Last year’s list was typically diverse, including judges, officials, in-house counsel and academics as well as a basketball player, an actress, an internet entrepreneur and a fashion designer (read the list in full here).
We profiled five of the 50 in depth in the July/August issue: Jurgen Dressel of Novartis, Colleen Chien of Santa Clara University, Jamie Love of KEI, Liu Chuntian of the People’s University Law School and Denis Croze of WIPO. All are probably contenders to be included again this year; indeed some (such as Chien) are arguably more influential now than a year ago.
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"This year we want to know who readers think should be included. We’re particularly interested in the less well-known names and those whose impact on IP might be less celebrated" |
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This year we want to know who readers think should be included. We’re particularly interested in the less well-known names and those whose impact on IP might be less celebrated. Few would deny that the director general of WIPO, the chief judge of the Federal Circuit or the director of the USPTO (when there is one) have influence. But who is shaping popular perceptions about copyright? Who is driving debates on patent reform? And who is shaping business strategies and trends?
We’d like you to let us know – either via the comment function on this site, on our LinkedIn discussion, or on twitter (@managingip). Please tell us the name of the person you think should be included, and (briefly) why you think they are influential.
There a few guidelines we always follow with the MIP 50, though we have occasionally broken them over the years. The main one is that this is not a list of private-practice lawyers; there are many other places where they are rated and ranked (some published by us), so please don’t nominate anyone whose main job involves working for a law firm or other service provider.
A second principle is that this is a global list and we are particularly keen to hear of people in Africa, Latin America and Asia that deserve wider recognition. It is also not primarily a list marking past achievements – we seek to include people who are influential now and are likely to be in the future. If that means they are a college graduate launching a startup, rather than a retired professor or judge, so be it.
Finally, the MIP 50 is not a popularity contest. We are not counting votes. However, we are interested in your views and will acknowledge all suggestions received when we publish this year’s list of the MIP 50 in the July/August issue.
So please do spend a few minutes sending us your ideas. After all, if you don’t take the opportunity to participate, you can hardly criticise the list when it’s published can you?
