60th Annual Conference On Intellectual Property Law

Overview

The ILT’s flagship conference, the annual IP law conference brings together intellectual property lawyers from around the United States for two days to discuss emerging issues in IP law, as well as providing a comprehensive review of developments in IP law over the year.

Conference Co-Chairs

Dwayne C. Norton
Managing Counsel, IP Litigation
Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
Plano, Texas

Jayne Piana
Shareholder
Fletcher Yoder, P.C.
Houston, Texas

Module Chairs

Juanita DeLoach, Ph.D.
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Dallas, Texas

Tim Dyll
AT&T
Dallas, Texas

Sarah B. Foley
Barta, Jones & Foley, PLLC
Plano, Texas

Aamir Haq
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Plano, Texas

Brianna Hinojosa-Smith
YUM! Brands
Plano, Texas

Sushil Iyer, Ph.D.
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Dallas, Texas

Ann M. LaFeir
USAA
San Antonio, Texas

Howard L. Lim
Carter Arnett PLLC
Dallas, Texas

Stephen Y. Liu
Carstens, Allen & Gourley, LLP
Plano, Texas

JoAnna Luna
American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
Houston, Texas

Kristian R. Sullivan
Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP
Houston, Texas

Tuition

ILT Advisory Board members attend this conference free of charge and should register using the special link sent to them by email.

• $625 - Regular Registration Fee
• $500 - ILT Supporting or Sustaining Member Employee
• $515 - DBA IP Section New Lawyers’ Committee Member
• $515 - Dallas or Houston Women in IP Group Member
• $515 - AIPLA Member
• $315 - Full-time U.S. Local, State, or Federal Government Employee
• $315 - Full-time U.S. Law Professor
• $315 - Full-Time U.S. Non-Profit Employee
• $350 - U.S. Attorneys & IP Professionals Licensed or Employed 3 Years or Less in this Practice Area (includes membership through 6/30/2023 in ILT’s new Young Technology Professionals’ group)
• $115 - Full-time U.S. Law Student (includes membership through 6/30/2023 in ILT’s new Full-Time Students’ group)

Schedule and Faculty

Monday, November 7

8:00 AM Coffee & Connecting Time

8:45 - 9:00 AM - Welcome from the Co-Chairs

• Dwayne C. Norton, Toyota Motor North America, Inc., Plano, Texas
• Jayne Piana, Fletcher Yoder, P.C., Houston, Texas

Morning Module Chairs

Sushil Iyer, Ph.D., Fish & Richardson P.C., Dallas, Texas
Ann M. LaFeir, USAA, San Antonio, Texas
Howard L. Lim, Carter Arnett PLLC, Dallas, Texas

9:00 – 9:30 AM - Keynote - Establishing an Innovative Future (30 minutes)

• The Hon. Stacey G. White, Lead Administrative Patent Judge, Patent Trial and Appeal Board, USPTO

In the past few years, unrelenting change has swept through and modified every aspect our professional lives.  No facet of the intellectual property community – inventors, businesses, attorneys, and even the USPTO– has been spared from this tumultuous environment.  We will discuss innovative approaches to our relationships, our mindsets, and our community to be better positioned to handle this ever-changing world.

9:30 – 10:30 AM - Patent Year In Review (60 minutes)

• Gale R. “Pete” Peterson, Law Offices of Gale R. Peterson, San Antonio, TX

10:30 – 11:00 AM - BREAK

11:00 – 11:45 AM - The Intersection of Patents, Trade Secrets & Open Source (45 minutes)

• Erick S. Robinson, Spencer Fane LLP, Houston, TX

11:45 AM – 12:30 PM - Tech Startups: Navigating The Patent System (45 minutes)

• Michael K. Henry, Ph.D., Henry Patent Law Firm PLLC, Dallas, TX

Working with rapidly growing high-tech companies is exciting, and it comes with its own unique set of challenges. Venture capital funding creates the opportunity for tech companies to scale their business and develop their patent portfolio as a core asset. To do this, they need to develop internal procedures and expertise with the patent process, and they often rely on their legal team to provide additional training, support and strategic advice. This presentation will include useful tools and practical tips for working with venture-backed tech startups, to help them build patent portfolios that support healthy growth and successful exits.

12:30 PM - LUNCH & RECONNECTING BREAK

Afternoon Module Chairs

Brianna Hinojosa-Smith, YUM! Brands, Plano, Texas
Kristian R. Sullivan, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, Houston, Texas

1:30 – 2:30 PM - Judges Panel

Moderator: Howard L. Lim, Carter Arnett PLLC, Dallas, TX

Panelists:

• The Hon. Harlin D. Hale (Ret.), JAMS, Dallas, TX
• The Hon. Robert Pitman, U.S. District Judge Western District of Texas, Austin, TX

The panel will share their perspectives on evolving issues pertinent to IP practitioners and discuss recent patent related procedural developments in the Western District of Texas, and the impact of COVID on district court, arbitration, and mediation proceedings.

Practitioners will also get the opportunity to hear from the judges directly on practical tips to improving their oral and written advocacy. Finally, patent practitioners can learn from the judges on how to best present complex technology to persuade judges and jurors alike.

2:30 – 3:30 PM - The Metaverse & IP (60 minutes)

• Mollybeth Kocialski, USPTO, Denver, CO

3:30 – 4:00 PM - BREAK

4:00 – 5:00 PM - Intellectual Property Trivia (60 minutes)

(presented by the Young Lawyers Committee of the Dallas Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section)

• Jeff Becker, Baker Botts L.L.P., Dallas, TX
• Matthew W. Cornelia, McGuireWoods LLP, Dallas, TX
• Reshaun Finkley, Townsend & Lockett, LLC, Dallas, TX
• Bethany R. Salpietra, Baker Botts L.L.P., Dallas, TX

This session will test your intellectual property knowledge in a friendly competition, while also learning interesting IP facts. Topics may include patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, USPTO, and IP in pop culture.

5:00 PM - RECESS

5:00 - 6:30 PM - Wind-Down & Connect Reception

Tuesday, November 8

7:30 – 8:30 AM - Young Technology Professionals Kickoff Breakfast (no CLE)

All Conference participants & faculty are invited to attend!

Meet the YTP Executive Committee, hear their plans for the year & celebrate the kickoff of ILT’s new YTP membership and practice committee!

YTP aims to create a community that meets the needs of individual attorneys, experts, and other professionals and industry participants under the age of 40 or who have less than eight years of practice or work in their field.

For those not attending the YTP kickoff breakfast: 8:00 AM Coffee, Continental Breakfast & Connecting Time

PATENT PROSECUTION AND PATENT LITIGATION - CONCURRENT TRACKS

Patent Prosecution Module Chairs

Aamir Haq, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Plano, Texas
Stephen Y. Liu, Carstens, Allen & Gourley, LLP, Plano, Texas

9:00 – 9:30 AM - § 101 Update

• Sean Bellah, Fletcher Yoder P.C., Houston, TX
• Edwin S. Flores, Ph.D., Chalker Flores, LLP, Dallas, TX

Seasoned patent practitioners in the electrical and life sciences arts discuss recent 101 developments and provide some practice tips for addressing this issue during patent preparation and prosecution. The presentation will end with a discussion session with the audience.

9:30– 10:30 AM - IP Analytics and Automation

Moderator: Aamir Haq, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Plano, Texas

Panelists:

• Rachel Lee, BlueFoot Inc., Washington, DC
• Drew Winship, Juristat, University City, MO

Over the last decade, IP analytics have come to the forefront promising to help firms and assignees optimize prosecution strategy, prune portfolios more effectively, and make data driven business development decisions. Lately, workflow automation has been making similar inroads, promising to automate many back office admin tasks, reducing costs and increasing productivity. Learn the current landscape of patent analytics and automation, including old stalwart vendors to promising new startups, and how these new technologies are helping firm and assignee clients around the globe.

10:30 – 11:00 AM - BREAK

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM - In-House Counsel Perspective On Outside Counsel

• Alexander Bridge, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Plano, TX
• Kenneth Liu, Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, TX
• Taylor Meacham, Ericsson Inc., Plano, TX

12:00 - 12:30 PM - USPTO Views on Patent Practitioners' Top Three Concerns

Patent Litigation Module Chairs

Tim Dyll, AT&T, Dallas, Texas
Juanita DeLoach, Ph.D., Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Dallas, Texas

9:00 – 9:45 AM - A Brief Survey Of Juror Demographics From Key Jurisdictions & Witness Considerations

• Mary Madison Eagle, Ph.D., JuryScope, Dallas, TX
• Christina Ouska, JuryScope, Eden Prairie, MN

9:45 – 10:30 AM - A Practitioners Guide To Why Patent Litigation Is Necessarily International Today

• Erick S. Robinson, Spencer Fane LLP, Houston, TX

10:30 – 11:00 AM - BREAK

11:00 – 11:30 AM - Right To Repair & The Intersection With IP

• Aaron B. Rabinowitz, Baker & Hostetler, LLP, Philadelphia, PA

As advanced technologies continue to find their way into our everyday life, the Right to Repair has attracted ever-increasing attention from consumers, manufacturers, and third-party repair organizations. This session will describe the important intersections between different types of intellectual property and the Right to Repair as well as summarize ongoing initiatives that relate to the Right to Repair.

11:30 – 12:30 PM - A Primer On Patent Enforcement Actions Via Amazon’s Patent Enforcement Platform

JoAnna Luna, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Houston, Texas
Sarah B. Foley, Barta, Jones & Foley, PLLC, Plano, Texas

1:30 – 2:30 PM - In-House Counsel Panel – Hybrid Work And The Great Resignation – New Challenges For Protecting Your IP (60 minutes)

Moderator: Evelyn Chen, Ericsson Inc., Plano, TX

Panelists:

• Stephanie L. Dowdy, Terumo BCT, Inc., Lakewood, CO
• Marylauren Ilagan, OLAPLEX, INC., Dallas, TX
• Ozz Siddiq, Lennox International Inc., Richardson, TX

Hybrid work has changed the business landscape by providing more remote workers across various industries than ever before. The Great Resignation introduced high turnover that may be here to stay. With a changing workforce interacting in new ways, how can we improve on best practices for capturing innovation to keep businesses ahead of the curve, and ensuring it doesn’t walk out the door?

2:30 – 2:45 PM - BREAK

2:45 – 3:45 PM - Diversity Panel – Deconstructing The Barriers, Rethinking The Profession (60 minutes)

Moderator: Palak Shah, Uber Technologies Inc., Dallas, TX

Panelists:

• Tiffany Johnson, Boston Scientific, Valencia, CA
• Miranda Leu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Plano, TX

Evolving technology, the pandemic, and a new business and regulatory landscape have converged to challenge the practice of IP law and build a bridge to future innovation. As we continue to look for ways to improve diversity, the next step forward involves re-examining the entry points to the IP profession in order to open doors to a new generation of practitioners and inventors who will bring different backgrounds and life experiences to an ever-changing world. This session will feature panelists at the forefront of the profession and will delve into the barriers prospective practitioners and innovators face as well as potential solutions.

3:45 – 4:00 PM - BREAK

4:00 – 5:00 PM - Ethics: A Focus On Misconduct (Legal Ethics: 60 minutes)

• Tom Irving, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, Washington, DC

Findings of inequitable conduct and/or unclean hands against a U.S. patent effectively destroy a patent, rendering moot issues of infringement and/or validity/patentability. Tom Irving will discuss recent examples of court opinions on inequitable conduct and other misconduct. He will also discuss the types of activity that patent prosecutors need to watch for (and try to avoid!) in drafting and prosecuting patents.

5:00 PM - ADJOURN

CLE Credit

Testimonials

2021 Conference Attendees (Live Virtual Event) liked best:

• The topics were interesting and relevant to me.
• Practical advice given from attorneys and judges.
• Great topics and knowledgeable presenters.
• I was able to get insights on current events and topics relevant to today’s changing industry.

Sponsorship Opportunities

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