Speakers

Osha Bergman Watanabe Burton | Partner

Seema Mehta's practice includes foreign and domestic trademark prosecution and worldwide patent procurement and enforcement, including appeals practice, postgrant proceedings at the USPTO, validity and infringement opinions, IP counseling, IP litigation, and management of IP portfolios in the field of electronics, mechanics, optics, physics, telecommunications, and software, including machine learning and AI applications.

Meigs, J. Timothy

AgBiome, Inc. | Chief IP Counsel

Tim Meigs has practiced intellectual property law since 1993 and is currently Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at AgBiome, Inc. in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Tim began his practice at patent law firms in Greensboro and Raleigh, NC. He then spent 8 years specializing in biotechnology patent law as an in-house attorney with various incarnations of CIBA-Geigy, Novartis, and Syngenta. Tim then joined the Washington, DC, intellectual property law firm, Sughrue Mion, where he was primarily engaged in biotechnology patent interference practice. In 2005, Tim moved back to NC and spent nearly 17 years with BD (Becton, Dickinson, and Company), where he was responsible for IP matters at BD’s corporate research unit as well as several BD businesses over the years, including BD Surgery and parts of BD Life Sciences.

Melehani, Will

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP | Partner

Will Melehani is an Intellectual Property partner at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. Will is a trial lawyer whose practice focuses on all stages of intellectual property litigation and complex commercial cases, including appeals. Over the course of his career, Will has achieved success for clients in a range of fields, including consumer electronics, video games, wireless communications, semiconductor memory, e-commerce, video streaming, telecommunications, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Will earned his J.D. from UC Berkeley Law in 2012 and has a B.S. in Genetics from UC Davis.

Vincenzo Melilli

Bugnion S.p.A | Head of Design Law Department

Vincenzo is the Head of Design Law Department at Bugnion S.p.A.

Melissa Beare

Nuvectra Corp. | EVP & General Counsel

Melnick, Sue

Bay Equity | Chief Compliance& Operating Officer

Sue has worked at Bay Equity LLC since 2008 initially as outside counsel and then in 2012 and since in various roles with increasing responsibility. She is responsible for all mortgage operations for the company which operates in 42 states as an independent mortgage bank, as well as managing the legal department in her role as CCO and COO.

Melwani, Dinesh

Bookoff McAndrews PLLC | Partner

Dinesh N. Melwani is a partner at Bookoff McAndrews (BoMc). He works closely with clients to develop patent strategies that protect their innovative technologies and maximize the potential for commercial success. In addition to preparing and prosecuting U.S. and international patent applications, Dinesh is often called upon for his ability to translate IP risks into business risks, and provide strategic guidance and oversight. In this regard, Dinesh studies competitor patent portfolios to counsel clients on contemplated products and potential design-arounds.

Mertzel, Nancy J.

Mertzel Law PLLC | Principal and Founder

Nancy J. Mertzel is the Founder of Mertzel Law PLLC, a boutique intellectual property firm with offices in New York and New Jersey. Nancy handles copyright, trademark, technology, and entertainment disputes and counseling. Her litigation practice concentrates on copyright and trademark infringement. On the transactional side, she handles trademark clearance, prosecution and portfolio management and drafts and negotiates IP agreements. She also advises clients on copyright issues including fair use and artificial intelligence.

Meyer, Abby

Sheppard Mullin | Partner

Abby Meyer is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group at Sheppard Mullin and the co-lead for the firm's Food and Beverage team. A seasoned litigator, she specializes in defending against consumer class actions targeting the food industry and in litigating complex civil business disputes. Ms. Meyer specializes in defending companies against consumer class actions targeting product information found on the labels of packaged goods or associated advertising materials. For instance, she has defended claims such as "natural," "vanilla," "Made in USA," "flushable," and sustainability claims. She has also defended against alleged slack fill, underfill, Proposition 65, and health halo class actions.

Meyer, David

Illumina | Senior Patent Attorney

Meyer, Mercedes K.

Banner Witcoff | Attorney

Mercedes Meyer, Ph.D., represents leading life science and technology companies maintaining an extensive biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent management, prosecution, opinion and due diligence practice. With a doctorate in virology and degree in chemistry, Mercedes has a deep understanding of complex biotechnology and scientific research, which is key for advising life science clients on commercializing and protecting product innovations as well as performing diligence for investing in new technologies, particularly in corporate joint development projects. Mercedes advises on developing patent strategies, managing the intellectual property rights, and making associated investments and acquisitions. Mercedes also handles patent reexaminations and inter partes matters.

Meyer, Michelle

NIL Network | Founder

Michelle Meyer has worked in and around college sports for the past 15+ years. She is a former collegiate and professional athlete, coached volleyball at multiple D1 universities, and managed the Olympic pipeline program for USA Beach Volleyball, including the development of the Collegiate Beach National Team. Michelle is deeply passionate about empowering young people to embrace their entrepreneurial side and believes that NIL reform now allows college athletes to explore the same creative opportunities as their peers. She founded NIL Network in November of 2020 as a resource to support athletes, coaches and administrators in navigating the NIL changes coming to college sports. Today, it is recognized as the premier hub of name, image, and likeness industry data and resources.

Michael Elkon

Fisher & Philips LLP | Partner

Michael Elkon is a partner in the Atlanta office. He helps companies recruit talent from competitors in a legal fashion and ensures that former employees do not exploit companies' key information and relationships.

Michel, Paul R.

US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (retired) | Chief Judge

Paul Michel served on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for 22 years before retiring as chief judge in 2010 to advocate for reviving the US Patent System. Along with Judge Kathleen O’Malley (Ret), he serves on the Board of Directors of C4IP and on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce’s BASIC Coalition opposing misuse of Bayh-Dole march in powers and the Inventors Defense Alliance defending access to third party litigation financing and thus patent justice for smaller companies and individual inventors.

Miles, Wade

United States Patent and Trademark Office | Primary Patent Examiner and Assistant Outreach Officer, Silicon Valley Regional Office

Wade is a Primary Patent Examiner in Technology Center 3700 at the USPTO. He started at the USPTO in 2008, and he is currently serving as an Assistant Outreach Officer for the Silicon Valley Regional Office As an examiner, he examines a wide variety of medical devices for patentability, including stents, lancets, heart valves, and surgical robots. Wade has also served on numerous details within the USPTO, including details with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Technical Quality Assurance Shop, and Patent Training Academy. Prior to joining the USPTO, he earned a J.D. from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering from Mississippi State University.

Milewski, Julia

Crowell & Moring LLP | Counsel

Julia Milewski is a counsel in the firm’s Litigation Group. Julia’s practice focuses on complex civil litigation in state and federal courts across the country, domestic and foreign alternative dispute resolution, and counseling clients on corporate compliance.

Millar, Sheila A.

Keller and Heckman LLP | Partner

Sheila Millar leads Keller and Heckman’s consumer protection regulatory practices and brings deep experience to a range of public policy and regulatory matters, including advertising and promotions, sustainability and environmental claims, connected products, privacy, cybersecurity, and product safety. She counsels United States (U.S.) and international businesses on compliance questions and processes, represents them in regulatory enforcement matters, and advocates on their behalf before federal and state legislative and regulatory bodies.

Brandon Miller

Clarkston Consulting | DE&I Services Lead

Brandon spearheads professional development, organizational, marketing and training initiatives to help promote diversity and enable an inclusive workplace. He advises clients on DE&I strategy, transformation, and action. Brandon is a certified Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) qualified administrator and coach, a frequent speaker on unconscious bias and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, and a published author. At Clarkston, Brandon is the current Chair of the firm's diversity council.

Miller, Kimberly

Knobbe Martens | Partner

Dr. Kim Miller is a Partner at Knobbe Martens and serves as a single point of contact for all IP-related matters her clients face. For more established companies, she easily adapts to their processes and procedures, blending seamlessly into their existing corporate structure while adding valuable insight regarding how to better leverage their IP assets. For smaller, emerging and fast-growth companies, Kim works diligently to identify the vision going forward, as well as to provide advice and procedural solutions that fit their agenda today and into the future. Regardless of the size or extent of her clients’ IP assets, Kim is totally dedicated to conserving financial and other resources while seeking to ensure they get what they specifically need to succeed.

Millican, Sarani

Dorsey & Whitney | Associate

Sarani Rangarajan Millican is an intellectual property litigation associate with Dorsey & Whitney LLP. Sarani has represented her clients in both litigation (from state court to the International Court of Justice) and advocacy contexts (from negotiating housing court disputes to presenting at the United Nations). Sarani’s strengths include translating complex technical information into layman’s terms, finding solutions to messy problems, and effective cross-cultural communication. At Dorsey, Sarani primarily works on trade secret matters and patent infringement disputes.

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