Leveling the Playing Field?: Defensive Aggregation, IPRs and Patent Enforcement Entities

Leveling the Playing Field?: Defensive Aggregation,
IPRs and Patent Enforcement Entities
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Registration & Networking Lunch
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Program

Thank you to our sponsor:

PRESENTATION
Program:
Our panel will speak to patent aggregation for both defense and enforcement, and the use of IPRs as an alternative to litigation (including predictions as to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Oil States case).

Panelists:
Shawn Ambwani, COO & SVP-Legal, Unified Patents – Shawn is responsible for running operations, counsel & docket management, analytics, and marketing at United Patents.  Some call him “the most disruptive person in IP.”  He has written law review articles on PTAB analytics and procedures (linked here).   Previously, he was VP of Licensing and Business Development at Intertrust, responsible for patent and technology licensing programs with over $500 million in revenue.  Prior to that he served as EVP at Nexstreaming (KOSDAQ) and co-founded Envivio (NASDAQ), bought by Ericsson.

Matthew Argenti, Partner, Wilson Sonsini – Matt primarily focuses on patent litigation with an emphasis on post-grant review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He represents both petitioners and patent owners in contested proceedings under the America Invents Act, including inter partes reviews and covered business method reviews. In addition, Matt has extensive experience litigating patent cases in federal courts and before the International Trade Commission. His work has involved a variety of technology areas, including computer networking, anti-virus software, telecommunications, consumer wiring devices, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and semiconductors. Prior to attending law school, Matt worked in the memory products division of Cypress Semiconductor for three years.

Eric Olsen, Senior Vice President, Acquisitions, RPX Corporation – Prior to joining RPX, Eric was Vice President of Business Development, Legal and Secretary of Aggregate Knowledge, a company developing advertising optimization solutions for Internet advertisers and advertising agencies. Before Aggregate Knowledge, he worked at Intertrust Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ITRU, acquired by Sony and Philips) in a variety of positions, most recently as Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing. He also previously served as patent counsel for Cardeon Corporation, a medical device start-up focusing on solutions for the bypass surgery market, and Zexel Innovation, a leader in the development of GPS navigational systems (acquired by Visteon Corporation NYSE: VC). Eric holds a BS in Ecology and Systematic Biology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a JD from Santa Clara University. He is a registered Patent Attorney before the US Patent & Trademark Office.

Alex Poltorak, CEO, General Patent – Alex is the Founder, Chairman and the CEO of General Patent Corporation (GPC), an intellectual property (IP) firm focusing on intellectual property strategy and valuation, IP licensing and enforcement. He also serves as the Managing Director of IP Holdings LLC (IPH), an IP-centric merchant banking boutique providing IP-focused financial, brokerage and advisory services, and operating an idea incubator. Prior to establishing GPC in 1987, Alex was President and CEO of Rapitech Systems, Inc., a computer technology company that he had founded in 1983 and took public in 1986. He is the Founder and President of a non-profit association, American Innovators for Patent Reform.

Jim Skippen, Executive Chairman, Wi-LAN – Since June 2006, Jim has been responsible for all operations of WiLAN, including the development and implementation of the company’s strategic and operating plans. Under Jim’s leadership, WiLAN has assembled a world-class technology licensing team, grown its portfolio from approximately 20 patents to over 15,000 patents, established a stronger balance sheet and increased its market capitalization from $25 million to over $1 Billion. In his career, he has been responsible for license agreements in excess of $1.5 billion. A seasoned licensing executive and lawyer, Jim has managed several large and complex patent licensing negotiations and litigations. Before joining WiLAN, he worked for two of Canada’s largest law firms and held a number of senior management positions, including Senior Vice-President, Patent Licensing and General Counsel at MOSAID Technologies.

Moderator: Ron Laurie, Chairman, InventionShare; Managing Director, Inflexion Point Strategy – Ron is the Chairman of InventionShare, a new kind of open innovation company that connects creators of broadly patentable, breakthrough technologies with leading product companies to globally deploy these technologies in a minimum amount of time, without having to build an operating company, by using a variety of creative deal structures including spin-outs, joint ventures, exclusive field-of-use licenses and early M&A exits. Ron is also the Managing Director of Inflexion Point Strategy, the first boutique IP Investment bank, which he founded in 2004 to assist technology companies and institutional investors around the world in IP-intensive M&A transactions. Ron is a director at Wi-LAN, Inc., one of the oldest and most successful publicly-traded patent licensing companies and is on the advisory boards of the Hoover Institution Working Group on Intellectual Property, Innovation, and Prosperity (IP2) at Stanford, the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society, and the Certified Patent Valuation Analyst accreditation program.