Kevin Culligan is a Shareholder and member of Maynard Cooper’s Intellectual Property Litigation and Intellectual Property Protection practice groups. He has focused his practice for more than 35 years on the litigation, trial, arbitration and appeal of intellectual property matters, concentrating primarily on patent, trade secret and unfair competition cases in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology and financial services. Kevin also has extensive licensing experience, including the development and execution of licensing and enforcement programs involving patent portfolios that include hundreds of patents.

In 2014 and 2016, Kevin was honored as one of the best of the best patent litigators in the country and in 2014 as one of the 30 best practitioners in the field worldwide by The Legal Media Group. He has also been recognized for his patent litigation work by Managing Intellectual Property and IAM, and was named as one of the preeminent life sciences practitioners in North America in Euromoney LMG’s 2012 and 2014 editions of “Life Sciences”.

Kevin is a frequent lecturer on various intellectual property law matters, and he served as a faculty member for organizations that include the Practising Law Institute and the American Conference Institute.

Before joining Maynard Cooper & Gale, Culligan was a partner in Goodwin Procter’s IP Litigation Group, Patent Litigation Practice and FinTech Practice. He earned an A.B. in Biology from Colgate University in 1976 and a J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1980, and was a partner for many years at Fish & Neave before that patent litigation firm merged with another firm in 2005.

In his role as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Andrei Iancu provides leadership and oversight to one of the largest intellectual property offices in the world, with more than 12,000 employees and an annual budget of over $3 billion. He also serves as the principal advisor to the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, on domestic and international intellectual property policy matters.

Prior to joining the USPTO, Mr. Iancu was the Managing Partner at Irell & Manella LLP, where his practice focused on intellectual property litigation. Mr. Iancu appeared in a variety of high-profile matters in front of the USPTO, U.S. district courts, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. International Trade Commission. He has represented clients across the technical and scientific spectra, including those associated with medical devices, genetic testing, therapeutics, the Internet, telephony, TV broadcasting, video game systems and computer peripherals.

Mr. Iancu has also taught patent law at the UCLA School of Law, and has written and spoken publicly on a variety of intellectual property issues. Prior to his legal career, Mr. Iancu was an engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company.

Throughout his career, many organizations have recognized Mr. Iancu for his work. Among his legal community accolades, the Daily Journal, California Lawyer magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, and many others have acknowledged his expertise in commercial litigation and intellectual property law. Mr. Iancu has also been the recipient of the Patent and Trademark Office Society 36th Annual Rossman Award, the Hughes Aircraft Malcolm R. Currie Innovation Award, and the Melville B. Nimmer Copyright Award. Mr. Iancu holds a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law. He also has a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, both from UCLA. Mr. Iancu was born in Bucharest, Romania. He has lived in the United States since the age of 12. He and his wife Dr. Luiza C. Iancu have two children, Ariella and Robert.

Tariq joined the USPTO in 1992 as a patent examiner and in 2012 became a Group Director for Technology Center 2600 specializing in Communications and is now a Group Director in Business Methods for TC 3600. Tariq was part of the team to launch the Post Prosecution Pilot (P3), led efforts to revamp the initial After Final Consideration Pilot to 2.0 and is a lead on Interview Practice team that provides support and training for internal and external stakeholders on interview practice. Prior to USPTO, he worked in software development at Computer Sciences Corporation for over three years. Tariq earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from the College of William and Mary with graduate work in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech.

Erika Arner chairs Finnegan's patent prosecution practice. She focuses on patent prosecution management, client counseling, and litigation, with an emphasis on electronic technology, computer software, and the Internet. Ms. Arner has helped clients of all sizes to establish and grow patent portfolios, align intellectual property strategy with business objectives, and adapt to the evolving legal landscape, including the America Invents Act.

Ms. Arner is a well-known authority in the area of business method patents and patent-eligibility jurisprudence. She represented the petitioners before the U.S. Supreme Court in Bilski v. Kappos, and has advised clients on issues related to patentable subject matter before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. district courts, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. She has also served as lead counsel before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in post-grant review proceedings involving covered business method patents.

Ms. Arner has provided opinions on patentability, infringement, and validity of patents, and drafted or overseen the drafting of more than 150 patent applications for business method, electrical, telecommunications, and software-based technologies. She is a frequent author and lecturer on business method and computer-related patents.

Jeffrey Berkowitz, managing partner of the firm's Reston office, practices litigation, client counseling, and patent prosecution involving software and telecommunications-related inventions. He has broad experience in all aspects of patent litigation, including pre-filing investigations, discovery, preliminary injunctions, and drafting and arguing claim construction and summary judgment motions.

Mr. Berkowitz provides opinions on patentability, infringement, and validity of patents. He has drafted and overseen the drafting of thousands of patent applications for electrical, electronics, telecommunications, and software-based technologies. Patent portfolios he has managed protect a range of technologies, including adaptive distributed systems; code mobility; remote network resource leasing; network self-healing; runtime service discovery mechanisms; transaction management services; features of set-top boxes and modems; mobile devices, including many standards essential patents; and software applications, including ecommerce, FinTech, cybersecurity, search, and social networking.

Mr. Berkowitz regularly speaks and writes on current topics in intellectual property law. He has published, presented, and taught classes on software patents, AIA post-grant proceedings, and section 101 patent eligibility at programs sponsored by various trade and academic organizations, including World Congress, IPR Resources, ACC Israel, Practicing Law Institute (former program chair), Glasser LegalWorks Seminars (former program chair), Patent Resources Group (PRG), IBC, and EuroForum.

Mr. Bromberg joined Morgan Stanley in 2000. He has global responsibility for all intellectual property matters. He is also responsible for a broad range of transactional matters.

Mr. Bromberg currently serves as co-Head of the SIFMA Intellectual Property Sub-Committee which represents hundreds of securities firms, banks and asset managers.

Prior to Morgan Stanley, Mr. Bromberg was a patent litigator at Morgan & Finnegan (1991-2000) and an electronics designer at Honeywell (1986-1989).

Mr. Bromberg has a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.S.E.E. from Tufts University. He is a member of the New York and Massachusetts bars and a registered patent attorney.

Maxine Graham is currently VP & Chief IP Counsel at American Express Company. In her current position, Ms. Graham has global responsibility for intellectual property (IP) matters for Amex. She leads the Intellectual Property Law & Strategy team that handles Amex’s trademarks, patents, copyrights, licensing, M&A, commercial transactions, litigation, and intellectual property strategy. Prior to joining American Express, Ms. Graham was patent litigator at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP. Ms. Graham is a member of the New York bar and is a registered patent attorney with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. She graduated with a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School, has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Physics from Furman University.

Elizabeth Lester is Intellectual Property Counsel at Equifax, where she manages the global intellectual property portfolio and provides counseling on intellectual property issues in transactional matters. Prior to joining Equifax, Elizabeth was an associate at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, where her practice was focused on patent prosecution and intellectual property transactions. Elizabeth received a J.D. from Georgia State University, a M.S. in chemical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky. She is actively involved in various professional and community activities, including serving as a board member of the Intellectual Property Owners Association, a Girl Scout Troop leader, and raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through Team in Training.

Colm is currently General Counsel, Intellectual Property at MasterCard in Purchase, New York. In his current position, Colm has global responsibility for intellectual property (IP) and related technology legal matters for MasterCard. He oversees a team of 18 professionals that handle MasterCard’s trademarks, patents, copyrights, licensing and technology transfers on a worldwide basis. MasterCard’s IP portfolio comprises over 13,000 trademarks in 220 countries and over 3,500 patents and patent applications worldwide.

Colm joined MasterCard in 1995 as Vice President and Senior Counsel. Prior to his employment with MasterCard, Colm was previously Senior Counsel with PepsiCo, Inc., where he had responsibility for trademark and related intellectual property matters for PepsiCo’s beverage divisions. Colm previously was associated with the law firms Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Morgan & Finnegan.

Colm has been recognized by a number of industry awards and honors. Colm was named as “In House Counsel of the Year” by the World Trademark Review (WTR) in May 2016 at the International Trademark Association (INTA) Annual Meeting. In May 2015, the MasterCard IP group received the “Financial & Professional Services Team of the Year” award by the WTR. In June 2017, Mastercard’s IP team won an award as “Best IP Department, Overall Strategy” at the International General Counsel Awards event of the International Legal Alliance Summit and Awards (ILASA). Colm was also named as an “IP Star” by Managing Intellectual Property in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Colm is a frequent speaker at IP industry conferences and seminars.

Colm is a graduate of Fordham University Law School in New York City. He has a degree in biological sciences from Bennington College and participated in research at a number of laboratories, including receiving a National Science Foundation research grant at Princeton University. Colm is a member of the New York and patent bars. He is also a member of the ABA and American Corporate Counsel Association (ACCA), and was President of the Westchester/Southern Connecticut Chapter of ACCA (WESFACCA) during 2014 - 2015. He also participates as a founding member of The Conference Board’s Chief IP Officer Council.

Matthew Kelly is the Managing Director and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the world’s largest and most diverse derivatives exchange. He is a patent attorney and is in charge of all aspects of intellectual property including the patent and trademarks prosecution, intellectual property licensing, acquisitions and litigation.

Mr. Klocinski is Senior Managing Counsel and Senior Intellectual Property Counsel at MasterCard Worldwide, a global technology company and payments industry leader.

As an intellectual property professional with more than 25 years of experience cutting across the private and public sectors, Mr. Klocinski has successfully worked with a broad range of technologies including computer software, electronics, advanced business processes, telecommunications, semiconductors and acoustics. Mr. Klocinski's specialties include intellectual property strategy (with an emphasis on patent portfolio building and management), intellectual property risk mitigation and dispute resolution and treatment of intellectual property in commercial agreements.

Prior to joining MasterCard in March 2012, Mr. Klocinski was a Vice-President and Assistant General Counsel at CA, Inc. for six years. As Assistant General Counsel, he designed and implemented the company's patent program, directed the preparation and prosecution of patent applications, managed intellectual property risk mitigation, supported IP issues in mergers and acquisitions and litigation, managed trademark clearance, filing, prosecution and dispute resolution and managed CA’s copyright program.

For three years, starting in 2001, Mr. Klocinski was Assistant General Counsel at Capital One Financial. His responsibilities included, managing invention intake, preparing and prosecuting of patent applications, designing and implementing patent strategy, managing patent risk mitigation, and consulting on patent issues in mergers and acquisitions.

In addition to his corporate experience, Mr. Klocinski has also practiced with the Washington D.C. offices of Baker Botts, Hunton & Williams, and Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner. Mr. Klocinski's private practice experience focused on patent prosecution, patent portfolio management, patent litigation and risk mitigation and general intellectual property client counseling.

Prior to and while enrolled in Law School at Georgetown University Law Center, Mr. Klocinski worked as an Examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office where he researched and prepared official actions and appeal briefs for United States patent applications and PCT applications related to image analysis.

Mr. Klocinski holds a J.D. from Georgetown Law School and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University.

Dan Pirolo is currently the Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel for Intellectual Property and Technology for Synchrony Financial. In that role, he is responsible for managing all aspects of Synchrony's IP program, including patent portfolio development and enforcement. Prior to joining Synchrony, Dan was a senior IP litigator for the General Electric Company, and helped form a new global group to manage IP litigation across all GE businesses. Before joing GE, Dan was a complex commercial litigator for Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston, Texas, where he represented clients in a variety of disputes including intellectual property, antitrust, securities laws, and corporate governance. Dan holds a BS in Geology from Texas A&M University and a JD from Notre Dame Law School.

W. Karl Renner is a Principal in the Washington, D.C. office of Fish & Richardson P.C. Mr. Renner co-chairs the firm’s Post-Grant Practice Group, and he serves on the firm’s Management Committee. His practice emphasizes client counseling, strategic patent prosecution, contentious inter and ex parte post-grant and reissue work, due diligence and freedom-to-operate investigations, and patent-related opinion work. In this practice, Mr. Renner has provided the strategic direction for well over 300 AIA post-grant matters, challenging and defending patents, most commonly in coordination with litigation counsel amidst co-pending disputes. Recently, Mr. Renner was elected to serve as an interim director of the PTAB Bar Association, the first national bar association of its kind to form in more than 30 years. The PTAB Bar Association intends to establish best practices for the unique practice and skills required before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.