50 most influential people in IP 2022: MIP recognises Stephen Wurth and John Scott at Qualcomm
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50 most influential people in IP 2022: MIP recognises Stephen Wurth and John Scott at Qualcomm

Stephen Wurth and John Scott are legal counsel at Qualcomm in the US

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Stephen Wurth (left) and John Scott (right), legal counsel, Qualcomm, California

Petitioners at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board spend a lot of time putting together the best cases they can.

One question they consider is the extent to which they should rely on applicant admitted prior art (AAPA) to invalidate patents.

This year, counsel have a little more information on that issue thanks to lawyers at Qualcomm, including Stephen Wurth and John Scott.

Wurth helped his team win its case against Apple at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in February, establishing that AAPA couldn’t form the basis of validity challenges in inter partes reviews (IPRs) and vacating a PTAB decision finding a Qualcomm claim unpatentable.

USPTO director Kathi Vidal interpreted this edict to mean that AAPA couldn’t be a primary reference but didn’t improperly form the basis of IPRs when petitions relied on it in combination with one or more patents or printed publications. She issued guidance to this effect in June.

This guidance was important because it helped ensure that lawyers wouldn’t waste their limited wordcounts on arguments that wouldn’t be effective.

 The Federal Circuit case stemmed from the high-profile litigation that Qualcomm and Apple settled in 2019, which Scott was involved in. Scott also weighed in on the decision not to settle the IPRs when the companies settled the overall case, paving the way for the Federal Circuit ruling.

 Scott is currently managing a case filed against his company at the US International Trade Commission in October by Daedalus Prime.

Profiles for the 50 most influential people in IP 2022
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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
Scott Frank is CEO of IP at AT&T in the US
Joyce Ang is senior vice president for IPR protection at Lazada in Singapore
Juliette Rouilloux-Sicre is vice president of legal and intellectual property at Thales in France
Niall Trainor is senior director of brand protection at eOne in the UK
Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen are founders at Andreessen Horowitz in the US
Jack Randles is head of legal at Manolo Blahnik in the UK
Nader Pazirandeh is president at Unicolors in the US
Craig Wright is a computer scientist in Australia
Mattia Fogliacco is president of Sisvel International in Luxembourg
Beat Weibel is chief IP counsel at Siemens in Germany
Daniel Zohny is head of IP at FIFA in Switzerland
René Claude Metomo is the president of the Association of Penja Pepper Producers in Cameroon
Robert Devonshire is a partner at MML Capital in the UK
Audrey Lee is general counsel at Starz Entertainment in the US
Clemens Heusch is global head of dispute resolution at Nokia in Germany
 
Jacob Rees-Mogg is the former secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy in the UK
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the director general of the World Trade Organization in Switzerland
The investigation lead at the Spanish National Police asked to remain anonymous
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
Vladimir Putin is president of Russia
Thom Tillis is a senator for North Carolina at the US Congress
Patrick Leahy is a senator for Vermont at the US Congress
Edwin Tong is the second minister for law in the Singapore government
 
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
António Campinos is president of the EPO in Germany
Konstantinos Georgaras is CEO of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Shen Changyu is the commissioner of the CNIPA in China
Shira Perlmutter is register of copyrights at the US Copyright Office
Tim Moss is former CEO of the UKIPO
Kathi Vidal is the director of the USPTO and under secretary of commerce for IP in the US government
 
Wang Jiangqiao is a judge at the Hangzhou Internet Court in China
Suzanne Barnett was the interim chief judge at the Copyright Royalty Board in the US
Len Stark is a judge at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the US
Prathiba Singh is a judge at the Delhi High Court in India
Orlando Garcia is the chief judge at the District Court for the Western District of Texas in the US
Klaus Grabinski is president of the UPC Court of Appeal in Germany
Colm Connolly is the chief judge at the District Court for the District of Delaware 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
Lynn Goldsmith is a celebrity photographer in the US
Ed Sheeran is a pop star in the UK
Taras Kulbaba is a partner at Bukovnik & Kulbaba IP Guardians in Belgium
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