50 most influential people in IP 2022: MIP recognises Len Stark at the Federal Circuit
Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

50 most influential people in IP 2022: MIP recognises Len Stark at the Federal Circuit

Len Stark is a judge at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the US

Len Stark.jpg
Len stark, judge, Federal Circuit, US

The former chief judge at the District Court for the District of Delaware was elevated to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in February.

Since then, Len Stark – the only Federal Circuit member with trial judge experience and one of the few who previously worked as a patent litigator – has made some important contributions to US patent precedent.

Stark wrote the judgment for Thaler v Vidal in August, for example, in which he and his fellow circuit judges Kimberly Moore and Richard Taranto found that the Patent Act required an inventor to be a natural person.

The ruling disappointed plaintiff Stephen Thaler, the creator of DABUS, and others like him who’d hoped the US would allow artificial intelligence platforms to be listed as inventors on patents.

Stark continued to serve as a visiting judge in Delaware for the first half of the year, managing his leftover cases that were either on the eve of trials or would otherwise be unnecessarily disrupted if a new judge took over.

The woman Stark replaced at the Federal Circuit, Kathleen O’Malley, said the appeals court was in “good hands” with the Delaware judge.

So far, she seems to have been right.

Profiles for the 50 most influential people in IP 2022
View profiles

The list is in five categories, which you can navigate by selecting the appropriate section below.

19 Industry leaders
10 Public officials
9 IP authorities
7 Judges
5 Notable individuals
 
Kasim Alfalahi is CEO at Avanci in the US
Shannon Thyme Klinger is chief legal officer at Moderna in the US
Jim Sullivan is a director at Shazam Productions in the UK
Jack Randles is head of legal at Manolo Blahnik in the UK
Audrey Lee is general counsel at Starz Entertainment in the US
Robert Devonshire is a partner at MML Capital in the UK
Scott Frank is CEO of IP at AT&T in the US
Craig Wright is a computer scientist in Australia
Niall Trainor is senior director of brand protection at eOne in the UK
Juliette Rouilloux-Sicre is vice president of legal and intellectual property at Thales in France
Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen are founders at Andreessen Horowitz in the US
Stephen Wurth and John Scott are legal counsel at Qualcomm in the US
Joyce Ang is senior vice president for IPR protection at Lazada in Singapore
Daniel Zohny is head of IP at FIFA in Switzerland
Mattia Fogliacco is president of Sisvel International in Luxembourg
Clemens Heusch is global head of dispute resolution at Nokia in Germany
Beat Weibel is chief IP counsel at Siemens in Germany
René Claude Metomo is the president of the Association of Penja Pepper Producers in Cameroon
Nader Pazirandeh is president at Unicolors in the US
 
The investigation lead at the Spanish National Police asked to remain anonymous
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the director general of the World Trade Organization in Switzerland
Jacob Rees-Mogg is the former secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy in the UK
Edwin Tong is the second minister for law in the Singapore government
Kerstin Jorna is director general of DG Grow at the European Commission in Belgium
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the former president of the United Arab Emirates
Thom Tillis is a senator for North Carolina at the US Congress
Vladimir Putin is president of Russia
Patrick Leahy is a senator for Vermont at the US Congress
 
Alexander Ramsay is former chair of the UPC Administrative Committee in Sweden
Insil Lee is the commissioner at KIPO in South Korea
Christian Archambeau is executive director at the EUIPO in Spain
Kathi Vidal is the director of the USPTO and under secretary of commerce for IP in the US government
Shira Perlmutter is register of copyrights at the US Copyright Office
Shen Changyu is the commissioner of the CNIPA in China
Konstantinos Georgaras is CEO of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Tim Moss is former CEO of the UKIPO
António Campinos is president of the EPO in Germany
 
Wang Jiangqiao is a judge at the Hangzhou Internet Court in China
Colm Connolly is the chief judge at the District Court for the District of Delaware in the US
Suzanne Barnett was the interim chief judge at the Copyright Royalty Board in the US
Prathiba Singh is a judge at the Delhi High Court in India
Klaus Grabinski is president of the UPC Court of Appeal in Germany
Orlando Garcia is the chief judge at the District Court for the Western District of Texas in the US
 
Amber Kotrri is the founder of House of Zana in the UK
Ankit Sahni is the owner of the RAGHAV Artificial Intelligence Painting App in India
Ed Sheeran is a pop star in the UK
Taras Kulbaba is a partner at Bukovnik & Kulbaba IP Guardians in Belgium
Lynn Goldsmith is a celebrity photographer in the US
Gift this article