David Neuberger

former president
UK Supreme Court

Having graduated as a scientist and spent three years as an investment banker, David Neuberger became a barrister in 1975, and in 1987 was appointed Queen's Counsel. In 1996, he was appointed a High Court Judge, in the Chancery Division. In 2004, he was promoted to the Court of Appeal, and in 2007 he became a Law Lord. In 2009, he was appointed Master of the Rolls. In 2012, he became the President of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, from which he retired in September 2017.

Since 2010, Lord Neuberger has been a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal; in January 2018, he became a Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court. Lord Neuberger practises as an arbitrator from One Essex Court in the Temple, London. He is an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society, and an honorary member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Patricia Hec

head of legal
Novartis

Patricia Hec is head legal of Novartis oncology in France. In her role, she also manages intellectual property issues for Novartis oncology products in France. This includes IP defense and litigation to have IP rights and regulatory exclusivities respected. Hec works closely with Novartis global IP teams and external counsels on French specifics in terms of regulation and IP case law.

Hec joined Novartis in 2013 from a technology transfer office where she was head legal and IP. Previously she worked for Scientific Research Institutions, where she specialised in IP and technology transfer, mainly in life sciences. In addition, Hec has practiced IP and tech transfer in material, engineering, and information technology sciences.

Hec has a Master II degree in Business Law from ESA Grenoble, graduate business school and University of Grenoble, and she specialised in IP.

Adrian Howes

senior legal counsel
Nokia

Adrian Howes is a senior legal counsel at Nokia.  Prior to joining Nokia, Howes worked at Mylan, acted as a consultant for Sony Computer Entertainment and as an associate at the law firm Bird & Bird. He is an English qualified lawyer, and studied chemistry and law at the Universities of Durham and Cambridge, respectively.

Howes' work at Nokia encompasses policy, regulation, licensing and litigation regarding IPR issues. This includes attending IPR meetings at standard setting bodies, dealing with issues on open source software and negotiating agreements relating to both. He is also actively involved in cross-industry discussions on IPR and its place in the next generation of industry standards.

Bruce Elder

legal director, IP & licensing
Integrated Device Technology

Bruce Elder directs all IP strategy and programs at IDT, a Silicon Valley-based semiconductor company.  He also leads all licensing activities and manages M&A trasactions for the company.  Prior to IDT, he held similar positions as associate general counsel at a mobile phone security software company, and a supercomputer company.  He started his law practice working in IP litigation with a large multi-national law firm. 

Prior to his legal practice, Elder had a successful 15-year career in high-tech business development, and also worked as a satellite systems engineer for 4 years.  His busiess development experience included raising venture capital and starting three internet software companies in succession, where he served as senior VP of sales and marketing in each, and prior to that he had an 11-year tenure in international business development at Sun Microsystems, where he lived as an expatriate in Eastern Europe and Sutheast Asia before running Sun’s worldwide healthcare and medical device business in the late 1990s.

Elder received a honors degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1985, and received a Juris Doctor degree, magnum cum laude, from University of San Diego in 2008. He has also completed studies in Healthcare economics and policy at Harvard Univesity, and EU law in London.  He is admitted to practice law as an attorney in California, as a Silicitor in Egland & Wales, and as a Patent Attorney at the USPTO.

Catharina Maracke

associate professor
Kuehne Logistics University

Catharina Maracke is an associate professor at the Kuehne Logistics University, a project associate professor at the Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University in Japan, and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. She also serves as a strategic advisor to the OpenChain Initiative, a project hosted by the Linux Foundation. Prior to joining academia, Maracke served as director at creative commons, overseeing international licensing projects, and as a member of Global Agenda Council on the Intellectual Property System, World Economic Forum. Her research focusses on intellectual property law and policy and the intersection between law and innovation.

Arthur Lallement

IP manager
hVIVO Services

Arthur Lallement brings with him many years of consultancy experience in advising biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on IP strategy and analysing patent landscapes to identify threats and opportunities.

These competencies now benefit hVIVO Services Limited through the management of patent and trademark prosecutions but also by supporting R&D activity.

Lallement excels in the validation of R&D roadmaps, provides intelligence on technology trends in the early stage of the R&D cycle and produces large scale patent landscapes to comprehensibly map technology spaces and secure long term developments.

Lallement holds a MBA from SKEMA Business School and a MSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Toulouse.

Colin Lamond

IP and patent consultant
Nissan 

Colin works with Nissan Technical Centre Europe as executive consultant in the IP department. In this role he provides strategic and tactical intellectual property advice to Nissan's European centre for technology development, product evaluation, and engineering and vehicles testing.

He is involved in all stages of managing Nissan's local IP, from identifying and capturing inventions through to post-grant management of the patent portfolio, and ensuring due diligence processes. He is also the European lead for a global IP training program for Nissan engineers. He previously worked in in-house and in private practice across diverse technologies including electronics, medical devices, and automotive engineering.

Heli Pihlajamaa

director of directorate of patents
European Patent Office 

Heli Pihlajamaa, director patent law, EPO Munich, studied Law at Helsinki University and at Max Planck Institute in Munich. Pihlajamaa acts as legal member in opposition cases and advises EPO higher management on policy issues and legal amendments. She is responsible for supporting the EPO policy by developing, strengthening and promoting the EPC, including proposals for legal changes, compliance of operations with patent law-related norms and case law. Before joining the EPO she worked in both the private and public sectors.

Pihlajamaa has written several books and articles on patent law in Finnish.

Tilman Breitenstein

director of intellectual property
DSM 

Tilman Breitenstein has 20 years of experience in IP law in the fields of pharma, materials and biotechnology. He practiced in Japan, Germany, the United States and the Netherlands, in law firm and industry. He led IP teams of different size and setup. At DSM, he has rolled out a company-wide trade secret protection program.

He is qualified as German and European Patent Attorney, and is lecturing IP law at Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, since many years. He studied in Hannover, Germany, and Stanford, United States and holds a PhD in chemistry.

Jean-Marc Brunel

chief intellectual property officer
Safran

Jean-Marc Brunel - Vice-President Intellectual Property - Safran
Since June 2017, Jean-Marc Brunel is the newly appointed Safran chief intellectual property officer. Before jumping in this position, Brunel has lead the Safran Aircraft Engine Intellectual Property Organisation and Safran Group Intellectual Property Center of Excellence for 8 years. This organisation is considered by Safran as a key strategic instrument in contributing to the innovation process and transforming these innovations into Intellectual Property Rights.

The 900+ patent applications filed every year and the 30 000 patents/pending in portfolio make it one of the top French filers and materialize the high level of investment in R&T, the innovation mindset of its employees and its willingness to fully use IP instruments.

Before that, Brunel has gained a 20 year-Intellectual Property-experience by Airbus as Head of Intellectual Property both in France and Germany.

Brunel is French, graduated Engineer in Electrics, post-graduated in Innovation Management from a French Business School and certified EuKTS Expert.
On patents, Brunel is a CEIPI graduated, qualified French and European Patent Attorney and hold an advanced degree in Patent Litigation in Europe from Strasbourg University of law.

He is also a recognized lecturer in some MBAs, Executives programs and international conferences and an active Member of ASPI, AIPPI, LESI, EPI, APEB, 3AF.
On behalf of its company, Brunel has been awarded a gold trophy of IP Directorate (Leaders League) and been lately ranked in the 300 Worlds leading IP Strategist (IAM) and Corporate IP Stars (MIP).

Hugo Sakkers

head of legal
Philips International    

Hugo Sakkers is head of legal within Philips Intellectual Property & Standards, based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.  Philips Intellectual Property & Standards is the business organisation within Royal Philips responsible for the creation, maintenance and exploitation of intellectual property rights.  Sakkers has extensive experience in IP licensing, multimedia publishing, antitrust and litigation management.

Haibin Xue

general counsel for greater China
Hexagon 

Mr Haibin Xue is the General Counsel for Hexagon Group Greater China, a subsidiary of Hexagon AB, a leading global provider of information technologies that drive productivity and quality across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications, headquartered in Europe with substantial operations in China. As a Chinese lawyer, English solicitor and also a qualified engineer, Xue is experienced in cross border IP management and specializes in technology related transactions involving multiple jurisdictions.

Xue also acts as the London based managing partner for Zhong Lun Law Firm, one of the top 3 elite Chinese law firms. He has acted as the leading counsel for numerous Chinese and European companies in respect of their cross border corporate transactions, and is widely recognised for his solution driven approach and practical understanding of the legal, cultural and social environments both in China and Europe.

Xue has a bachelor degree in science and master degrees in law, and teaches law as an adjunct professor at Renmin University of China.  

Bart Van der Stockt

managing director
Unilin

Bart Van der Stockt is the managing director of Unilin, division Technologies. He has a Master in Law from the University of Ghent and a Master in Business Administration from the Vlerick Management School in Ghent. Van der Stockt has worked for Unilin since 2004, and his areas of responsibility have included negotiating and drafting of commercial agreements and IP-related contracts, as well as the enforcement of Unilin’s patent and trademark portfolios. He has considerable experience in developing and growing Chinese licensing business and he manages Unilin’s audit program to ensure contract compliance by licensees. With his company’s patented flooring products being relatively easy to copy, Bart has faced many challenges to keep counterfeit products from the market and has had extensive exposure to the court systems in many different jurisdictions.

Simon Kahn

partner
Boult Wade Tennant

Simon Kahn is a Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney in the High Tech and Electrical Group.

Kahn deals with the drafting, filing and prosecution of patent applications in the UK, Europe and around the world. He has significant expertise in managing worldwide filing and prosecution strategies, contentious European proceedings including oppositions and appeals, as well as due diligence.

He works with clients ranging from SMEs to large corporations, based in the UK, Europe and the US, in a wide variety of high tech industries. These include scientific instruments, telecommunication systems and control technologies. He is especially involved with patents related to instruments for molecular analysis, communication and signal processing techniques, optical components and computer architectures.

Jeffrey McLean

partner
Deacons

Jeffrey is a partner in Deacons Intellectual Property Department specialising in patents and designs. As a former examiner at the Australian Patent Office, his practice includes strategic portfolio management, patent specification drafting and all aspects of patent and design prosecution in China, Europe, United States, Hong Kong, Australia and other substantive jurisdictions.

Jeffrey's professional experience spans a wide range of technologies including medical devices, optical devices, mechanical devices, consumer devices, plastics, small household appliances, network security protocols, computer data structures, as well as genetic technologies, bioinformatics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology related applications.

Jeffrey holds a BSc and a LLB (Hons) from the University of Queensland, as well as a Masters of Information Technology from Queensland University of Technology and a Master of IP Law from University of Technology Sydney. He is admitted as a solicitor in Queensland and NSW and practised with a leading Australian firm prior to joining Deacons. Jeffrey is also a Hong Kong qualified solicitor, a Registered Australian/New Zealand Patent Attorney and a Registered Australian Trade Mark Attorney.

His expertise is recognised by numerous independent publications, including as the exclusive winner of Client Choice Award for Intellectual Property (Patents) in Hong Kong (2017) by International Law Office and Lexology. Jeffrey has been selected as a Leading Individual in Patent Prosecution in Hong Kong (2012, 2014 - 2017) by IAM Patent 1000, and as one of the World's Leading Patents Agent (2016 - 2017) by Who's Who Legal.

Jeffrey is a Committee Member of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA). 

Catherine Zheng

partner
Deacons 

Catherine is the Head of the Patent and Designs practice group and a Partner of the China IP Group of Deacons' Intellectual Property Department. 

Catherine is triple qualified in Canada, New York and Hong Kong with nearly 20 years of experience in the IP field. She also holds a Science degree in Chemistry.  

Catherine advises on all aspects of China IP including cross-border patent infringement and invalidation actions, complex IP litigation and enforcement, trade mark, copyright, trade secrets and domain name dispute, IP portfolio management and commercial IP, including negotiation of acquisition and execution of IP rights, assignment, licensing, manufacturing, distribution and technology transfer agreements.  She has successfully represented many major international clients in actions before all different levels of administrative bodies and courts in China. 

Catherine's recent landmark cases include: Advising Gmedia in a patent infringement action over the use of QR code technology against Tencent. Acting for a well-known UK company in the auto industry in the design invalidation against a Chinese car manufacturer. Advising JAC, a subsidiary of JIC Capital which is a Chinese state-owned investment company, on the US $1.8 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors’ RF power amplifier business.

She has won many accolades including being selected as “Best in Patent and Trade Mark Prosecution in Asia” by Euromoney Legal Media Group's Asia Women in Business Law Awards (2016), being ranked as World's Top 250 Women in IP by Managing IP (2016 & 2017) and as Gold Tier Leading Individual by IAM Patent 1000 (2016 & 2017). She is a Committee Member of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA). 

James McHugh

UK patent attorney
Deacons HK

James McHugh is a qualified UK Chartered Patent Attorney and a European Patent Attorney who previously worked in UK private practice. He is also a UK Chartered Trade Mark Attorney and a European Trade Mark and Design Attorney.

McHugh has experience in a broad range of technologies including optical instruments and technologies, medical diagnostics, integrated circuit and semiconductor technology, computer software related inventions including image processing and networking technologies, audio equipment, telecommunications, metrology and scientific instruments.  His practice includes the drafting and prosecution of patent applications as well as advising in relation to validity and infringement matters.  He has experience representing a broad range of clients, including listed companies, universities and independent inventors. 

McHugh has drafted and prosecuted patent applications around the world, including China, Europe, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Marianne Schaffner

partner
Dechert

Marianne Schaffner is the National head of the Intellectual Property Group of Dechert in Paris as well as the National co-head of the Life Sciences Group of Dechert Paris.
She is a recognized trial lawyer in national, pan-European and international patent, trademark and trade secrets disputes. She has a good knowledge of the UK, German and Dutch litigation systems, where she has worked and/or studied and has frequently litigated.

She has handled a wide range of litigation and strategic patent matters for a diverse array of companies. She regularly advises her clients in the strategic audit of their IP portfolio in relation with due diligences, mergers and acquisitions as well as in the setting up of the licensing program (in and out).

Her expertise has been recognized by the APRAM which appointed her Chair of the Editorial Committee, then Chair of the Regulated Sectors Committee, as well as by the French Group of the AIPPI which appointed her Co-Chair of the Life Sciences Patent Committee and more recently Secretary of the Unified Patent Court Committee.

She is ranked by Chambers Global and Chambers Europe, Legal 500 EMEA, Who's Who Patent, Décideurs Stratégie Finance Droit amongst the Top Leaders. She has been recognized by Lawyer Monthly Women in Law and IAM Patent 1000 in France and was ranked by Managing Intellectual Property as an “IP Star” in the trademark and patent.

In June 2016, she received in London the European "Best in Life Sciences" Award from Euromoney Legal Media Group.

Ilya Goryachev

senior lawyer
Gorodissky

Ilya Goryachev graduated from Moscow State Linguistic University in 2012 as an international lawyer.

He focuses on providing legal support on intellectual property and general commercial matters, including unfair competition; domain disputes, licensing, assignments; franchising and other IP-related transactions; advertising and marketing regulations; IP issues in M&A transactions; IP due diligence; personal data protection and industry-related regulatory affairs, including advising life science companies. Assists with IP enforcement and anti-piracy, handles all kinds of IP infringement cases before the courts and administrative bodies.

Goryachev is an author of several articles on IP and commercial law matters, and he speaks English and French.

Evgeny Alexandrov

partner
Gorodissky & Partners

Evgeny Alexandrov advises clients on the legal (non-contentious) and illegal (contentious) use of IP/IT, unfair competition and false advertising, parallel imports and anti-counterfeiting, licensing and franchising, media and technology. He represents clients before commercial courts, courts of general jurisdiction, administrative and law enforcement bodies. Projects handled by Alexandrov include successful representation of major companies in patent and trademark infringement cases, legal support of the Russian companies in different IP issues including multi-jurisdiction disputes.

Carsten Schulte

partner
Gowling WLG 

Carsten Schulte is an experienced patent litigator and works with his domestic and international clients to secure their intellectual property rights. He is passionate about making sure his clients use their intellectual property in a way that adds value to their businesses. This involves both developing intellectual property exploitation strategies and successfully enforcing rights against infringers.

Schulte combines in-depth technical expertise with broad sector experience. His clients come from sectors such as high-tech, automotive, healthcare and consumer goods. He focuses on contentious and contractual IP matters, patent litigation, and licensing in particular.

With the long-term relationships Schulte strives to maintain with clients, he enjoys being involved right from the start in highly sensitive matters, which require forward thinking and strategic advice. His international expertise is profound: for various holders of patent portfolios in the high-tech field from the US and domestically, Schulte has been involved in the analysis of rights and conduct of infringement litigation, often in complex pan-European environments.

Cèline Bey

partner
Gowling WLG

Cèline Bey is a partner with Gowling WLG in France specialising in patent litigation. She also has broad legal expertise in other fields of IP and especially in trademarks. Bey works with a large range of industry sectors such as the tech sector, in particular the internet, pharmaceuticals and chemistry, manufacturing and automotive. Appearing before the French courts for almost 20 years has enabled Bey to forge a reputation for excellence, speed and determination. She has a deep rooted understanding of French litigation procedure and has become recognised as a major player in the French market for patents, trademarks and for handling complex cross-border patent litigation. Bey is a member of EPLAW and AIPPI.

Alex Brodie

partner
Gowling WLG

Alexandra Brodie is a partner with Gowling WLG in the UK. She co-chairs the firm's Tech sector and her practice focusses on patent litigation in the telecommunications and electronics sectors. She recently successfully acted for ASSIA in its patent infringement dispute with British Telecommunications, establishing that its flagship Infinity 1 and Infinity 2 broadband systems infringed two of ASSIA's patents in the field of dynamic spectrum management. Alexandra is widely praised for her utter commitment to achieving her clients' goals while creating an energised and supportive team environment with her client's personnel and her team. IAM 2015 describes her as "an all-round IP litigator with a flair for software patent disputes".

Matt Hervey

director
Gowling WLG

Matt Hervey is a patent litigator in Gowling WLG's award-winning international IP team. His multi-jurisdictional technology patent litigation experience includes SEP disputes involving communications (2G, 3G, LTE, DSL and others standards) and video compression, along with cases concerning software (algorithmic trading, consumer share trading platforms and 3D modelling), consumer electronics (inkjet printers), location sensing, traffic analysis and aircraft design.

Hervey also has extensive experience of Life Sciences and healthcare disputes, including monoclonal antibodies, biosimilars, toxins, medical devices and cosmetics. He managed the team that successfully defended three patents of the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research in the first 'biosimilar' patent litigation in the UK and ran one of the cases for Fujifim Kyowa Kirin Biologics Co., Ltd leading to the first granted "Arrow" (or "Fujifilm") declaration in the UK.

Hervey also has experience of high-value arbitration.

Hervey is a regular speaker on patents and technology in the US and around Europe. He has spoken this year on artificial intelligent, autonomous vehicles, disruptive technologies and the law, blockchain and cybersecurity.

Natalia Gulyaeva

partner
Hogan Lovells

Natalia Gulyaeva, a Hogan Lovells partner, heads the firm’s IP, Media and Technology Practice Group, and the Life Sciences Practice Group for Russia and the CIS. Gulyaeva has a wealth of experience working with clients in the high tech, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology fields. Her diverse practice encompasses portfolio management, dispute resolution, and transactional work. Gulyaeva is praised by clients and peers for her "business sense and clear management style" (Chambers Europe) and is hailed as a "thought leader in the Russian patent landscape" (IAM Patent 1000).
 
Clients compliment Gulyaeva for her ability to see legal matters from an in-house counsel perspective. She is well-known for a chain of victories in IP disputes before the Russian courts. She is equally creative and successful in handling complex disputes between international and domestic corporations in Russia and other CIS countries, and for coordinating multi-jurisdictional dispute resolution (including litigation and arbitration).
 
Gulyaeva is on the forefront of patent litigation, protection, and commercialization for the world's largest national and international companies. She is admitted to represent clients before the Russian Patent and Trademark Office, and enjoys rights of audience in the Chamber for Patent and Trademark Disputes, and Russian courts.
 
In addition to her qualification as a Russian lawyer, she is admitted as an English solicitor. She is widely published, and is a regular speaker at high-profile conferences including MIP, ABA, IAPP and INTA. Gulyaeva 's team has received several WORLDLeaders International Awards IP dispute resolution in Russia and the CIS. Gulyaeva is the winner of 2015 and 2016 "Client Choice Award" for IP dispute resolution work and 2015 Euromoney's Women in Business Law Award.

Andrew Hammond

senior partner
Valea

Andrew Hammond is a founding partner of Valea AB and a European Patent Attorney. He has a degree in mechanical engineering and has been working in the IP field since 1983, initially as an Examiner at the European Patent Office and since 1990 in private practice in Sweden. Most of his time is spent in post-grant patent proceedings. He is frequently in Munich representing clients before Opposition Divisions and the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office. He is also heavily involved in several global litigation cases. Hammond is a CEIPI-tutor and regularly holds lectures and seminars on all aspects of European patent procedures.