg, LLP | Partner

Mark is an attorney who integrates Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning with his extensive experience as a corporate and IP counsel. By leveraging stacks of AI tools accessing the open web, private databases, social media, and governmental registrations, Mark creates comprehensive profiles of clients, competitors, and potential acquisition targets, uncovering valuable insights that lead to successful business strategies and cost-saving measures. As a registered patent attorney with 36 of his own patent filings across 11 countries, Mark's technical expertise spans a wide range of industries.

Stockton, Richard

Banner Witcoff | Attorney

Richard Stockton is a principal shareholder at Banner Witcoff in Chicago. He received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and a law degree cum laude from the University of Illinois, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law, Technology & Policy.

Sullivan, Kelu

Kelly IP, LLP | Partner

Kelu Sullivan is a seasoned intellectual property attorney with Kelly IP, LLP, a trademark and copyright boutique based in Washington, D.C. with nearly two decades of experience in trademark, copyright, and domain name law. Kelu is particularly experienced in the management of global trademark portfolios and providing creative and practical business-focused intellectual property protection, licensing, and enforcement strategies.

Szweras, Melanie

Bereskin & Parr LLP | Partner

Melanie’s practice focuses on drafting and prosecution of applications relating to biologics, diagnostics, biotechnology, food and pharmaceuticals. Melanie offers strategic advice and expertise to her clients, provides validity and freedom to operate opinions and is involved in related patent litigation and licensing.

Talbert, Hayley J.

Seed IP Law Group, LLP | Partner

Hayley devotes her time to strategic intellectual property counseling in the electrical, software, and mechanical arts, focusing on efficient and effective patent prosecution. She received a B.S. (cum laude) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida (2004) and a J.D. from Willamette University College of Law (2008).

Till, Mary

Finnegan Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP | Of Counsel

Mary C. Till is of counsel in Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP’s Washington, DC office. She leverages her over 30 years of experience in patent law to provide patent prosecution counseling services to a broad range of clients. Drawing on her insider’s perspective with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), her capabilities range from the representation of large corporations to startups and universities needing patent procurement, portfolio evaluations, and portfolio management and strategy services.

Townes, Nicole

Friedland Cianfrani LLP | Partner

Nicole Townes is a partner in the Irvine office of Friedland Cianfrani LLP. Nicole has represented a wide range of clients in trademark, trade dress, copyright and licensing counseling and litigation, as well as false advertising, unfair competition, trade secret and patent litigation. Her practice includes domestic and international trademark selection and clearance, prosecution, and procurement.

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.

Zhu, Tammy

Runway | Associate General Counsel

Tammy Zhu is a technology lawyer focused on artificial intelligence and intellectual property, and she serves as the Associate GC at Runway. Tammy has written and spoken on emerging legal frameworks for AI, including copyrightability, implementing AI tools, and navigating IP challenges.