DEALMAKERS FORUMS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• First Chair
• FOUNDING PARTNER at FABRICANT LLP

Alfred R. Fabricant (Fred) is an experienced first chair trial lawyer who focuses his practice on patent, copyright, trademark and unfair competition matters. Fred has litigated patent infringement cases in district courts throughout the United States for both patent owners and defendants including cases in the most active courts in Delaware, Texas, California, Illinois and Florida. His cases have involved a large variety of technologies including automotive, semiconductor, audio processing, LED lighting and displays, smartphone handsets, medical devices, electronic ratings systems, copy protection and anti-piracy technology, NFC and radio frequency identification systems, robotic systems, memory and storage devices, software, internet-related method and system patents, universal remote control devices, and optical systems and methods. According to "The World's Leading Patent Practitioners" published by the IAM1000: "clients say they cannot imagine working with anyone better, hailing (Fabricant's) outstanding skills of presentation and persuasion in the courtroom." Fred has represented clients in patent matters before the International Trade Commission. He has also appeared in more than 100 inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board. Fred has argued numerous appeals before the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Federal, Second and Fourth Circuits where he has represented both appellants and appellees in a variety of matters. Since 2008. Fred has handled a large number of cases that have been financed, in whole or in part, by litigation funders. He has also represented litigation funds as outside diligence counsel and is frequently recommended by litigation funders to claimants for both lead counsel representation in litigation as well as for IPR work before the PTAB.

Job Titles:

• DIRECTOR at CURIAM CAPITAL

Anup Misra serves as a Director at Curiam Capital and is responsible for the underwriting of financing opportunities related to intellectual property litigation. He also works on business development and the monitoring of ongoing litigation for Curiam's investments. This year he was individually ranked by Chambers and Partners in their Intellectual Property, Litigation Funding department. Anup has over a decade of experience representing clients in complex intellectual property and general commercial litigation. Prior to joining Curiam, Anup was a senior associate at Winston & Strawn LLP, where he defended large technology companies in high-stakes patent litigation and provided guidance and counseling related to the management and acquisition of patent portfolios. He was also previously an associate in the intellectual property and litigation groups at Mayer Brown LLP and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. Anup graduated from Pennsylvania State University with degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics and cum laude from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he was an editor on the Law Review.

Job Titles:

• SENIOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Kerry Kimes is a Senior Director of Business Development at Rambus Inc. Since joining Rambus in 2013, Kerry has lead dozens of licensing deals with many of the largest semiconductor companies, sustaining a licensing program with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual billings. He is also involved in managing the foundation of that licensing program, a patent portfolio with fundamental innovations in semiconductor memory, high-speed interfaces, and security. Prior to Rambus, Kerry worked for Dolby Laboratories where he was responsible for the business and licensing strategy with Dolby's semiconductor partners. Kerry holds a BS in Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland.

Job Titles:

• PARTNER

Elizabeth Tabas Carson represents both borrower and lender side clients in deals of all sizes, from small bi-lateral domestic financings and "club" deals to large more broadly syndicated credit facilities in complex domestic and cross-border transactions. She has extensive experience in structuring and negotiating leveraged finance transactions, special situations including debt restructurings and workouts, recapitalizations, SPAC and de-SPAC support transactions, fund financings, private debt, and financings of alternative assets, including structuring financings and liquidity solutions. Liz's practice focuses on distressed debt, regulated and complex debt offerings in private and public markets with a particular focus on asset managers, healthcare, life sciences, technology, intellectual property, concentrated NAV financings, and other transactions involving regulated and esoteric asset classes. Liz serves as Chair and previously as Vice Chair of the ABA sub-committee on fund finance and has been recognized by several industry publications, including IFLR 1000 (2020-2021) and Chambers USA

Job Titles:

• SENIOR PARTNER at AMERICAN CONTINENTAL GROUP

Chris is one of the nation's foremost IP policy experts. He served in the George W. Bush Administration as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Commerce and later becoming the first U.S. International Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. At ACG Advocacy, Chris works with a wide range of clients including some of the largest and most innovative companies in the world to support their efforts to build a policy environment in the U.S. that promotes and protects their investments in intellectual property. He has also developed a unique focus leading a coalition of top venture capitalists and innovative startups to pursue a policy agenda that has led to improvements in tax policy, investments in R&D, and strengthening patent protection. Chris maintains a leadership profile working on IP and innovation issues and has been a frequent public speaker and has testified before Congress multiple times both as an Administration official and since he left public service. He was previously named one of the 50 "Most Influential People on IP" by Managing Intellectual Property magazine.

Job Titles:

• Vice President at Nokia

Dr. Clemens-August Heusch, LL.M. is Vice President at Nokia and heads the Global Litigation and Disputes Team. He is responsible for litigation, arbitration, and mediation globally with a strong focus on multinational IP litigation and licensing (FRAND) arbitrations. Since 2008 Nokia has been involved in more than 200 patent cases worldwide against companies such as Apple, HTC, Blackberry, InterDigital, Qualcomm, Daimler, Intellectual Ventures, IPCom, KPN, Daimler, Lenovo, and others. Those patent cases related to implementation patents as well as to standard-essential patents relating to GSM, UMTS, LTE, H.264, WiFi, NFC, and others. Before joining Nokia, Clemens was an attorney at law at the international law firm Bird & Bird LLP (2004 to 2008) in Düsseldorf. He studied law at the Universities of Freiburg and Bonn, holds an LL.M. degree from the University of Maastricht, and a doctorate from the University of Cologne. During his traineeship, he worked (among others) in the competition law team of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Cologne and Brussels. Clemens is a registered lawyer at the Cologne Bar and is a certified IP lawyer. Fluent in German, English and French, he regularly presents and writes on a range of legal topics. He is a member of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) and was appointed to the AIPPI Standing Committee on Standards and Patents. He is also a member of the board of the German AIPPI group, the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, and the Licensing Executives Society. He also is a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) and the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR).

Job Titles:

• Co - Founder and Managing Director of Tech IP Capital

Dr. Elvir Causevic, Esq., is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Tech+IP Capital, a boutique investment bank empowering clients to realize tangible value from intangible assets. Dr. Causevic was Co-Head of the Tech+IP Advisory Group at Houlihan Lokey, a $6B investment bank, after they acquired BSIP LLC, an IP boutique he founded. He was an MD at Ocean Tomo, heading Strategic Advisory Services and serving as technical and damages expert witness on patent infringement, licensing, and antitrust matters. Earlier he was on the faculty at Yale University, and founded three neurotechnology companies - two were acquired by Fortune 500s, and the third, BrainScope, is a maker of the only FDA-cleared concussion device. He is a named inventor on 30+ patents. Dr. Causevic holds B.S., M.S. and D.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Washington University and a JD from the University of California Hastings College of Law, licensed to practice in Massachusetts.

Job Titles:

• Engineer at New York University
• Managing Director and Head of IP Finance
• MANAGING DIRECTOR at PRETIUM PARTNERS

Francis G. Rushford is a Managing Director and Head of IP Finance within Pretium Partner's Legal Group. Mr. Rushford is a recognized global authority on Intellectual Property valuation and monetization through the successful monetization of IP assets for well over 25 years. Mr. Rushford has spoken frequently on the topic, as well having published articles on a broad range of IP topics. Prior to joining Pretium in 2021, Mr. Rushford was in private practice in California and New York. Before that, Mr. Rushford was the Chief Operating Officer for HEVC Advance. Previous to HEVC Advance, Mr. Rushford was a Managing Director and Co-Founder of RSL Holdings, a premier intellectual property valuation and monetization business. Preceding RSL, Mr. Rushford founded the Patent Trading Desk at ICAP. Before ICAP, Mr. Rushford practiced law privately and as a corporate counsel. Mr. Rushford has successfully generated hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue for his clients through the proper valuation and monetization of patents and other IP globally through litigation, licensing, and sales. Mr. Rushford has extensive experience in a broad range of technologies from AI/AR to Telecommunications. Mr. Rushford was trained as a metallurgical engineer at New York University and worked as an engineer and product development manager for Texas Instruments prior to his commencing his legal career after graduating from New England Law Boston. Mr. Rushford is a member of the Connors Inns of Court, AIPLA, LAIPLA, and NYIPLA Mr. Rushford has been named a Top IP Global Strategist by IAM for the past 15 years.

Job Titles:

• Chief
• Counsel
• General Counsel
• CHIEF IP OFFICER at SILCOTEK

Geoffrey White is General Counsel, Chief IP Counsel, and on the Board of Directors at SilcoTek, a high-tech materials science manufacturing company in the United States solving challenges for some of the largest global organizations in the world, especially in semiconductor, analytical instrumentation, life science, and energy industries. Properties include inertness, corrosion resistance, metal-ion containment, and more (see www.SilcoTek.com). At SilcoTek, Geoffrey balances his role as an attorney, an IP strategist, and a manufacturing executive. Geoffrey has a true passion for value-enhancement, applying his experience and education, including a Cambridge MBA, a George Washington IP-LLM, a Widener JD, and a Chemistry BS from the University of Pittsburgh. He is intimately involved in enabling external organizations to have access to SilcoTek's proprietary coatings through SilcoTek's patent filing strategy, which fosters open discussion consistent with SilcoTek's core values. This openness drove SilcoTek to publicly disclose current patent litigation funding from Omni Bridgeway.

Job Titles:

• Partner
• PARTNER, HALEY GUILIANO

Greg Lundell is a partner in Haley Guiliano's Silicon Valley office. His practice reflects his unique mix of outside counsel trial experience and a decade of leading corporate IP groups as inside counsel. Before joining Haley Guiliano, Mr. Lundell served as Vice President of IP Strategy and Licensing at two global public technology companies focused on video delivery and content management. In these roles he led IP departments though both daily, routine IP activities and long-term, complex IP objectives. His experience includes successful litigations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America; in-bound and out-bound technology licensing; evaluating businesses and IP portfolios for M&A activity; and driving innovation as chief patent counsel.

Job Titles:

• Vice President and Senior Deputy General Counsel at Comcast Cable
• VP & SENIOR DEPUTY GC at COMCAST

Heather Faltin is Vice President and Senior Deputy General Counsel at Comcast Cable with responsibility for leading the company's patent group. In this role, she oversees Comcast's patent harvesting and prosecution activities, global patent portfolio, and patent licensing activities. She is also responsible for managing Comcast's patent litigation docket and has gained particular experience managing complex ITC litigation and litigation spanning multiple worldwide jurisdictions. Prior to joining Comcast, she was a patent litigator at Cooley LLP. Heather received her bachelor's degree with high honors in Physics from the College of William & Mary, and her J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Job Titles:

• PARTNER & CHAIR of IP LITIGATION at BROWN RUDNICK

Ian DiBernardo is a Partner and Chair of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group, Practice Group Leader of the U.S. Technology Group, and a member of the Global Life Sciences Group.

Job Titles:

• CEO and Founder of NuCurrent, Inc
• CEO at NUCURRENT

Jacob Babcock is CEO and Founder of NuCurrent, Inc., a venture-backed wireless power company based in Chicago. NuCurrent is the world's leading wireless power technology company, launching more products into mass production than any other wireless power company across auto, consumer, medical and industrial segments. Key Licensees include Amphenol, Klipsch, Honeywell, Whoop and Samsung. Jacob's other experiences include: North American legal counsel for cleverbridge, Inc., a leading e-commerce provider for digital distribution; technology attorney at Foley & Lardner LLP, a 900-person global law firm; and high school teacher and football coach in St. Louis as part of Teach For America. Jacob is a named inventor on over 30 patents, has a JD from Northwestern University School of Law, a BA from Indiana University, and lives in Chicago with his wife, two daughters and dog where he risks life and limb cheering for the Packers and Brewers.

Job Titles:

• Founder and Managing Partner for Carmichael IP
• MANAGING MEMBER at CARMICHAEL IP

James Carmichael is the Founder and Managing Partner for Carmichael IP, PLLC, and a former Administrative Patent Judge on the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (now the Patent Trial and Appeal Board). Jim was employed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for eight years, including working in the electrical and computer division of the Board as an Examiner-in-Chief. Currently, he represents inventors and patent challengers before the PTO in patent prosecution and inter partes review proceedings. Jim regularly serves as an expert witness on PTO prosecution and post-grant procedures. Before becoming a Judge, Jim served for five years as an Associate Solicitor of the PTO. In that capacity, he represented the agency in federal court litigation and argued more than thirty cases at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The cases Jim handled included patentability and reexamination. He was also Coordinator of attorney discipline proceedings. Jim helped develop PTO procedures relating to the duty of disclosure as well as post-grant proceedings. Jim graduated from Yale University in 1984, and from University of Wisconsin Law School in 1987 with honors. During law school, he served as an Associate Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. Jim is a registered patent attorney and admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C., and California.

Job Titles:

• PRESIDENT & CEO at QUEST PATENT RESEARCH CORPORATION

Leading Quest since 2007, Jon Scahill has over 15 years' experience identifying, vetting, negotiating for and monetizing intellectual property. He has engaged assets as an owner, purchaser, licensee, licensor, plaintiff and defendant. He has advised and negotiated transactions on behalf of and opposite major corporations, individual owners, investors, hedge funds and litigation counsel. During his tenure, Mr. Scahill has grown Quest's portfolio from a single patent asset to over 250 patents under management across 18 portfolios. Quest manages a financing facility of over $50 million-dollars dedicated to additional portfolio acquisitions and monetization efforts. Mr. Scahill holds a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester, an MBA in finance, strategy and operations from Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business and a JD from Pace Law School. Mr. Scahill is admitted to practice in New York, Florida and the District of Columbia and he is a registered patent attorney admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Job Titles:

• EVP, CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER & CORPORATE SECRETARY at INTERDIGITAL
• InterDigital 's Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary

Joshua D. Schmidt is InterDigital's Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, responsible for managing the company's legal functions. Mr. Schmidt joined InterDigital in March 2015 and previously served as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, with responsibility for the company's corporate, commercial, employment and compliance functions, as well as the Company's ESG initiatives and was promoted to Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary in October 2021. Prior to that role, Mr. Schmidt served in a variety of roles within InterDigital's legal department, with primary responsibility for the company's M&A, corporate governance, and commercial contracting functions. Before joining InterDigital in 2015, Mr. Schmidt was an associate at Dechert LLP., where he focused his practice on private and public company M&A, securities offerings, venture capital transactions and joint ventures. Mr. Schmidt holds a Juris Doctor degree from Duke University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration: Finance from the University of Pittsburgh.

Job Titles:

• Executive Vice President
• EVP, PARTNERSHIPS and ACQUISITIONS at IPVALUE MANAGEMENT INC.

Keith Wilson is executive vice president, partnerships and acquisitions, at IPValue Management Inc. IPValue's mission is to generate value for leading innovative enterprises by licensing their patented inventions. IPValue has returned well over $1bn to high-tech enterprises from its licensing activities and, over the past four years, has acquired rights to over 10,000 patents. Mr Wilson has over 25 years of experience in intellectual property law, licensing, and management. Before joining IPValue, Mr Wilson was vice president, general and IP Counsel at Solus Microtechnologies, a venture capital-funded technology company. Mr Wilson worked for over a decade for Litton Industries, a $5bn technology company, in a number of technical, legal, and executive positions, including chief IP counsel. Mr Wilson has a BS in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley and a law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law.

Job Titles:

• Senior Director of Business Development at Rambus Inc.

Kerry Kimes is a Senior Director of Business Development at Rambus Inc. Since joining Rambus in 2013, Kerry has lead dozens of licensing deals with many of the largest semiconductor companies, sustaining a licensing program with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual billings. He is also involved in managing the foundation of that licensing program, a patent portfolio with fundamental innovations in semiconductor memory, high-speed interfaces, and security. Prior to Rambus, Kerry worked for Dolby Laboratories where he was responsible for the business and licensing strategy with Dolby's semiconductor partners. Kerry holds a BS in Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland.

Job Titles:

• HEAD of IP STRATEGY at KYNDRYL

Lorie Goins is Head of IP Strategy at Kyndryl, the world's largest IT infrastructure services provider which spun out of IBM in November 2021. As a seasoned IP professional with over 30 years of experience in the technology and legal industry, Lorie has held various IP-related positions throughout her career, including IP Business Development Executive at IBM, Group Legal Counsel at Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, and Patent Analyst at SAS Institute. Prior to attending law school, Lorie's business experiences include co-founding and serving as CTO of a technology startup, managing both strategic marketing and software development at Fujitsu, overseeing projects at Accenture in the Utilities Practice and performing program and project management at Verizon, as well as various entrepreneurial endeavors. Lorie currently serves as President of the North Carolina IP Alliance (NCIPA). Lorie earned her Computer Science degree from Penn State University and her Juris Doctorate degree from Campbell University School of Law.

Job Titles:

• Chief Licensing Officer
• General Manager
• CHIEF LICENSING OFFICER & GENERAL MANAGER of MEDIA IP BUSINESS at ADEIA

Mark Kokes is our Chief Licensing Officer and General Manager - Media. Prior to joining the Company as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Media IP in late 2021, Dr. Kokes held the position of Chief Intellectual Property Officer for NantWorks and the Nant family of companies - a large healthcare conglomerate based in Los Angeles, California. Preceding NantWorks, Dr. Kokes was promoted to the role of Senior Vice President of Intellectual Property, Licensing and Standards at BlackBerry where he was responsible for the monetization of its aggregate intellectual property portfolio as well as BlackBerry's numerous research and technology standardization efforts. Prior to joining BlackBerry in late 2014, Dr. Kokes held the position of Vice President of Corporate Development and Intellectual Property Licensing at Intertrust Technologies Corporation, a prolific licensor of technology and intellectual property in the area of trusted distributed computing and cybersecurity. Dr. Kokes is a 15 year veteran of the mobile industry. Preceding his time at Intertrust, he held a series of senior engineering, corporate strategy and intellectual property related positions at Nokia Research Center, Sony Ericsson's Corporate Technology Office and HTC's Corporate Strategy Group. Dr Kokes is an inventor on 14 US and international patents, has co-authored several additional international patent applications and has published many academic articles and book chapters on various research topics. Mark holds a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in electrical engineering from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, as well as both a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degree, summa cum laude, from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

Job Titles:

• MANAGING DIRECTOR at WEST U CAPITAL

Michelle is a managing director at West U Capital, where she makes debt and equity investments in companies with valuable patent portfolios. Prior to joining West U Capital, Michelle was Director of Patent Investments at Validity Finance, a commercial litigation funding company. At Validity, Michelle led the patent investment process, including originating new patent opportunities, evaluating and diligencing those opportunities for investment, and managing funded patent cases. Prior to joining Validity, Michelle spent 10 years as a patent and trade secret litigator at Baker Botts in Houston. She represented both plaintiffs and defendants in the energy and technology sectors in high-stakes IP cases. Michelle received her JD with honors from The University of Texas School of Law, where she was a member of the Texas Law Review. She also received her MBA from The University of Texas McCombs School of Business. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in systems engineering.

Job Titles:

• Co - Head of S & C 's Intellectual Property
• PARTNER & CO - HEAD of IP and TECH GROUP at SULLIVAN & CROMWELL

Nader Mousavi is a partner and co-head of S&C's Intellectual Property and Technology Group. Widely recognized as one of the leading IP and technology deal lawyers in the world, Nader has guided major companies and technology innovators on their most pressing IP issues for more than twenty years. A leader in artificial intelligence, Nader led the representation of OpenAI in their partnership with Microsoft; represented Character.ai in its partnership with Google Cloud; and advises a wide range of companies on AI adoption, commercialization and policy. Nader is ranked by Chambers in Technology Transactions both in California and Nationwide, and has been recognized by leading industry publications, including as a 2023 finalist for Attorney of the Year by The Recorder and as a two-time Law360 MVP in technology. Nader also serves as a Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School, teaching a course focused on patent and technology licensing.

Job Titles:

• CEO & CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER at DIVX, LLC
• CEO and Chief Legal Officer at DivX

Noel Egnatios is the CEO and Chief Legal Officer at DivX, a leading video technology company based in San Diego, CA that has been innovating in the video codec and streaming space for over 20 years. Noel is a longtime DivX employee who shepherded the growth of the company's IP portfolio and spearheaded pivotal corporate transactions and licensing deals. She now directs DivX's IP protection and enforcement programs and manages DivX's consumer and business licensing efforts. Before joining DivX, she advised companies on IP portfolio management, enforcement and licensing matters. She began her career in private practice at Cooley, where she oversaw the portfolios of major Silicon Valley technology companies and represented wireless technology firms in global patent litigation and arbitration.

Job Titles:

• SVP, IP at SONY CORPORATION of AMERICA

Mr. Toto joined Sony Corporation of America's Intellectual Property Department in 1993 and is currently its Senior VP for Intellectual Property. Prior to joining SCA he was an associate with Pennie & Edmonds in New York City focusing on patent litigation. At SCA Mr. Toto heads the group responsible for IP licensing, litigation, and transactions, as well as patent procurement and prosecution. The group leads various IP-centric alliances and supports SEP, cross and other global licensing activities of Sony, while providing day-to-day advice to local business units. Mr. Toto earned a B.S.E.E from Lafayette College and a J.D. with distinction from Hofstra Law School where he was a member of the Law Review. He is a member of the New York, New Jersey, and USPTO bars as well as numerous professional and legal organizations and has been regularly included in IAM Strategy 300: The World's Leading IP Strategists.

Job Titles:

• PARTNER at KRAMER ALBERTI LIM & TONKOVICH

Robert ("Rob") Kramer is nationally recognized as one of the most experienced, successful, results-oriented, and winning patent litigators in the country. He has been named by IP Law360 a "Legal Lion" for his lead counsel patent infringement jury trial victories. Recently, Mr. Kramer was lead counsel for plaintiff winning a $172.6 million jury verdict of willful infringement against Micro Focus Corp., a Hewlett-Packard spin-off company that acquired HP's software business for $8 billion. This resounding victory was the largest jury verdict in the history of the Sherman Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Rob was likewise lead trial counsel winning two major jury trials in the widely followed Finisar litigation, one of the largest patent infringement cases in the country between competitor optical networking companies. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Kramer's client in two trials, and within two hours of his closing argument in the second of these heavily fought jury trials. Patexia's annual report Best Patent Litigators of 2023 named Mr. Kramer in its ranking of the best 30 patent litigation attorneys in the country, a high honor and well-deserved recognition reserved for a select group of first chair team leader patent trial attorneys. In addition, Patexia 2023 Patent Litigation Intelligence Report, a comprehensive analysis of the best attorneys in the country covering the period Jan. 1, 2017 through Dec. 31, 2022, gave Rob a top ranking, naming him as among the top 50 best performing and most active patent litigation attorneys in the country. Rob, as lead counsel, and the Kramer Alberti team were included on the National Law Journal's List of "100 Largest Verdicts in the U.S," and honored to be named on Texas Lawyer Magazine's "Top 10 Patent Infringement Verdicts of the Year" (winning the 3rd largest verdict). Rob has represented clients in patent disputes involving a wide range of products and industries, including wireless technologies, networking, mobile and cellular telecommunications, smart grid utility networking systems, data compression and transmission, microprocessors, power over ethernet (PoE), IEEE 802.3, programmable logic arrays (PLAs), semiconductor manufacturing and packaging equipment, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), optics and optical networks, wavelength selective switches (WSS and ROADMs), databases, software, graphics, electronic gaming, industrial equipment, chemicals and adhesives, biometric authentication, and Internet patents. In addition, Rob has worked with standard essential patents (SEP) and FRAND licensing. Rob represents universities, including U Michigan, and is a member of AUTM. Rob was a partner and national chair of the Dentons law firm's Patent Litigation Practice from 2012-2019 before he and his team joined Kramer Alberti (then Feinberg Day), as was widely reported in The American Lawyer, IP Law 360, and other publications. He is a frequent author and lecturer on patent and intellectual property law topics and was an adjunct professor of law at Temple University and a guest lecturer at Waseda University in Tokyo teaching patent law. Rob serves as the co-chair of the American Bar Association Intellectual Property Litigation Committee's Section 112 Subcommittee. He served on the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. Rob has been Chambers ranked, and he is consistently honored as a "Northern California Super Lawyer" in IP Litigation, including in 2023. He also serves on IP Law360's California Editorial Board. He has been recognized as a leading patent practitioner by Law360, IAM Patent 1000, Super Lawyers, Legal 500 US and BTI Consulting. Rob started his career in New York. He was a judicial extern for U.S. District Judge Kevin Duffy, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and upon graduating from law school was a Judicial Law Clerk for Judge Richard Simons, Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. He was trained as a litigation associate at a major New York law firm for five years before relocating to San Francisco/Silicon Valley to continue practicing as an intellectual property litigator where he was a full equity partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP. He has extensive experience both representing and litigating against Asian companies in patent litigation and adversarial patent cross-licensing disputes. Rob lived in Tokyo for three years and was a registered Gaikokuho-Jimu-Bengoshi and a member of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association while a patent litigation partner in Morrison & Foerster's Tokyo office.

Job Titles:

• PARTNER at LISTON ABRAMSON

Ron Abramson is a litigator with many years of experience in the software, telecommunications and internet industries. His practice focuses primarily on patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret litigation and related strategic counseling, negotiations, and transactions. Mr. Abramson is most at home tearing apart complex technology law problems and crafting creative solutions. His matters have involved litigation over intellectual property and ownership rights in streaming media, computer languages and algorithms, telecommunications protocols and technology, and have also included brand protection, antipiracy, computer security, literary works, music, and the performing arts. He is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and experienced in prosecution of applications in that office, as well as IPR, reexamination, reissue and similar administrative proceedings. He is also experienced in arbitration and ADR and has served as a commercial arbitrator and mediator for the American Arbitration Association. Mr. Abramson has had considerable success in litigating patent infringement cases before the U.S. courts, as well as in securing numerous dismissals and preserving claims in the face of IPR petitions and trials before the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board. He also is an experienced general commercial litigator, in technical as well as non-technical business matters.

Job Titles:

• Vice President of Global Licensing at Ericsson
• VP, GLOBAL PATENT LICENSING at ERICSSON

Roy Maharaj is vice president of global licensing at Ericsson where he is responsible for leading the monetisation of Ericsson's industry-leading patent portfolio. With more than 60,000 granted patents, Ericsson has emerged as holding the strongest portfolio in cellular technology, and is the lead holder of 5G essential patents. Roy has over 25 years of experience in global licensing, covering operations in all major markets worldwide. Prior to joining Ericsson, Roy was vice president of licensing at Intellectual Ventures where he led the development and monetisation of several of Intellectual Ventures' successful licensing and assertion campaigns. Prior to joining Intellectual Ventures Roy led IP monetisation and technology licensing at a variety of companies including IBM, where he began his legal career. Roy earned his JD from Santa Clara University School of Law, MBA from San Jose State University and undergraduate degree in business from Santa Clara University.

Job Titles:

• DIRECTOR at LONGFORD CAPITAL

Russell J. Genet is a Director at Longford Capital, responsible for investment sourcing, underwriting and monitoring. Russ has over 25 years experience representing clients in enforcing intellectual property rights in a wide array of industries. Russ has litigated complex intellectual property matters in federal courts throughout the United States and before the Federal Circuit. He has prosecuted patent applications and represented clients in interferences, ex parte reexaminations, and inter partes reviews in the U.S. Patent Office. He has been recognized by Chambers for Litigation Finance in IP, LawDragon as Global Leader in Litigation Finance, and as an Illinois Super Lawyer. Prior to joining Longford, Russ was a partner in the international law firm, Nixon Peabody LLP where he served as leader of the firm's IP Litigation practice group. He is a graduate of Purdue University, with a degree in electrical engineering, and Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Job Titles:

• PRINCIPAL
• Principal in the Dallas Office of McKool Smith

Scott Hejny is a principal in the Dallas office of McKool Smith with a practice concentrating on commercial and intellectual property litigation. Scott is an experienced trial lawyer whose practice focuses on high-stakes patent litigation and complex commercial disputes. He has experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of intellectual property disputes in federal courts across the United States. Scott has experience as trial counsel in cases related to wireless phone and data transmission, oil-field tools and processes, integrated circuitry, operating system software, environmental control systems, and pharmaceutical technologies. He is a registered patent attorney. Before earning his law degree, Scott worked as a patent agent for a Houston law firm. While there, he drafted and prosecuted numerous patent applications related to electrical and mechanical systems. Scott has also worked as a design engineer for a major oilfield services company.

Job Titles:

• Leader
• Chief Operating Officer for IBM 's Research

William LaFontaine is a recognized leader in the areas of technology licensing, technology partnerships and intellectual property. Dr. LaFontaine is currently a Senior Advisor to Columbia Technology Ventures and an Executive in Residence. In July 2023, Dr. LaFontaine retired from IBM as General Manager of Intellectual Property at IBM. In this role, Dr. LaFontaine and his team worked at the intersection of Research, Business Units and Clients to accelerate market introduction of new technologies including Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing and Semiconductor technologies. Dr. LaFontaine was responsible for annually delivering over a billion dollars in joint development, technology transfer and patent licensing over the last nine years. In his 30-year career at IBM, Dr. LaFontaine has been the Chief Operating Officer for IBM's Research division, General Manager of Global Technology Services in Middle East and Africa as well as General Manager of Worldwide Semiconductor and Technology sales.