2018 Speaking Faculty

Tim Bedard is currently the Vice President of Intellectual Property Strategy for Visa Inc. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of Visa’s IP strategy and policy including patent portfolio development and management. Prior to joining Visa, he spent 10 years at Johnson & Johnson where he established J&J;’s Intellectual Property Center of Excellence. In this role he was responsible for managing the patent portfolios and patent strategy for J&J;’s Advanced Sterilization Products, Ethicon Surgical Care, Cordis, Biosurgery, Biosense Webster, Mentor and SterilMed franchises. Prior to joining J&J;, Tim was a patent litigator at K&L; Gates LLP where he litigated and tried patent cases related to ion implantation, breast implants and steel framing. Tim began his professional career as a naval officer serving 8 years in the Navy initially flying the P-3 Orion aircraft and later serving as an aide-de-camp to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Tim holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, a Juris Doctor from the Duquesne University School of Law and an MBA from the Yale University School of Management.

Carol Anne Been serves on the leadership team for and is pastchair of the Intellectual Property and Technology practice. She heads the legacy Intellectual Property Strategy; Trademark, Copyrightand Advertising; and Intellectual Property Transactionalpractices.

Carol Anne has extensive experience in trademark, copyright,advertising, electronic and new media, technology, entertainmentand publishing law. She uses her years of broad experience toprovide strategic, effective and efficient representation to adiverse array of clients. Carol Anne’s practice includes:

• Counseling on intellectual property strategy, structure, protection and enforcement
• Creating brand recognition and value through trademark clearance, prosecution, transactions and litigation
• Domain name protection, acquisitions and disputes
• Advising on Internet websites, online and mobile sales, marketing programs and online IP protection
• Developing and protecting copyrights through counseling, registration, transactions and litigation
• Negotiating and drafting of brand and copyright licensing and merchandising programs
• Development and execution of advertising campaigns and sweepstakes and promotions
• Counseling on trade secrets and competitive intelligence
• Online services, website development, software as service (cloud), software development, technology licensing agreements
• Joint technology development, collaboration agreements
• IP aspects of mergers, acquisitions and financings. IP audits
• Domestic and international representations

Chief Judge Braden was appointed to the United States Court of Federal Claims on July 14, 2003, by President George W. Bush, after being confirmed by unanimous consent of the United States Senate. She was sworn into office by Senator Jeff Sessions. On March 13, 2017, President Donald J. Trump appointed Judge Braden as Chief Judge.

On March 2, 2018, the Howard University Law School presented Chief Judge Braden with an award for “the Advancement of Intellectual Property Law.” In September 2017, Chief Judge Braden was appointed as a member of the Administrative Conference’s Committee on Judicial Review and assigned to the Agency Guidance Project.

In January 2015, Judge Braden was appointed by the American Law Institute as one of seven Judicial Advisors to the RESTATEMENT OF THE LAW ON COPYRIGHT. In 2015, Judge Braden was appointed as a member of the Howard University Law School Intellectual Property Program Advisory Board. In 2013, Judge Braden was appointed to the Judges Special Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and named as Chair of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Advisory Council of the United States Court of Federal Claims. In 2012, Judge Braden received the Linn Inn Alliance Distinguished Service Medal at the New York Intellectual Property Lawyers Association Annual Dinner. In 2012, Judge Braden was appointed as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law Task Force to consider how to more efficiently adjudicate “small” patent infringement cases. In November 2011, she was recognized at a United States Supreme Court ceremony, and received the American Inns of Court’s Platinum Distinction Award for her work as President of the Giles S. Rich American Inn of Court. She also has served as a Member of the Editorial Board of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.

From 2009 to 2012, Judge Braden was appointed as a Member of the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility-Judges Advisory Committee of the American Bar Association. In 2007, Judge Braden was elected as a Member of the American Law Institute and was active in drafting RESTATEMENT OF LAW THIRD, RESTITUTION AND UNJUST ENRICHMENT. In 2004, she was inducted as a Senior Fellow of the ABA’s Administrative Law and Regulatory Section by Justice O’Connor at a ceremony held at the United States Supreme Court.

Prior to joining the bench, Judge Braden litigated complex federal and administrative law cases in private practice in trial and appellate courts. In particular, her work in the intellectual property area received favorable notice in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Law Journal, and the Journal of the American Bar Association, and was featured in Interfaces on Trial: Intellectual Property and Interoperability In The Global Software Industry. In 1996, Judge Braden was honored by the Computer Law Association for winning multiple decisions in the Eastern District of New York, the Eastern District of Texas, the Second Circuit, and a certified question to the Supreme Court of Texas in Computer Assocs. Int’l, Inc. v. Altai Inc., a landmark case that changed the application of copyright law to computer software. In 1998, she also won a companion case in France before the Cour de Appel de Paris.

In private practice, Judge Braden represented a wide variety of client interests before almost every major department and federal agency, testified before the United States Congress on a variety of matters, and was a principal lobbyist for the Emergency Oil and Steel Loan Guarantee Act of 1999, that established a $1 billion federal loan guarantee program to assist bankrupt and troubled steel mills and small oil companies. Judge Braden received a B.A. degree (1970) and J. D. degree (1973) from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She also attended post graduate courses at the Harvard Law School in the summer of 1978.

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.

Wendy Callaghan is Chief Innovation Legal Officer and Associate General Counsel at AIG, a position to which she was appointed in early April 2018. In this role, she leads a team of attorneys supporting AIG’s businesses, technology organization and functional areas on legal issues regarding innovative technologies and technology-fueled business models, including Blockchain/DLT, Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence/machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), Autonomous Vehicles and Sharing Economy. Wendy joined AIG in 2002 and, prior to her current role, has served as a technology attorney at the firm, providing legal support for strategic IT initiatives, vendor relationships and methodologies, including use of cloud services, open source software and agile software development methodology.

Prior to her tenure with AIG, Wendy served as an Associate Attorney in the Technology Practice Group at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, and as an Associate Attorney in the Internet Law and e-Commerce Group at Bryan Cave, LPP (formerly Robinson, Silverman, Pearce, Arohnson & Berman). She received her Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers School of Law – Newark in 1993, graduating with High Honors and achieving membership in the Order of the Coif.

Wendy is a founding member of the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Blockchain initiative. Her recent speaking engagements include participation as a panelist on the following topics: “Sharing Economy = Disruption” sponsored by the New York Chapter of the National African American Insurance Association; “Insurtech, Fintech, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies: Impact on the Insurance Industry and Coverage Considerations,” at the 2018 Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee CLE Seminar; “Effective Business Practices in the Open Source Cloud” at the Practicing Law Institute; and “Navigating Complex Technology Transactions” at the ACC-NYC Chapter’s 2017 Compliance Institute and Annual Meeting.

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.

Panagiota Dafniotis is a legal and strategic advisor on an enterprise wide and global basis to the Royal Bank of Canada businesses on intellectual property issues. Her responsibilities include the strategic management of a global intellectual property portfolio, identification and protection of patentable innovation, development and implementation of intellectual property policies, licensing, transactional intellectual property advice on mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances, third party contentious issues, IP litigation and promoting and transforming RBC’s culture into one that recognizes and protects its many innovations.

Tanguy de Carbonnières is Deputy General Counsel and Managing Director in Fannie Mae's Legal Department, in Washington, DC.

Tanguy leads the teams in charge of advising Fannie Mae's internal clients on Intellectual Property, Information Security, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Procurement, Social Media, Data licensing and management, and IT governance-related matters.

Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Tanguy worked in the DC office of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering, now WilmerHale, focusing on cross border transactions, transnational litigation and arbitration. Prior to relocating in the United States, Tanguy practiced law in Paris, France for six years, primarily litigating real estate and corporate matters.

Tanguy is a frequent speaker on topics relating to IP management in the financial services industry Tanguy is admitted in New York, the District of Columbia, and Paris, France (inactive).

Tanguy received an LL.M. from American University on international business transactions, focusing on international intellectual property protection, and a maîtrise en droit (JD equivalent) from the University of Paris II Assas.

Josh is the AVP of Intellectual Property and Patentable Innovation for The Toronto-Dominion Bank. He is responsible for TD's intellectual property matters on an enterprise wide basis. He manages a talented team of 8 professionals, lawyers and engineers, who oversee all aspects of IP at TD including, M&A;, commercial transactions, litigation, prosecution and patentable innovation.

Before joining TD, Josh worked at Torys and Ernst & Young.

Jonathan R. DeFosse is a litigation partner resident in Fried Frank’s Washington, DC office.

Mr. DeFosse's practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and counseling involving a wide range of product areas, including automotive technologies, consumer electronics, telecommunications, website design, cloud computing, and medical devices. Mr. DeFosse regularly appears in federal courts throughout the United States, including the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Texas, the Eastern District of Virginia, the District of Delaware, the Northern and Central Districts of California, and the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. DeFosse also regularly appears before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in connection with post-grant review proceedings.

Mr. DeFosse has an established track record of achieving successful outcomes on behalf of his clients. Within the last few years, Mr. DeFosse has obtained complete victories for his clients in numerous matters, including cases concerning diesel fuel injection systems, online health records management systems, drowsiness detection systems, and hybrid engines.

Mr. DeFosse also has substantial experience with inter partes review proceedings. For example, he has represented companies in petitions challenging the validity of patents concerning light-emitting panel displays, pattern recognition systems, telematics units, wireless communications systems, crash avoidance systems, hybrid engines, adaptive cruise control systems, and tail lights.

Alfredo Della Monica is a VP/Senior Counsel in the Global Privacy Team at American Express. He is responsible for advising on US privacy issues and continues to have an oversight role on EMEA data protection matters, after leading the team in London for the last 5 years. As a subject matter expert within the General Counsels’ Organization, Alfredo has a horizontal view of issues across the different AXP businesses and he regularly provides advice on complex - and cross country - privacy issues. Alfredo joined American Express in 2011 after spending almost 7 years with Cleary Gottlieb in Rome advising various clients on a broad range of regulatory matters, including data protection and privacy issues. Before that, he also worked as intern at the Italian Antitrust Authority and the Federal Trade Commission in NYC.

Alfredo graduated cum laude from the Law School of the University of Napoli “Federico II”. He further completed the European LL.M. degree at the College of Europe (in Bruges) in 2006, and he was awarded the LL.M. degree from Columbia Law School in New York City in 2007. Alfredo also holds a post-graduate diploma in computer forensics from the University of Milan. He speaks regularly at conferences and privacy events both in Europe and US. Alfredo published a few articles on privacy and digital issues such as “the corporate mailbox” and “the online advertisement revolution”. He is a member of the American Express Privacy Board and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Alfredo is a native Italian speaker, fluent in English, French and with a basic knowledge of Spanish. He lives in New York City and enjoys sports, theatre, running by the Hudson river and exploring good dining spots.

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.

Sarah Duda is Intellectual Property Counsel for the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). In her current role at CBOE, Ms. Duda advises on a broad range of matters, including: domestic and international IP protections, misappropriation, licensing, and litigation. Ms. Duda also advises business groups at CBOE with regard to aspects of innovation and the impact of IP on business ventures.

Barbara Fiacco is a Partner at Foley Hoag LLP. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School and handles complex intellectual property and business disputes. Her practice focuses on the life sciences, including therapeutic proteins and antibodies, small molecule compounds, drug delivery, molecular diagnostics, and medical devices. She has successfully litigated patent, trade secret, and inventorship disputes for global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical device manufacturers and research institutions. Barbara is AIPLA’s First Vice President and is leading AIPLA’s 101 Task Force. She has also served as Chair of AIPLA’s Committee on Legislation and Patent Law Committee. She is recognized as a leading IP lawyer in the Best Lawyers in America, IAM Patent 1000, Managing Intellectual Property’s IP Stars and Top 250 Women. Barbara can be contacted at [email protected].

Melissa Fisher is Executive Director and Associate General Counsel, Intellectual Property and Data for The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry. Melissa joined DTCC in November 2014 as the company’s first intellectual property attorney. In addition to providing counsel on intellectual property matters, Melissa supports DTCC’s Office of FinTech Strategy and DTCC Data Services. Prior to joining DTCC, Melissa was in-house counsel at Standard & Poor’s and managed a team responsible for providing legal support to S&P;’s data licensing business. Melissa also practiced at Sullivan & Cromwell and Paul Weiss, where she worked on intellectual property and technology matters in connection with complex mergers and acquisitions, commercial lending and securities transactions. Melissa has developed and presented educational programs on intellectual property topics, including intellectual property due diligence in M&A; transactions and technology escrow agreements. Melissa received her Bachelor of Arts in History from Columbia University in New York City and her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law in Camden, New Jersey. She is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey.

Rob Glance is SVP & Managing Counsel with Wells Fargo & Company. He leads Wells Fargo’s Patent and Technology legal team. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Mr. Glance was in private practice and was also associate general counsel at Fannie Mae in Washington, DC. At Fannie Mae, he was responsible for patent and other intellectual property matters. Mr. Glance is a member of the bars of New York, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, and he is a registered patent attorney with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. He graduated cum laude with a J.D. from Cornell Law School and has a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Masters in Engineering from the University of Maryland.

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.

Laura Himelstein is Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of EXL. She joined EXL in 2011 and is based in New York City, reporting to EXL’s General Counsel. At EXL, Ms. Himelstein specializes in intellectual property, information security and data privacy, and vendor compliance matters. She spends significant time negotiating major global client agreements for EXL’s analytics, insurance and platform businesses, as well as software license and vendor agreements. A current focus area for Ms. Himelstein is robotics and process automation, including developing standard protocols for her company, and negotiating RPA agreements with clients and software licenses with third party automation platform providers.

Prior to EXL, Ms. Himelstein worked as a technology lawyer at a global investment bank and at law firms (including one of the first “computer law” firms). She started her career in government litigating and advising on telecommunications matters for the City of New York.

Ms. Himelstein received a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale College and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. She resides with her children in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.

James Howard is Vice President and Associate General Counsel of The Clearing House Payments Company. He is a registered patent attorney who focuses on supporting the activities of the Patent Quality Initiative including filing inter partes reviews (IPRs), submitting amicus briefs in patent cases, and educational outreach. Prior to joining The Clearing House, he was an attorney with Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP where he primarily focused on patent litigation matters.

Milan Jovanovic is Assistant General Counsel of the Intellectual Property and Technology Law group at JPMorgan Chase. Milan is a registered U.S. patent attorney and responsible for managing the firm's patent and trademark portfolios. He also counsels clients on intellectual property strategy, transactions, and M&A; matters. Before joining JPMorgan Chase, Milan served as intellectual property counsel to Abbott Laboratories' nutrition division based in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to his position with Abbott Laboratories, Milan was in private practice where he counseled large corporations, hospital systems, and universities on all aspects of intellectual property law. Milan earned his B.S. and Ph.D. in biochemistry from The Ohio State University and his law degree from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.

Ed provides intellectual property advice and legal opinions and represents clients with appeals at the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeals Board, oppositions before the European patent office, and re-examination proceedings at the U.S. Patent Office. He also provides strategies for securing patents, trademarks and copyrights to a broad range of clients.

Ed works with a number of clients, protecting and defending IP related to medical devices, telecommunication, technology, semiconductor and MEMs technology, computer network technologies, and software. He also represents clients during investments, on legal opinions and with licensing. He has extensive experience before the Board of Appeals at the U.S. Patent Office, and before the examining and opposition division of the European Patent Office.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Ed worked as a hardware and software design engineer in the Signal Processing Group of Raytheon, the Benjamin Franklin Institute for Robotics, and the medical electronic division of Hewlett-Packard (now Philips).

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.

Joseph R. Klinicki is a partner at IP boutique Condo Roccia Koptiw LLP based out of Philadelphia, PA. Joe has managed his client’s domestic and international patent portfolios that range in size from a few core filings to thousands of assets worldwide. Joe has a range of experience advising start-ups, established firms, and large multi-nationals in several different industries. Joe’s practice is focused on advising clients regarding patent portfolio development and portfolio monetization. He understands that there are different ways patents and other IP can be used to support a company’s business objectives and believes that it important to understand a client’s business and strategic goals before an effective portfolio management strategy can be established.

In addition to portfolio management, Joe has extensive experience in patent prosecution, patent licensing, and patent litigation. Joe’s practice has involved diverse work in many industries such as telecommunications, data security, cloud computing, cryptography, financial services, computer software, video compression, and more.

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.

Brad Lawrence focuses his practice on intellectual property (IP) counseling including the protection of clients' inventions through carefully planned patent procurement, integrated with other strategic considerations, including development of licensing strategies and analysis of the IP and product positions of others. Brad also devotes a significant amount of time to performing product clearances in the form of non-infringement and/or invalidity opinions. He also has significant prior litigation experience that includes many aspects of patent, trademark, and trade secret litigation as well as licensing and other extrajudicial resolution of IP disputes.

Sophia Lee is General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of IEX Group, Inc., whose founding story was the subject of Michael Lewis’ recent best-selling book Flash Boys. Sophia oversees all legal, securities, compliance and intellectual property matters of the business. Sophia managed IEX’s national securities exchange application process, which began with a draft submission to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in September 2014 and culminated in an historic approval order from the SEC on June 17, 2016. Sophia has 20 years of experience in the financial services and legal services industries combined, advising technology and financial services firms on strategic partnerships, acquisitions, financings, and intellectual property matters. Sophia was previously Deputy General Counsel of the global buy-side electronic trading firm Liquidnet (and General Counsel for Liquidnet Canada), where she established alternative trading systems in the US, Canada and various countries in Asia Pacific, and served as liaison with global regulators regarding equity market structure issues. Between 2000 and 2004, Sophia served as Associate General Counsel at Investment Technology Group, an agency-only broker, where she was responsible for corporate strategy transactions and public company reporting. Sophia also spent 4 years as a Mergers & Acquisitions Associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Sophia holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sophia is also admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and holds a CFA charter.

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.

Peter C. Leung is a legal editor with Bloomberg Law covering news in patent law. He was previously based in Hong Kong writing about IP issues around the Asia-Pacific region. Before becoming a journalist, he was a labor and employment lawyer in California. He received his bachelors’ degree from the University of California – San Diego and law degree from UC Davis.

Joe Long is Assistant General Counsel leading the Intellectual Property team of the Legal Department. Under his direction, the Intellectual Property lawyers provide legal advice on trademark, branding, copyright, marketing and advertising issues for the entire Wells Fargo enterprise. The IP attorneys who specialize in patents provide legal advice to business leaders on patent legal questions, freedom to operate, patent prosecution and support in significant patent litigation against Wells Fargo. Additionally, the IP lawyers regularly provide guidance and advice on intellectual property issues related to sourcing and contracts. The team is responsible for the company wide creation of Intellectual Property.

Joe’s legal career in financial services began with Wachovia in 1982. As a long-tenured employee at Wachovia, Joe held diverse positions within the Bank on both the legal and business sides. After running Wachovia’s ERISA business for several years, Joe built a consulting business from the ground up within the Bank to advise on executive compensation; within five years the business was advising 120+ Fortune 500 clients. Joe returned to Wachovia’s Law Department in 2001 at the request of the General Counsel, where he managed the groups providing legal advice to Wachovia’s Wealth Management businesses, Operations and Technology, and Marketing groups. He was named Managing Counsel for Wells Fargo’s Intellectual Property section shortly after the merger of Wells Fargo and Wachovia in late 2008, and Assistant General Counsel in 2017. A member of the North Carolina Bar, Joe received his J.D. from Wake Forest University and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina.

As a true outdoors person, Joe looks for any excuse to be outside and active. An avid bicyclist, he also kayaks, canoes, and hikes. He enjoys reading and the theater.

Charles R. Macedo, a physicist by training, litigates in all areas of intellectual property law, including patent, trademark and copyright law, with a special emphasis in complex litigation and appellate work. Companies and individuals from a wide range of industries turn to him to develop offensive and defensive strategies for the development and enforcement of their patent and trademark portfolios.

Fluent in technical jargon spoken by inventors and clients, patentese spoken at the PTO, legalese spoken by courts and attorneys, business jargon spoken by management, and plain English, he seeks to translate complex subject matter into terms all can understand.

The author of The Corporate Insider's Guide to U.S. Patent Practice, Mr. Macedo has been cited as an authority on intellectual property issues by the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, BNA, Bloomberg, Inside Counsel, Managing Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer Tactics, IP Law 360, JIPLP and other media.

His patent experience encompasses a broad range of industries and products including Internet, e-commerce, content delivery and computer-enabled inventions; financial services, transaction processing, electronic wallets and virtual or synthetic currency, including Bitcoins and all other Alt-coins; Software-As-A-Service; social media; semiconductor and photomasks; green energy and power, including wind generators and batteries; construction materials and structures; life sciences; and apparel, to name a few. Mr. Macedo also has enforced and defended against trademark assertions and/or opposition proceedings for financial service providers, casinos and resorts, non-profit organizations, celebrities; cosmetic companies, luxury retailers of designer handbags and retail chains. He also advises clients on IP contracts, licensing, confidentiality agreements, terms of services and IP acquisitions and transfers.

By identifying vulnerabilities and considering variations on design concepts, Mr. Macedo helps clients develop strategies to maximize protection and prevent infringement challenges. He frequently serves as special counsel to companies seeking an IP strategy, not just a patent; to IP holders in anticipation of litigation and as coordinating counsel for multiple law firms.

He is consistently at the forefront of complex and emerging patent issues in the financial services and transaction processing industries. Clients ranging from international banks, broker dealers and new business ventures call on Mr. Macedo to develop patent strategies, prepare patents, assert rights and defend against infringement claims. His work includes developing and implementing patent strategies associated with such cutting edge financial innovations like bitcoins and other synthetic currency or math-based assets. His experience includes successfully defending the Discover Card division of Morgan Stanley from one of the earliest business method patent assertions, and leading the team to implement and enforce the deposit sweep patent portfolio for Island Intellectual Property LLC. He has also helped clients implementing insurance related products seek patent and other intellectual property protection.

His experience before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board and its predecessor Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, including acting as leading counsel in inter partes review and covered business method proceedings, as well as advising and analyzing in the background. He also has represented patent owners in ex parte appeals, including reversals of obviousness rejections in Ex parte Buarque de Macedo.

Mr. Macedo writes prolifically and lectures regularly as he tracks and analyzes in real time the most important developments affecting IP strategy and litigation. As Co-Chair of the Amicus Committee of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association, Mr. Macedo has been principal counsel or additional counsel on amicus briefs in some of the leading patent cases of recent years, including Cuozzo (at Federal Circuit en banc petition, Supreme Court petition for certiorari and merits brief stage), Highmark and Octane (at the Supreme Court), Kimble v. Marvel (at the Supreme Court), Mayo v. Prometheus (at the Supreme Court), Association of Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics Inc. (at the Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit), CLS Bank Int’l v. Alice (at the Federal Circuit en banc and at the Supreme Court in the petition and merits brief stage), and Akamai (at the Federal Circuit on remand). His appellate experience also includes petitions for mandamus, for rehearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of various clients.

He holds bachelors and masters degrees in physics from The Catholic University of America and a law degree from Columbia Law School, all with honors. He was the sole law clerk to Hon. Daniel M. Friedman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 1989–1990. The recipient of the prestigious AIPLA Robert C. Watson Award, Mr. Macedo is included in Super Lawyers, IP Stars and Million Dollar Verdict. He also was a member of the Editorial Board for the American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal and currently serves on the Editorial Board for Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice published by Oxford University Press.

Moshe Malina is Director, Associate General Counsel and Chief Patent Counsel for Citigroup. Mr. Malina joined Citigroup in 2004, and his responsibilities include management of the firm’s patent portfolio - the largest in the financial services industry - and initiation and direction of its ongoing patent procurement program. Mr. Malina is also responsible for Citigroup’s patent litigations and other disputes, negotiating technology agreements with vendors and customers, and advising on patent issues arising in matters ranging from routine transactions to major joint ventures and acquisitions.

Mr. Malina is Chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable Patent Subcommittee, and has helped coordinate the industry’s efforts for patent reform.

Before joining Citigroup in 2004, Mr. Malina was an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton working on both transactional and litigation IP matters.

Mr. Malina simultaneously received a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science as part of Columbia’s Accelerated Interdisciplinary Legal Education Program.

Mr. Malina is a member of the bar in New York and is a registered patent attorney.

Robert M. Masters is the head of Fried Frank’s Intellectual Property Litigation Group and is resident in the Firm's Washington, DC office.

Mr. Masters has extensive experience in all phases of intellectual property law. He routinely handles patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark/trade dress litigations in courts throughout the US and before the International Trade Commission. In addition to his litigation experience, Mr. Masters regularly advises clients on intellectual property licensing and negotiations, portfolio management and monetization, as well as issues arising in mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Masters represents clients on matters involving a wide range of technologies, including consumer electronics and semiconductor designs; hardware, software and apps for computers and smartphones; secured internet/network communications and protocols; telecommunications; financial services; and medical devices, among others.

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

As an Associate Solicitor in the USPTO’s Office of Solicitor, Matal briefed and argued appeals of patent and trademark decisions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. District Court, and assisted in the development of legal positions taken by the U.S. Solicitor General in patent and copyright cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Matal recently served as acting Chief of Staff for the agency, and has advised the director on legislative matters.

Matal previously served as the General Counsel of the Judiciary Committee for former Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and as a Judiciary Committee Counsel to former Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ). In that role, he was the principal staff drafter and negotiator of legislation that became the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, the first comprehensive patent law overhaul since 1952. Matal has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Regina has advised clients on a broad range of intellectual property issues for over a decade. She has significant experience leading due diligence investigations for technology-driven transactions, including strategic acquisitions and private equity investments, to identify strategies for maximizing IP value and reducing IP-related risks. She has designed and implemented numerous defensive programs to address third-party intellectual property risks, and rendered many legal opinions on non-infringement and invalidity. She also provides strategies for positioning patent portfolios for monetization and defensive purposes, and for licensing and collaborations, including in connection with standard-essential patents (SEPs).

A dual-qualified U.S. lawyer and Solicitor of England and Wales, Regina also represents clients in European patent oppositions and other post-grant patent proceedings. She is the author of The EU's Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court: A reference guide to the core legislation, regulations and rules of procedure, and speaks and writes regularly about global IP strategies for U.S. companies.

Regina has undergraduate and graduate engineering degrees from MIT, and previously worked in the telecommunications and software industries. She advises on various technologies, including fintech, medtech, diagnostics, software, semiconductor, robotics and automation, blockchain and informatics, among others.

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.

David Pridham is Chairman and CEO of Dominion Harbor Enterprises. He has 17 plus years of extensive and varied experience in counseling clients on the protection and development of intellectual property.

Mr. Pridham’s experience includes managing global IP licensing campaigns along with significant IP fund acquisitions (e.g., Kodak, NEC and American Express), overseeing IP litigation strategy and outcomes, directing patent prosecution, constructing defensive IP strategies and managing corporate IP programs.

His clients have generated over $600 million in revenue from campaigns that he has directly managed. Mr. Pridham is the only Forbes Online IP monthly contributing author and he has written extensively or been interviewed on the importance of intellectual property to our innovation economy for such esteemed outlets as: Bloomberg, Corporate Counsel, IAM Magazine, Reuters, The Hill, among other major publications.

Prior to forming Dominion Harbor, Mr. Pridham previously served as co-founder and CEO of IP Navigation Group, the corporate secretary and general counsel for Firepond, Inc. and in private legal practice.

Mr. Pridham earned degrees from George Mason’s Antonin Scalia School of Law and Providence College.

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.

Rodger is Managing Director, Strategic Partnerships at Cote Capital in New York City. Cote Capital focuses, among other things, on making IP capital investments in early-stage emerging companies.

Rodger honed his intellectual property expertise during twelve and a half years as an IP litigator at the Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe law firm in New York City, where he was a partner.

Rodger also has extensive in-house tech experience. Just prior to joining Cote Capital, Rodger spent four years at Canon (a top five U.S. patent holder for the past thirty-one years consecutively), advising senior management in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. on IP protection, licensing, and litigation issues. While at Canon, Rodger worked with IP colleagues from Google, Dropbox, and others to help spearhead launch and growth of the License On Transfer (“LOT”) Network, where he remains an active Advisory Board Member.

Manny W. Schecter is Chief Patent Counsel and Associate General Counsel at IBM. Mr. Schecter leads IBM’s worldwide intellectual property law organization on patent matters and advises on intellectual property strategy and policy. His office is at IBM corporate headquarters in Armonk, NY.

Mr. Schecter serves on the board of directors of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), the IPO Education Foundation (where he serves as the president), Allied Security Trust, the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding, and he served on the board of directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association from 2013-2016. He can be found on Twitter at @MannySchecter. Mr. Schecter has been named a Corporate IP Star and one of the 50 most influential people in IP by Managing Intellectual Property magazine.

Mr. Schecter is a graduate of Cornell University and the George Washington University Law School.

Nicolas Schifano is Senior Director and Assistant General Counsel at Microsoft, leading Cloud and IP Policy and Strategy.

Among his responsibilities, Nicolas leads Azure IP Advantage, a program designed to protect Microsoft’s customers innovations in the cloud. Nicolas is also responsible for Open Source and IP policy at Microsoft. Prior to that, Nicolas led Microsoft’s standards and intellectual property policy engagements, first out of the Microsoft office in Brussels, then at Microsoft’s headquarters in the USA.

Nicolas is registered with the Washington bar as in-house counsel. He is also a French and European patent attorney. He has an educational background in computer science, electrical engineering, intellectual property and business laws. Nicolas is a regular speaker at conferences on intellectual property.

Stephen Schreiner is a partner in Goodwin’s IP Litigation Group and member of its Patent Litigation Practice. He focuses on all aspects of intellectual property law, including patent litigation, patent portfolio development, counseling and due diligence related to financial services, cryptography, software, e-commerce, business methods, digital television, signal processing, telecommunications, interactive media, the Internet and other areas.

In addition to counseling clients on patent infringement and trade secrets cases, Mr. Schreiner maintains a significant patent prosecution docket with hundreds of applications on financial services inventions and has experience with extra-judicial patent challenge procedures in the PTO under the America Invents Act legislation, including Inter Partes Review, Covered Business Method Review and Ex Parte Reexamination.

Before becoming a lawyer, Mr. Schreiner spent eight years working for the Department of Navy developing and testing digital signal processing algorithms. Mr. Schreiner has been recognized as one of the world’s leading IP and patent practitioners by Intellectual Asset Management and The Legal 500 and is a key contributor to Goodwin’s Founders Workbench, an online resource for start-ups, emerging companies and the entrepreneurial community.

Eric Sophir is a member of Dentons’ Intellectual Property and Technology team. Eric counsels clients on protecting innovations, gaining market share, resolving patent disputes and monetizing patents. His practice includes various aspects of patent law, including patent preparation and prosecution; infringement and validity analysis in patent litigation; licensing and selling; due diligence; clearance and landscape analysis; and post-grant proceedings. His practice has a particular emphasis on portfolio development, including invention harvesting and patent filing strategies. Eric's clients range from startups to Fortune 50 companies. Eric counsels clients on protecting their innovations and managing their worldwide patent procurement efforts. His patent analysis experience is extensive. He has translated patent data into competitive intelligence in fields as varied as semiconductors, telecommunications, Internet technology, cloud computing, audio and video processing, and health care systems. He has been particularly successful in procuring patent protection for software and business methods developed for use by the rapidly growing financial services industry. Eric has counseled clients regarding such cutting-edge technologies as wireless charging; semiconductor formation; operating system environments and data optimization; enterprise networks (including data encryption and authentication and virus detection and protection); telecommunication networks (including mobile messaging and advertising); graphical user interfaces (including protection of display screens, transitioning views, slidebar arrangements, button configuration and menu design); satellite technology; chip emulation; nanotechnology; automated machine management, crediting and debiting systems; LED and lighting; gaskets and bearings; gel mixture compositions; automotive transmissions; optical fibers; airplane engines; loudspeakers; water purification; hybrid vehicles; among other chemical, electrical, and mechanical arts.

Eric's patent portfolio strategy capability was recognized by Crain's when it rated one of his client's portfolios the highest in quality among Chicago-based companies. Corporate Counsel has often recognized Dentons as a “Go-To Law Firm” for patent prosecution for Fortune 500 companies based on Eric's management of patent matters for these companies. Eric also advises clients on the risks and value associated with acquiring, licensing or otherwise commercializing a patent portfolio. This advice includes clearance or freedom-to-operate analysis, clearance and landscape analysis and patentability analysis. He also provides advice on prosecution strategies to better protect a product or more effectively deter competitors. Eric has litigation experience and works with Dentons’ Patent Litigation practice team in complex disputes involving patents, including federal district courts and Federal Circuit litigation, arbitration and re-examination proceedings in such fields as mobile technology, social networking, online banking, secure communications, check processing, encryption, flash memory, computer software, food processing, theater technology and human resources systems. He has also conducted analyses and prepared opinions regarding patent infringement, invalidity and enforceability. Eric’s practice also includes counseling clients in defending allegations brought by non-practicing entities (NPEs).

Leslie Spencer, co-chair of the firm's diversity committee, is a partner in the IP litigation practice. She works with clients on intellectual property matters involving software, networking, security, financial technology (“FinTech”) and other emerging technologies. She has over 15 years of experience litigating patent disputes in district courts, including through Markman hearing, trial and appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She is a registered patent attorney, and appears before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Leslie also counsels clients regarding IP asset protection, IP transactions and freedom-to-operate opinions.

Prior to practicing law, Leslie worked for financial services and e-commerce companies, and supervised the development of a smart card-based secure transaction system.

Phyllis T. Turner-Brim is vice president, assistant general counsel IP and Technology at Starbucks Coffee Company headquartered in Seattle, WA. As the head of Starbucks Intellectual Property and Technology legal team, Phyllis leads the legal support for the worldwide protection, enforcement and deployment of Starbucks intellectual property portfolio (including trademarks, patents and copyrights), for commercial transactions in the areas of information technology and digital ventures, and for global data protection and privacy. She is a member of the Starbucks Law & Corporate Affairs leadership team, as well as a strategic business partner and legal advisor to executives leading Starbucks Global Strategy and Starbucks Technology teams.

Immediately prior to joining Starbucks, Phyllis was Vice President, Chief IP Counsel at Intellectual Ventures Management LLC (“IV”) in Bellevue, WA where she led a large team responsible for legal services supporting patent acquisitions and divestitures, licensing, prosecution, and related transactions. Prior to joining IV, Phyllis held in-house legal and business management positions at Intermec Technologies Corporation, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Cabot Microelectronic Corporation and Amoco Corp. She began her legal career as an associate at McAndrews, Held and Mallow, Ltd. in Chicago, IL.

Phyllis is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati Law School, and an honors graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology (B.S. Chemical Engineering). She has served as a lecturer/presenter on several topics including, developing business focused licensing programs, diversity in the law, recruitment and retention of minorities and women in technical professions, chemical patent drafting, IP strategy development, career development and personal risk taking. Phyllis has been named as one of IAM’s IP Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategist for 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Phyllis is a professional career coach, focusing on women of color seeking to reach executive leadership roles in the private sector.

Phyllis is a member of the Trustee Boards of the American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation, the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation, the Snohomish County (WA) YMCA, Bloodworks (fka Puget Sound Blood Center and Cornish College of the Arts.

Prior to pursuing a career in the law, Phyllis held technical management and product development positions with General Electric Co. and Procter and Gamble Co.

Based out of Groupon’s Chicago headquarters, Brock Wanless is Groupon’s Managing Counsel – Global Privacy & Regulatory. In this role, Brock manages Groupon’s Global Privacy and Regulatory team, which oversees privacy and data security (including GDPR compliance), regulatory compliance, consumer protection matters, and government affairs. Brock has over 14 years of diverse experience counseling and leading key regulatory initiatives for public companies, privately-held companies, and non-profit organizations.

Michael T. Zoppo is a Principal in Fish & Richardson’s New York office. A registered patent lawyer, his practice focuses on the trial and appeal of patent cases, as well as related counseling in the areas of financial services, electrical/computer engineering, materials science, automotive technologies, and semiconductors. In addition to patent cases, he litigates trade secret, Lanham Act, breach of contract, defamation, and fraud cases. Before Michael focused his practice on litigation and counseling, he spent several years prosecuting patent applications in technical disciplines such as power systems, chemistry, aircraft propulsion, and semiconductors.