Adam Mossoff is Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. He is a Founder and past-Executive Director of the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP). His academic research has been cited by the Supreme Court, by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and by federal agencies. Professor Mossoff has been invited to testify several times before the Senate and the House on proposed patent legislation, and he has spoken at numerous congressional staff briefings. His writings on patent law and policy have appeared in The New York Times, Forbes and many other media outlets. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Copyright Alliance, and has served as past Chair of of the Intellectual Property Committee of the IEEE-USA. He is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he chairs Hudson's Forum for Intellectual Property, and was recently named to the CIPU board of directors. 

Alfred Yip is the Director of the Patent Search and Examination Unit at IPOS International. He has recently been elected as the Vice-Chair of the United Nations’ committee on patents and has also served as the chair of the ASEAN Patent Examination Cooperation (ASPEC) Taskforce. Prior to this, Alfred was the Director of the Registries of Patents, Designs and Plant Varieties at IPOS where he was responsible for policy and regulatory affairs. Before joining IPOS, Alfred was a principal consultant in a Japanese multinational corporation. He specialised in advisory work relating to standard essential patents with a strategic focus on patent infringement, invalidation, monetization and competitive intelligence. Alfred is co-chair of the LES International High Technology Committee. He graduated from the Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (First Class). He is a certified Patent Valuation Analyst. 

Bowman Heiden is Deputy Director of Center for Intellectual Property at Chalmers University of Technology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is currently a Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institute IP2 initiative. His background is in engineering and technology management and economics with a current focus on the intersection of law, economics, and innovation. He is developer of the CIP FORUM – one of the leading knowledge-based business events worldwide. Professor Heiden is co-developer of the Intellectual Capital Management master’s programme, a graduate education programme for business, engineering and law students focused on knowledge-based business development and management. Bo has served as the innovation director for the Qatar Science and Technology Park where he was responsible for driving innovation strategy and IP policy. Earilier in his career he played and coached professional basketball.

Brian Hinman is Chief Innovation Officer at Aon IP Solutions, a risk management provider. A seasoned IP executive, Brian has over 27 years experience managing all aspects of intellectual property for some of the world's largest companies. Most recently he served as Chief IP Officer of Royal Philips and CEO of Philips Intellectual Property and Standards. Prior to that, he was co-founder of Unified Patents Inc., and before that he was Vice President of Licensing for InterDigital. Brian has served as Vice President of IP and Licensing for Verizon, the founding CEO of Allied Security Trust, and also served as Vice President of IP and Licensing for IBM. He has been a board member of the Center for IP Understanding since 2017. Brian is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Bruce Beman is Managing Director of Brody Berman Associates, a management consulting and communications firm that serves innovative businesses.Brody Berman has supported more than 200 IP-centric businesses and portfolios since 1988, as well as many law firms and their clients. In 2016, he founded CIPU, which serves as chairman. Bruce is responsible for five books about the business of IP, including From Ideas to Assets. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Nature Biotechnology and the National Law Review, and he has written more than 100 Intangible Investor columns for IAM since 2003. IP CloseUp, a weekly update on trends that he publishes, is read in more than 50 countries. Bruce holds a Masters’ Degree film scholarship from Columbia University, where he taught for four years, and completed course work for the Ph.D.

Christine Cochran is Assistant General Counsel, IP Legal at Astellas, where she supports commercialization of pharmaceutical products in international markets. In addition, she provides strategic patent portfolio management and supports M&A activity and contract negotiations for pharmaceutical products in development.  Christine provides policy risk analysis for IP-related statutory issues as part of her support for Astellas' policy and government affairs organization.  Prior to joining Astellas, Christine spent 15 years in private practice representing IP clients covering the full range of drug lifecycle, ranging from NIH and startup operations through generic-side Hatch Waxman litigation. She graduated from the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and has a B.S. degree in biology from University of Chicago.

David J. Teece is the Thomas W. Tusher Professor in Global Business at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Dr, Teece is Director of the Tusher Center for the Management of Intellectual Capital and Berkeley’s Institute for Business Innovation. His areas of interest include corporate strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation, competition policy, and intellectual property. Dr. Teece has testified in many seminal IP cases, including Napster and Apple v. Samsung, and founded with other Berkeley faculty members the Law and Economics Consulting Group (LECG). Dr. Teece has authored over 30 books and 200 scholarly papers, and is one of the most recognized economics scholars, having been cited more than 120,000 times. He has received five honorary doctorates and has been recognized by Royal Honors. Journal of International Business editor, John Cantwell, noted that Dr. Teece is perhaps the only person in the world that could qualify today as both an eminent scholar and business leader.

Didier Patry is CEO of France Brevets. Before joining France Brevets, Didier was director of legal affairs for EATON Aerospace in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and he also served as EATON’s corporate chief IP counsel for EMEA. Before joining EATON, Didier was corporate chief counsel of the strategic IP transactions of HP in Palo Alto.  He has also served as the corporate chief patent counsel for the Swatch Group in Switzerland. He received his law degree from the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies at the Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg, specialising in IP law, EU competition law and French contract law. He also studied English contract law at the University of London. Didier also holds a postgraduate diploma in strategy from the University College Dublin Graduate Business School and an MS in material science. He trained at the Weinstein law firm in Paris and served in a bureau of the French Ministry of Defence in Paris.

Don Clark joined The Wall Street Journal in 1993, and served as an editor and reporter in the San Francisco bureau. He has covered technology in Silicon Valley and elsewhere since 1980, focusing for the Journal on semiconductors and component companies. He is also interested in startups and in intellectual property and antitrust issues. After 23 years at the Wall Street Journal, Don now writes on tech stories from San Francisco for The New York Times. His focus is enterprise tech and semiconductors, and related areas, as well as "think-trend" stories involving major companies. 

Gary K. Michelson is an American board certified orthopedic spinal surgeon, inventor, and philanthropist. He is the founder of the Michelson Medical Research Foundation, the Found Animals Foundation and the Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, among other various philanthropic ventures. He holds over 340 U.S. patents for orthopedic and spinal surgery instruments. He became a billionaire in 2005 when he reached a $1.35 billion settlement with medical device giant Medtronic after years of litigation.  Dr. Michelson, who signed the Giving Pledge in June 2016, has founded nonprofits addressing medical research, animal welfare and education.  He attended Temple University and Hahnemann Medical College of Drexel University and completed medical residency in orthopedic surgery at Hahnemann Medical Hospital, before completing fellowship training in spinal surgery at St. Luke’s Medical Center in a joint program between Baylor University and the University of Texas. 

Ellen Szymanski is executive director of international advocacy for the Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Ellen’s work at GIPC is dedicated to advancing intellectual property systems to incentivize creations and breakthroughs that benefit the global consumer. Before joining the Chamber, Ellen worked for eight years at the U.S. Department of Commerce where she managed U.S.-China trade policy development, negotiation, and implementation. She represented the Commerce Department on intellectual property matters, designed cutting-edge business advisory programs for companies, and engaged in government dialogues on IP-related matters. Ellen earned a law degree and master’s of Asian studies from Washington University in St. Louis and a bachelor’s degree from Boston University. s.

Gary Lauder is the Managing Director of Lauder Partners LLC. He has been a venture capitalist since 1985, investing in over 125 private companies. He serves on the Advisory Board of Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, the Board of Governors of Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation and on the Transportation Committee of the Town of Atherton. In the 1980's, he worked at the venture firms of Aetna, Jacobs & Ramo Technology Ventures, as well as Wolfensohn Associates. He holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania; a BS in Economics from the Wharton School; and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is the co-creator of the Aspen Institute's Socrates Society with Laura, his wife. He is a member of the inaugural class of the Aspen Institute's Henry Crown Fellowship Program. He is co-inventor of 16 patents, has spoken at over 100 industry forums, and, since 1992, has published several articles about the future of the cable industry...that he still stands by.

James Conley is clinical professor of technology at Northwestern University. He serves on the faculty of both the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. He is a faculty contributor in the Kellogg Center for Research in Technology & Innovation and serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Segal Design Institute (NU IDEA). Beyond academia, Professor Conley is an inventor, ad active advocate of IP education for business and other students, and leads seminars globally for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He is an appointed member of the U.S. Department of Commerce Trademark Public Advisory Committee of the Patent and Trademark Office. Professor Conley’s research investigates the strategic use of intangible assets and intellectual properties to build and sustain competitive advantage. 

Mr. Pooley is highly recognized attorney, author and educator specializing trade secrets. He has served as a senior partner at several large firms where he focused on trade secret and patent litigation. In 2009, he was appointed by the White House to become Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations. Based in Geneva, he was responsible for the international patent system and spent five years as the U.N.'s top U.S. diplomat for IP, advocating for the rights of IP owners, fair enforcement and dealing with increasing concern about cybersecurity. His first business book, “Trade Secrets,” was published in 1983. More recently, Mr. Pooley is author of “Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage.” In 2015 he was invited by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary to testify as an expert on trade secret law, discussing the proposed Defend Trade Secrets Act. Mr. Pooley has served as President of the American Intellectual Property Association (AIPLA) and is the current chairman of the selection board of the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF). In 2016, he was inducted into the IP Hall of Fame.

John Blair specializes in information technology, financial services, intellectual property, and antitrust matters. His practice and research interests focus on the intersection between IT innovation and business strategy and analysis. Before joining BRG, John was a consultant and director for LECG. In 1999, he co-founded Kenamea, an infrastructure software company at which he was chairman and chief technology officer. Kenamea was a pioneer in the commercial use of event-driven Web communications and helped to transform user experience and productivity. He previously served as a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc. and at Booz Allen and Hamilton in their information technology practice groups. He has been a consultant and strategic advisor to government agencies and executive management at such companies as IBM, Apple, Adobe, and Oracle.

Joyce Ward serves as Director of the Office of Education and Outreach for the USPTO.  Her and her team travel throughout the country to develop and implement programming that increases knowledge and awareness of intellectual property among future innovators and the people who educate them. She builds the kinds of programs that capture the imaginations of future leaders in STEM one mind at a time. As a former USPTO trademark examining attorney in the early 1990s, Joyce returned to the agency when she was selected to lead a new office dedicated to exposing children and young adults to STEM and IP, especially those students who might not otherwise have had access to such programming. 

Keith Bergelt is CEO of Open Invention Network, a collaborative enterprise that enables innovation in open source and around Linux. Prior to joining the Open Invention Network, Keith served as president and CEO of two Hedge Funds – Paradox Capital and IPI – formed to unlock the considerable asset value of patents, trademarks and copyrights in middle market companies. Prior to that he served as General Manager of the Strategic Intellectual Asset Management business unit at Motorola Corporation and as Motorola’s director of Technology Strategy. Earlier in his career, he served as a diplomat in the U.S. State Department. Keith has been a member of CIPU's board of directors since 2016.

Manny Schecter is Chief Patent Counsel and Associate General Counsel at IBM. He leads IBM’s worldwide intellectual property law organization on patent matters and advises on intellectual property strategy and policy. He serves on the board of directors of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), the IPO Education Foundation (where he serves as the president), Allied Security Trust, the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding (CIPU). He served on the board of directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association from 2013-2016.

Marc manages strategic account intellectual property (IP) strategy and legal teams across TiVo’s IP and patent licensing business. Prior to TiVo he served as associate general counsel for IBM Corp. where he managed the patent licensing and sales legal team responsible for generating IP income. Annual revenue when he was there totaled more than $1 billion, largely from innovative patent monetisation strategies. Mark previously managed the IP team for IBM's semiconductor business and the patent portfolio management group, tasked with the development and management of IBM's global patent portfolio. He has a BS in geological sciences from Binghamton University – State University of New York, a BS in electrical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and a JD from Pace University School of Law.

Mark Cohen heads the Asia IP Project at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at Berkeley Law School.  Previously, Mark was Senior Counsel, China in the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, after serving as a visiting professor at Fordham Law School (2011-2012). Prior to that time, he served in such functions as: Director, International Intellectual Property at Microsoft Corporation; Of Counsel to Jones Day’s Beijing office; and Senior Intellectual Property Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing (2004- 2008). Mark holds a J.D. degree from Columbia University (1984), an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in Chinese Language and Literature (1979) and a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany in Chinese Studies.

Marshall Phelps is a seminal figure in the modern history of intellectual property. He was instrumental in establishing IP rights as a business unit at IBM in the 1980s, eventually generating $2 billion in annual patent and IP revenues. He was recruited by Bill Gates to build Microsoft’s IP department, and took the company from a dozen licenses to over 600 when he retired in 2010, in the process helping to build one of the most effective patent portfolios in the world. Marshall, who helped to launch Intellectual Ventures, was elected in 2006 to the initial class of the IP Hall of Fame. He is the author of Burning the Ships: Intellectual Property and the Transformation of Microsoft has written for Forbes on the challenges business leaders face in developing and implementing innovation-driven growth strategies. Among the universities at which he has taught are Cornell, Duke, USC and Chalmers University in Sweden. He is a founding director of CIPU.

Matteo Sabattini is the director of IP policy at Ericsson Inc, based in Washington, DC. He is responsible for IP rights policy, advocacy and promotion at standard defining/setting organizations, trade associations and governmental agencies. Dr. Sabattini currently serves as the senior vice president for Standards and is part of the management council of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) United States and Canada. He is also the co-chair of LES FRAND Licensing Standards Committee. He serves as a regional technology policy coordinator for the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Before joining Ericsson’s IP policy team, Dr. Sabattini served as the CTO at the Sisvel Group and CEO of Sisvel Technology. Previously, he worked at InterDigital, focusing on the development of strategic relationships to expand its technology footprint and IP scope. Dr. Sabattini holds an MBA in business administration from the George Washington University, a Ph.D in communication theory and systems from the University of California, San Diego and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Bologna.

 Maysa Razavi has worked with the International Trademark Association (INTA) on the frontline of the war against counterfeits for the past five years. As the External Relations Manager and the Head of Anti-counterfeiting at INTA, Maysa leads the organization’s anti-counterfeiting policy worldwide. She works on both U.S. Amicus Briefs and manages all of INTA’s activities in the Middle East. Her has involved a wide range of industries from pharmaceuticals to fashion. Maysa is a graduate of New York Law School (J.D.) and New York University (B.A.). 

Professor Piatt was director of the IIT Downtown Campus Information Center until 2000, where she pioneered the use of imaging and other electronic technology. She has been a member of the ABA Litigation Section Special Publications Committee and was the technical program chair for the 1994 ASIS annual meeting. She currently advises the AIIM Committee on evidentiary and intellectual property issues related to legal documents in electronic formats. Professor Piatt has written and lectured extensively on topics concerning automated legal research, intellectual property, legal issues in information science and legal issues relating to artificial intelligence. She has developed a continuing education workshop for information professionals working with copyright issues in an electronic environment and on law and the Internet. She joined the CIPU Board of Directors in 2019. 

Rafael is a marketing executive turned business and IP educator. He teaches business management and communication courses at community colleges and universities. In 2017 he began work with NACCE (National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship) promoting the Michelson Foundation’s intellectual property coursework and incorporating its materials into business, marketing and advertising classes. Since leaving industry in 2011, where he specialized in marketing campaigns for the general and Hispanic audiences, Rafael has served at two and four year colleges and is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Business at Glendale Community College in Southern California. Rafael holds a BA degree in Latin American Studies and Business from UCLA and an MBA degree from the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California at Irvine.

Ray Strimaitis serves as vice president, Corporate Development and Global Strategy for Allied Security Trust (AST), a member-based cooperative of multi-billion dollar global high-tech companies created to minimize the risk of patent assertions and litigations by proactively acquiring rights to patents. Ray has been instrumental in growing AST to more than 40 members, including companies such as Ford, Google, Honda, IBM, Intel and Microsoft. Before joining AST, Mr Strimaitis served as vice president, Intellectual Property and deputy general counsel for Yahoo and vice president of Excalibur IP, LLC (a Yahoo subsidiary). Prior to that he was a senior IP executive and legal counsel at IBM. In these roles he has managed patent risk and licensing, guided patent advocacy and overseen trademark and copyright matters.

Ruth Soetendorp is Professor Emerita and Associate Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management at Bournemouth University. She is a visiting Lecturer at Cass Business School, City University of London, where she teaches IP management on Masters and BSc programs and Visiting Professor of the University of the Arts, London. Ruth is immediate past chair of the Intellectual Property Awareness Network and founding convenor of its Education Group. She led IPAN’s research with UK National Union of Students into students’ attitudes to IP, and University IP policies, and was IP lead on EUIPO’s research into IP education in schools. She is a regular contributor to the WIPO Academy international programme. Nottingham Law Journal published her article reflecting on 30 years of experience as an IP educator. 

Scott was named President & CEO of AT&T Intellectual Property following the merger of AT&T and BellSouth, where Scott had previously been the President of Intellectual Property. Scott joined BellSouth in 1998 and led the effort in forming the BellSouth Intellectual Property companies. Scott is a member of the Board of Directors of the Intellectual Property Owners Assoc., where he is former Chair of the Corporate IP Management Committee; Chair, Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance (GIPA); Chair of the Georgia Tech and Georgia State University Intellectual Property Advisory Boards. Prior to joining AT&T/BellSouth, Scott practiced intellectual property law in Atlanta at Troutman Sanders LLP. Prior to Troutman Sanders, Scott was an electrical engineer with Nortel and a computer systems analyst with AT&T. Scott received his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, and his Law Degree and Masters in Business from Georgia State University.

Talal Shamoon is the CEO of Intertrust, which he joined in 1997 as a member of the research staff. After holding a series of executive positions, he was named CEO in 2003 when Sony and Philips acquired the company. As an early pioneer of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology in the late 90s, Talal led Intertrust’s business and technology initiatives in the entertainment and media industries, which includes significant licenses with with most IT, consumer electronics and mobile manufacturers and service operators. Prior to joining Intertrust, Talal was a researcher at the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, NJ, where he focused on digital signal processing and content security. Talal sits on the boards of  iwhiteCryption and Kiora, and he chairs the board of directors of Planet OS. A recognized inventor and published author, Talal holds B.S., M. Eng., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Cornell University.