Meet the Speakers
Arvin Patel
Global Leader, IP Strategy
IBM
Arvin Patel is the Global Leader Intellectual Property Strategy for IBM’s Intellectual Property and Standards group and resides in the Silicon Valley Office. His expertise is in helping companies develop actionable business strategies to capture, protect and leverage their Intellectual Assets. Mr. Patel has responsibility for directing and calibrating IBM’s IP strategy to capitalize on emerging markets, growth and policy opportunities. Mr. Patel also plays a critical role in helping clients transform their IP strategies to achieve higher margins, increase market share, and realize superior shareholder returns.
Previous to joining IBM, Mr. Patel designed, developed and operationalized business strategies in the Middle East, Hong Kong, China, Korea and India for several technology and manufacturing companies, including divisions of Warburg Pincus. He also served as President to a successful Silicon Valley-based venture capital group, and headed the IP Group Practice of a premiere consulting firm serving Fortune 100 companies.
Mr. Patel is the recipient of over a hundred foreign and U.S. patents.
Mr. Patel is a frequent speaker throughout the world on intellectual property topics. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, a Juris Doctorate from California Western Law School, and an LL.M in Technology, Commerce and Intellectual Property from Franklin Pierce Law Center.
Eugene Gierczak
Partner
Miller Thomson LLP
Eugene is the national chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property and Information Technology Group.
He provides advice on all aspects on intellectual property law including litigation.
Eugene has a long established history of drafting original patent applications covering a variety of technologies with a focus on the chemical and mechanical fields, with a particular expertise on fluid processing methods. He prosecutes patents to issuance Canada and worldwide.
He has extensive expertise in the preparation and prosecution of trade mark, copyright and design applications, as well as trademark opposition and expungement proceedings in Canada, the United States and Europe.
He represents clients’ interests in technology transfers, joint ventures, licenses, satellite, wireless communications, computer hardware and software transactions, and other intellectual properties issues relating to corporate transactions. His skills extend to developing intellectual property strategies including IP audits to define and protect clients’ intellectual assets.
Eugene is an experienced litigator, before the Canadian Courts dealing with infringement and validity actions concerning patents, trademarks, designs, copyright and confidential information, as well as injunction applications and search and seizure of intellectual property. He incorporates alternate dispute resolution strategies to bring litigation issues in line with clients’ business goals.
Bob Ghosh
Director – Intellectual Property, Open Source, M&A and For. Strategy
Avaya
Bob has been with Avaya for over 4 years and is the intellectual property lead for all M&A and open source matters at Avaya, Inc. Bob also heads up Avaya’s foreign IP strategy and has recently taken over as the head of copyrights. Bob currently is chief division IP counsel for Avaya’s unified communication business and is responsible for managing Avaya’s foreign prosecution budget.
Prior to joining Avaya, Bob was senior counsel with AT&T responsible for patent assertion and licensing and also spent several years as an IP litigator with Fish and Neave in New York.
Brian Hinman
Vice President, Intellectual Property & Licensing
Verizon Communications Inc.
Brian Hinman is currently Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Verizon Communications Inc., as the senior executive in charge of intellectual property matters for each of Verizon’s business units. Mr. Hinman is tasked with establishing and executing a multi-faceted intellectual property strategy for Verizon to include patent portfolio development, patent monetization and development of offensive and defensive patent strategies for the company. Prior to holding this position, Mr. Hinman was CEO of Allied Security Trust, or AST. Mr. Hinman began the company in 2007 and executed a patent defensive strategy on behalf of AST’s large operating member companies in order to secure their freedom of action under patents of strategic interest. Prior to his position at AST, Mr. Hinman held a variety of senior executive positions at IBM, including Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing. In this position, he managed a worldwide team that helped generate over $1 billion annually in intellectual property income for IBM. Prior to this position, Mr. Hinman was Director of Licensing for Westinghouse.
Debbie Wright
Chief Counsel, Global Patents
Kraft Foods Inc.
Debbie K. Wright is Chief Counsel – Global IP Open Innovations & Supply Chain for Kraft Foods, a Fortune 50 Chicago North Suburban Corporation. She has primary responsibility for all Intellectual Property issues for the Open Innovation and Supply Chain groups. Previously she was Chief Counsel Global Patents for Kraft. She is also Assistant Secretary for Kraft Foods Global Brands, Inc.
Ms. Wright has over 20 years of legal experience, beginning her career with the North Carolina Department of Justice in Raleigh, North Carolina with primary responsibility for consumer protection and unfair practice matters. She started her patent career as a patent attorney with the former Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Ms. Wright lectures frequently on a variety of intellectual property topics.
Ms. Wright received her Bachelors of Science Degree in Biology from Western Carolina University where she was the Dobson Scholar in Biology. She attended the Bowman Gray School of Medicine and received her law degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She is Past-President of the Intellectual Property Lawyers Association of Chicago (IPLAC), Secretary to the IPLAC Scholarship Foundation and a member of the National Bar Association, American Bar Association, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association, Trustee for American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation. She is a Master of Bench of The Richard Linn American Inn of Court. She serves on the boards of the Ada S. McKinley Community Services and Metropolitan Family Services. She is also a member of The Links Incorporated. Ms. Wright is admitted to practice before the State bars of North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan; the North Carolina U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Middle Districts as well as the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Elaine Foreman
Director
Legal Services Cisco Systems Inc.
Elaine Foreman is a Director of Legal Services with Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose, California. She provides legal support for the worldwide channels organization and manages the team responsible for all U.S. deals that flow through distribution. She is also responsible for antitrust counseling and training.
Prior to joining Cisco, Ms. Foreman was Senior Counsel with Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California where she advised the Worldwide and Americas Solution Partners Organizations, the groups that sell HP products and services through distribution channels.
Ms. Foreman was in private practice at Bryan Cave LLP in Washington, D.C. before joining HP and, prior to that, was employed by the Federal Trade Commission.
Ms. Foreman provides counseling on competition issues. She has spoken frequently on antitrust topics, particularly the Robinson Patman Act. In addition, Ms. Foreman provides antitrust compliance training. She is the current the Chair of the Executive Committee of the California State Bar Antitrust and Unfair Competition Section. She has previously served as the Section’s Vice Chair of the Golden State Antirust and Unfair Competition Law Institute (2007-08), Vice Chair of the Unfair Competition Law Program (2006-07) and Secretary (2005-06).
Ms. Foreman received her J.D. from American University and her B.A. from Smith College. Prior to entering law school, she did graduate-level work at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow.
George Jonas
Head IP Counsel
SunPower Corporation
George Jonas became Head IP Counsel at SunPower Corporation in San Jose, a manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic solar panels, in August of 2007. In his current role he is responsible for coordinating all patent filings and patent litigation, trademark filings and enforcement, IP related transactional matters and counseling.
Prior to joining SunPower, he was the division counsel for 3M Innovative Properties Company Optical Services Division as well as the Office Supply and Stationery Products Division prior to that. In this capacity, he was responsible for patent application filings, intellectual property transactions and litigation, and advising on strategic decisions regarding intellectual property strategy.
Prior to joining 3M, George was an associate at Kinney & Lange in Minneapolis, where he focused primarily on patent prosecution.
George received is J.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1998 and obtained an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University in 1993.
Jennifer B. Wuamett
Vice President & Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, Law Department
Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
Jennifer Wuamett serves as Vice President & Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. Jennifer is responsible for all aspects of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.’s worldwide intellectual property legal operations, including patent procurement and portfolio management, intellectual property licensing and enforcement, intellectual property defensive matters, IP transactional matters, trademark legal matters, and management of both internal and external legal counsel performing such functions. Jennifer leads and manages an internal team of 21 intellectual property professionals located in the United States and Europe, including 12 patent attorneys.
Prior to joining Freescale, Jennifer served as IP Law Director with Motorola’s Global Strategic IP Counseling Team and other roles. Before joining Motorola, Jennifer was an Intellectual Property Attorney in private practice with the national law firm Quarles & Brady and was located in the firm's Phoenix, Arizona office. Jennifer's practice included patent and trademark prosecution and IP transaction and litigation support.
Jennifer was a founding member of the Austin Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and serves as a Past-President of the Chapter. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Texas General Counsel Forum Austin/San Antonio Chapter and for YouthLaunch, non-profit organization empowering community service programs for young people, and she is a Technical Advisory Committee Member for Girlstart, a non-profit organization empowering young girls to excel in math and science. Jennifer was selected as one of the “Extraordinary Women in Texas Law” by Texas Lawyer in 2008 and is a 2007 Graduate of the “Leadership Texas Program,” the Foundation for Women’s Resources premier, competitive statewide women's leadership program. Jennifer is also a trained Mediator.
Jennifer received her Law Degree from the Arizona State University College of Law, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and was the 1995 recipient of the Arizona State University College of Law's Outstanding Graduate Award. She also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Arizona State Law Journal from 1994 - 1995.
John Calkins
Associate General Counsel
Northwestern University
John Calkins joined Northwestern University as Assistant General Counsel in 2005 and has since been promoted to Associate General Counsel. His principal areas of responsibility at Northwestern include intellectual property, technology licensing, information technology, sponsored research, student affairs and athletics.
Prior to his appointment at Northwestern, John was Counsel at Bingham McCutchen (formerly McCutchen Doyle Brown & Enersen) in San Francisco. There he handled intellectual property clearance, prosecution, strategic counseling, enforcement, litigation, and transactional matters for a variety of clients, including several research universities.
John received a B.A. in Biology from Williams College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He is admitted to practice in California and Illinois and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
John M. Miller
Chief IP Counsel
Rockwell Automation, Inc.
John M. Miller is a corporate officer of Rockwell Automation, Inc., a $5 billion global provider of industrial automation products and solutions. As Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, he is responsible for managing all intellectual property matters on behalf of the Company which include securing protection for the Company’s intellectual assets and litigation. During his tenure, Mr. Miller has successfully defended the Company against claims that collectively total more than $7 billion.
Mr. Miller also serves as the president of Rockwell Automation Technologies, LLC (“RA Tech”), a subsidiary of Rockwell Automation, Inc., which holds the Company’s intellectual property. Since its formation in 2001, John has remained active in monetizing RA Tech’s IP portfolio and negotiating licenses that are strategic to the Company. John is also an officer of RSC Portfolio, LLC, a company jointly owned with Rockwell Collins, Inc. that holds the technology spin-offs from the former Rockwell Science Center.
More generally, Mr. Miller’s practice areas include intellectual property infringement risk assessment and valuation; intellectual property agreement negotiation and counseling; intellectual capital protection counseling and planning; patent prosecution; and trademark, copyright and trade secret matters.
Mr. Miller is admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as various Federal and state courts throughout the country. His professional memberships include the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel, the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Licensing Executives Society.
Mr. Miller graduated from Manhattan College with a B.S., electrical engineering, in 1989. He was awarded the Pittman Fellowship by the University of Florida and completed his M.S., electrical engineering, with honors, in 1991. While serving as a research fellow at UF, Mr. Miller authored several IEEE transaction papers relating to power quality. His thesis was entitled “Development of a Power Quality Test Facility and a Study of the Effects of ASD’s on the Power System.”
Mr. Miller received his J.D. in 1994 while serving as a member of the law review. He later obtained an L.L.M. in intellectual property at John Marshall Law School in 1998.
Outside of his professional accomplishments Mr. Miller is a community volunteer and serves on the board and as an officer of Big Brother Big Sisters of Metro Milwaukee.
Kenneth Oh
Associate General Counsel
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Kenneth H. Oh is an Associate General Counsel at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. responsible for a wide range of Intellectual Property matters including managing its domestic and international trademarks, cancellations and oppositions pending before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, review and clearance for advertisements and private label products, domain name management and internet enforcement, and drafting commercial transactions.
Mark Connolly
Global Director – Patents & Intellectual Property
DuPont
Mark S. Connolly, DuPont Global Director – Patents & Intellectual Property and Trade Secret Protection Leader – DuPont Central Research & Development, started in 1984 as a research chemist at the Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware. From 1989-2007, Dr. Connolly held positions of increasing technical leadership responsibility in the vinyls, polyester, glass laminating products and refinish coatings businesses. In addition, he has led technical groups at DuPont manufacturing sites and Central R&D. In his current assignment, he has responsibility for patent drafting, IP searching/analysis, and trade secret protection for CR&D. He is a DuPont “certified” Six Sigma “Black Belt” and “Champion” and active in improvement activities in CR&D and Legal. Born in 1957 in Providence, Rhode Island, Dr. Connolly graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1979. He received his Ph.D. degree in Inorganic Chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University in 1984, where he pursued cyclic and polymeric phosphazene research under the direction of Professor Harry R. Allcock. He currently resides with his family in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
McCoy Smith
Intellectual Property Practice Group Director
Intel Corporation
McCoy Smith is the Director of the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Intel Corporation, and also serves as the Intellectual Property attorney for Intel’s Software & Solutions Group and Apple Program Office.
McCoy taught patent bar review for Patent Resources Group from 1999 to 2008.
McCoy also chairs the Open Source committee of the Intellectual Property Owners Association.
Prior to joining Intel in 1999, McCoy was an attorney in private practice at Kenyon & Kenyon in New York, NY and Washington, DC, specializing in patent litigation and patent prosecution. He was also a patent examiner in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office prior to law school.
McCoy is a graduate of University of Virginia (J.D., 1991), Johns Hopkins University (M.L.A., 1989) and Colorado State University (B.S., 1984), and is admitted to practice in New York, California, Oregon and the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
Michael Whitehead
Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property
The Lincoln Electric Company
Michael Whitehead is the Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property of The Lincoln Electric Company. Mr. Whitehead is responsible for managing Lincoln Electric's global intellectual property and all related aspects thereof including patent and trademark procurement, licensing and enforcement.
Prior to joining Lincoln, Mr. Whitehead was an attorney at the law firms of Sughrue Mion, LLP in Washington, D.C. and Calfee, Halter and Griswold LLP. Mr. Whitehead specialized in the practice of intellectual property law, including patent prosecution and litigation. Mr. Whitehead earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University and a law degree from Franklin Pierce College in Concord, New Hampshire.
Mr. Whitehead is registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office and the state of Ohio and District of Columbia.
Patrick McBride
Associate General Counsel
Novell Inc.
As a member of Novell's Technology Law Group, Patrick manages Novell's patent, trademark, and copyright programs. In this role, he chairs Novell's inventions committee. He also supports the teams developing Novell's desktop Linux product and identity services offerings in their use of third party technologies, including free and open source software. Further, Patrick advises Novell personnel participating in standards bodies on intellectual property issues. Finally, he assists in performing intellectual property due diligence on acquisition opportunities, and in defending Novell against patent and other intellectual property litigation actions.
Paul R. Michel
Chief Circuit Judge
PAUL R. MICHEL was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in March of 1988. On December 25, 2004, he assumed the duties of Chief Judge. Since his elevation in 2004 to Chief Judge, he has served as one of 27 judges comprising the Judicial Conference of the United States, the governing body of the Judicial Branch. In 2005 he was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to serve on the seven-judge Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference.
Prior to his appointment, Chief Judge Michel served in the executive and legislative branches for 22 years. Following graduation from Williams College in 1963 and the University of Virginia Law School in 1966, Michel served as Assistant District Attorney and then Deputy District Attorney for Investigations under Arlen Specter in Philadelphia; as Assistant Special Watergate Prosecutor in 1974-1975; from 1975 to 1976 he was an assistant counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; from 1976-1978, he served as Deputy Chief of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, where he directed the “Koreagate” investigation; in 1978 he was appointed as an Associate Deputy Attorney General; in 1980 he served as Acting Deputy Attorney General; from 1981 until M 1988, he served on Senator Arlen Specter’s staff, including as Counsel and Chief of Staff.
Peter Johnson
Associate General, Counsel, IP
Overstock.com, Inc.
R. Chappell Phillips
Associate General Counsel
Kimball International Inc.
R. Chappell Phillips is Associate General Counsel of Kimball International, Inc. Chappell’s main practice areas include U.S. and international commercial transactions, intellectual property, corporate, M&A, real estate, and regulatory compliance, as well as handling major project and litigation management. Chappell joined Kimball in 1999 as Associate Corporate Counsel and was later promoted to Senior Corporate Counsel. Prior to joining Kimball, Chappell was Associate Director & General Counsel of Crescent Capital Resources, LLC in Durham, North Carolina. A native Tar Heel, he received a BA in Latin American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his JD from the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill. Chappell is licensed to practice law in Indiana and North Carolina, and he is a member of the American Bar Association, the Indiana State Bar Association and the Association of Corporate Counsel.
Robert A. Stewart
Director & Chief Patent Counsel
UBS
Robert A. Stewart is a Director and Chief Patent Counsel of UBS AG in the Americas. Robert handles intellectual property litigation, prosecution, licensing, contractual, and M&A matters. Before joining UBS AG, Robert worked as in house IP counsel for both Credit Suisse First Boston and JPMorgan Chase Bank. In private practice, Robert worked for BakerBotts, LLP in New York. Robert graduated from Georgetown University Law Center with an JD degree and NYU Polytechnic Institute of NYU with an electrical engineering degree. Robert formerly chaired the Financial Services Roundtable Intellectual Property Working Group. He has lectured extensively on IP issues within the financial services industry including testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property regarding proposed legislation that would enact sweeping reform measures for the patent laws.
Robert Tiller
Associate General Counsel, Intellectual Property
Red Hat Inc.
Rob Tiller is Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, IP for Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source technology to enterprise customers, where he manages patent, trademark, and copyright matters relating to open source software.
Before coming to Red Hat, he was a partner with the law firm of Helms, Mulliss & Wicker, PLLC, where he specialized in commercial and IP litigation. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, and a former clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Stephen Williams of the D.C. Circuit.
Roger Martin
Senior Vice President, Chief Strategist
Qualcomm Inc.
Roger Martin is the Senior Vice President, Chief IP Strategist at Qualcomm, Inc. Roger graduated from UCSD in 1988 with a BSEE degree, and started at Qualcomm in 1993 as an engineer. Roger attended USD School of Law at night while working at Qualcomm full-time as a patent agent during the day, drafting and prosecuting some of Qualcomm's fundamental patents. Roger earned his JD, magna cum laude, in 1997. Over the last 10 years, Roger has worked primarily on patent litigation and was recently selected to lead a newly-created IP Strategy group that has overall responsibility for the strategic direction of Qualcomm's IP portfolio.
Russell Binns
Director – Intellectual Property Litigation and Licensing
Avaya
Russ has been with Avaya for 5 years and is currently Director of IP Litigation and Licensing for Avaya, Inc. responsible for all aspects of offensive and defensive litigation, third-party threats, indemnification requests, and support of IP licensing and monetization programs. Russ’s other roles at Avaya include recently taking over as head of trademarks world-wide for Avaya, being chief division IP counsel for Avaya’s contact center business, and supports Avaya’s Government Affairs department with respect to IP reform.
Prior to joining Avaya, Russ was an IP litigator with Goodwin Procter in New York and Boston, and before that a small IP Boutique in Boston, Weingarten, Schurgin, Gagnebin & Hayes.
Sergey Zaytsev
Associate General Counsel
The Go Daddy Group Inc.
Sergey Zaytsev is Associate General Counsel for The Go Daddy Group, Inc. Mr. Zaytsev specializes in business methods, software, and Internet patents. His technical background is in physics and computer science. Previously, Mr. Zaytsev practiced intellectual property, international, commercial, real estate, environmental, and tax law in Europe and the United States.
GoDaddy.com is the world's largest domain name registrar and is the flagship company of The Go Daddy Group, Inc. The Go Daddy Group of companies also includes Wild West Domains, Inc., a reseller of domains and domain-related products and services; Domains by Proxy, a private registration service; Starfield Technologies, a research and development affiliate; and Blue Razor Domains, a membership-based discount registrar.
As an ICANN-accredited domain registrar, Go Daddy has more names under management than any other registrar, offers products at prices up to 70% less than the competition and supports them all with world-class 24/7 live customer service located in the United States
Thomas Donahue
Chief Counsel, IP
The Boeing Company
Tom Donahue is the Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property Management, for The Boeing Company. In that role he leads the team of attorneys and paralegals that supports Boeing’s intellectual property management and licensing subsidiary, and coordinates the resolution of intellectual property issues affecting the larger Boeing enterprise.
Prior to joining Boeing, he was the Vice President – General Manager and General Counsel of an aviation engineering firm based in Everett, Washington, and a litigation attorney at several law firms in Seattle. Tom also served in the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserve as a Surface Warfare Officer, retiring from the Reserves as a Commander. He earned an engineering degree from the University of Michigan, a J.D. from the University of Washington, and is admitted before the USPTO, in Washington and Alaska (Inactive), and to various federal courts around the country.