Judge Raymond T. Chen
Circuit Judge, RAYMOND T. CHEN was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President Barack H. Obama in 2013, confirmed by the Senate on August 1, 2013 and assumed his office on August 5, 2013.
Judge Chen served as Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor at the United States Patent and Trademark Office from 2008 to 2013. He was an Associate Solicitor in that office from 1998 to 2008. From 1996 to 1998, Judge Chen served as a Technical Assistant at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Before joining the court staff, Judge Chen was an associate with Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear from 1994 to 1996. Before entering law school, Judge Chen worked as a scientist at the law firm of Hecker & Harriman from 1989 to 1991.
Judge Chen received his J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 1994 and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1990.
Judge Kimball
Judge Kimball grew up on a dairy farm in Draper, Utah. In 1964, Judge Kimball graduated magna cum laude from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. In 1967, he received his Juris Doctor from the University of Utah College of Law, graduating Order of the Coif and serving as Case Note Editor of the Law Review. Judge Kimball practiced law at Van Cott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy in Salt Lake City, Utah until 1974 when he became a full-time law professor at BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. In his second year as a full-time professor, Judge Kimball co-founded the law firm now known as Parr, Brown, Gee & Loveless. Judge Kimball continued to teach part-time at BYU from 1976 to 1980. From 1975 until his appointment as a United States District Judge in 1997, Judge Kimball maintained a full-time legal practice, primarily in commercial litigation. In 1996, the Utah State Bar named Judge Kimball the Distinguished Lawyer of the Year. After twelve years as a full-time federal district court judge, Judge Kimball took senior status on November 30, 2009. Judge Kimball currently maintains a sixty percent case load and taught part-time at BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School until 2020. In 2010, Judge Kimball was honored by the Federal Bar Association, Salt Lake Chapter with the Distinguished Service Award. In 2013 Judge Kimball was honored by Jordan High School as the Alumnus of the Year. Judge Kimball is an Emeritus Master of the Bench in American Inn of Court I, is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and is currently serving as a member of the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Judge Kimball also serves as a Member of the Board of the Utah Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. During his legal practice Judge Kimball chaired three Utah State Bar committees and served on several boards including a founding board member of the Alta View Hospital, a board member and chairman of Pioneer Theatre Company, and a board member and executive committee member of the Deseret News Publishing Company. Judge Kimball has previously served as a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Bankruptcy and as a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Criminal Law. Judge Kimball and his wife, Rachel, have six children, twenty-five grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.
Judge Bennett
Jared C. Bennett graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Utah College of Law in 2001, earned a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Utah. From 2001-2002, Jared clerked for the Honorable Pamela T. Greenwood on the Utah Court of Appeals. In 2002, Jared was hired as an Honor’s Program Attorney for the Solicitor’s Office in United States Department of the Interior.
In 2005, Jared was hired as an Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah in the United States Department of Justice. He was the Civil Division Chief from August 2013 to August 2017. In the Civil Division, Jared dealt with all types of civil cases but handled many natural resources cases and defended land-use decisions of federal land management agencies. In 2016, Jared was named the Lawyer of the Year by the Energy, Natural Resources, and Environmental Law Section of the Utah State Bar. Starting in 2006, Jared also served as an environmental crimes prosecutor. The Environmental Protection Agency Office of Enforcement and Compliance awarded Jared its Bronze Medal in 2013 for his prosecutorial work. As an AUSA, In August 2017, United States Attorney John W. Huber appointed Jared to serve as the First Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Utah until he left for the bench.
In January 2020, Jared was selected to serve as a United States Magistrate Judge in the District of Utah. He began his judicial service in May 2020. His office is located in the Orrin G. Hatch United States Courthouse in Salt Lake City.
Since 2004, Jared has taught at the University of Utah in the field Environmental Law, Environmental Crimes, Constitutional Law, Natural Resources and Public Lands, Property Law, and Administrative Law. In May 2022, the S.J. Quinney College of Law awarded Jared with the Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award. In June 2019, Wolters Kluwer published Jared’s law school textbook entitled Environmental Crime: Pollution and Wildlife Enforcement.
In addition to teaching domestically, Jared has taught trial advocacy and other legal topics in Latin America and Asia. Jared taught in the Dominican Republic, Colombia (4 times), El Salvador (2 times), Mexico (18 times), Argentina, and East Timor. This includes Jared testifying before the Mexican Senate Judiciary Committee regarding draft legislation for Mexico’s criminal procedure code.
Judge Romero
Judge Romero was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Utah in June 2019. Judge Romero was previously a partner with the law firm of Holland & Hart, effectively counseling clients involved in matters concerning commercial litigation and labor and employment. She regularly represented clients in proceedings before the federal and state courts, guiding them through the complex litigation process.
She defended employers in a variety of matters, including Fair Labor Standards Act, class actions, wrongful terminations, harassment, and discrimination claims. She litigated disputes involving fraudulent transfers, commercial, oil and gas royalty and employment contracts, and non-compete agreements.
Prior to joining the Salt Lake City office of Holland & Hart in 2004, Ms. Romero practiced law with the Salt Lake City law firm of Ray, Quinney & Nebeker. She also was a law clerk for Judge Ted Stewart with the Federal District Court, District of Utah.
Chief Judge Scott Boalick
The Honorable Scott R. Boalick is the Chief Judge for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). In this role, he leads the PTAB as it conducts post-grant trials, including inter partes reviews, post-grant reviews, covered business method patent reviews and derivation proceedings, and as it hears appeals from adverse examiner decisions in patent applications and reexamination proceedings.
Chief Judge Boalick was appointed to the Board in 2007. Prior to becoming the Chief Judge, he served as an Administrative Patent Judge, Lead Judge, Vice Chief Judge, and Deputy Chief Judge.
Before joining the USPTO, Judge Boalick served as a patent attorney with the Department of the Navy at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Laboratory. In these roles, he advised clients concerning a wide range of intellectual property issues, including patent, trademark, copyright, technology transfer, administrative claims, and rights in technical data and computer software. He prepared and prosecuted patent applications and assisted the Invention Evaluation Board to select and prioritize inventions for patenting. Before that, he practiced with Fish & Richardson in Washington, D.C., where he counseled clients on all aspects of protecting intellectual property, including patent acquisition, portfolio management, and litigation. He litigated claims of patent infringement in the International Trade Commission, district court, and the Federal Circuit, and also prepared and prosecuted numerous patent applications in a variety of technology areas. Prior to his time at Fish & Richardson, Judge Boalick served as a law clerk to the Hon. Alvin A. Schall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Judge Boalick began his career as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving as a division officer on the USS Mobile Bay (CG-53) and as an instructor at the Surface Warfare Officer School. After his active duty service, he worked as a radar systems engineer at Technology Service Corporation.
Judge Boalick earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center where he was a Notes and Comments Editor of The Georgetown Law Journal and received the Leon Robbin Patent Award. He earned both an M.S.E. in Systems Engineering and a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.
HONORABLE MELISSA A. HAAPALA
The Honorable Melissa A. Haapala was appointed as Vice Chief Administrative Patent Judge to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) on September 27, 2021. Judge Haapala was appointed as an Administrative Patent Judge on November 17, 2014 and has served as a Senior Lead Administrative Patent Judge and a Lead Administrative Patent Judge. In addition to her executive management and supervisory responsibilities, Judge Haapala has presided over numerous inter partes reviews under the America Invents Act (AIA) and heard hundreds of appeals from adverse decisions of examiners in patent applications. Prior to joining PTAB, she worked as a staff software engineer for Storage Technology, practiced at several law firms, served as Senior Counsel at Sun Microsystems, and as Assistant General Counsel at Ricoh.
Vice Chief Administrative Patent Judge Haapala earned a law degree from the University of Denver College of Law, a Master of Science degree in Computer Information Systems, Management of Technology from Regis University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Colorado. She is also the mother of three boys.
Jonas Anderson
Jonas Anderson teaches patent law, intellectual property, trade secrets, civil procedure, and property at the University of Utah. Before coming to Utah, he taught at American University in Washington D.C. for over a decade. He has also visited at Georgetown University Law School and the University of Hawaii Richardson School of Law. Professor Anderson spent the 2014-2015 school year as a Thomas Alva Edison Visiting Scholar at the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
Professor Anderson’s scholarly work primarily focuses on patent law, with an emphasis on patent litigation. His articles have appeared in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Duke Law Journal, the Northwestern University Law Review, the Vanderbilt Law Review, and the Boston College Law Review, among others. His academic articles have been cited by a variety of sources, including the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the New York Times. Professor Anderson has recently testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on the problematic nature of district courts competing for patent cases.
Prior to entering academia, Professor Anderson clerked for Judge Alan D. Lourie of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Before that, he practiced patent litigation and intellectual property licensing at Latham & Watkins in Silicon Valley, California and was a Microsoft research fellow at Berkeley Law School. Professor Anderson is a graduate of the University of Utah (B.S., Physics; minor in Creative Writing) and Harvard Law School (J.D.).
Aside from research and teaching, Professor Anderson spends most of his time cheering on the Running Utes and exploring Utah’s wilderness with his two kids and his wife, Jenn.
Ian Ballon
Ian C. Ballon is a litigator who is Co-Chair of Greenberg Traurig LLP’s Global Intellectual
Property & Technology
Practice Group and represents internet, mobile, entertainment and technology companies in
intellectual property and technology-related litigation and in the defense of data privacy,
security breach and AdTech class action suits.
Ian is also the author of the leading treatise on internet and mobile law, E-Commerce and Internet Law: Treatise with Forms 2d edition, the 5-volume set published by West (www.IanBallon.net) and available on Westlaw, which includes extensive coverage of intellectual property law issues. In addition, he is the author of The Complete CAN-SPAM Act Handbook (West 2008) and The Complete State Security Breach Notification Compliance Handbook (West 2009). In addition, he serves as Executive Director of Stanford University Law School’s Center for the Digital Economy. He also chairs PLI’s annual Advanced Defending Data Privacy, Security Breach and TCPA Class Action Litigation conference. Ian previously served as an Advisor to ALI’s Intellectual Property: Principles Governing Jurisdiction, Choice of Law, and Judgments in Transactional Disputes (ALI Principles of the Law 2007) and as a member of the consultative group for ALI’s Principles of Data Privacy Law (ALI Principles of Law 2020).
Holds JD and LLM degrees and the CIPP/US certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
Louis Carbonneau
Mr. Carbonneau is the founder & CEO of TANGIBLE IP, LLC, the leading patent brokerage and strategic intellectual property advisory firm, focusing on IP sales & licensing along with strategic IP advisory services. Since he founded the firm in 2011, Mr. Carbonneau has brokered the sale or license of over 5000 patents, returning tens of millions of dollars to patent owners and inventors and has helped several technology companies with various advisory engagements. M. Carbonneau is one of a handful of individuals in the world who has been recognized by the prestigious British magazine Intellectual Assets Management (IAM) as one of the World’s Leading Intellectual Property Strategists for the 11th consecutive year. He was also named in the first edition of the IAM Strategy 300 Global Leaders Guide 2021.
Prior to founding Tangible IP, he was the General Manager of IP Licensing at Microsoft Corporation where he spent 15 years. At Microsoft, he was also the lead business and intellectual property legal counsel to various business units and to the Microsoft Research organization worldwide, while leading the International IP team. Prior to joining Microsoft, he was a patent litigator with the national IP boutique firm Smart & Biggar.
Mr. Carbonneau is also an adjunct professor for the University of Washington’s Graduate Program in Intellectual Property Law & Policy since 2009, where he teaches courses on IP Licensing. He has served for several years on the Executive Committee of the Washington Bar Association Intellectual Property Section.
Finally, Mr. Carbonneau is a Venture Partner and strategic advisor to Cycle Capital Management, a large clean tech venture capital firm with close to $500M under management, and a mentor to a large startup accelerator. He also sits on the Board of Directors for a few startups with disruptive technologies in the clean tech sector.
Mr. Carbonneau is a frequent guest speaker locally and internationally on the subjects of intellectual property strategy, patent monetization, valuation, innovation and licensing and how they relate to business. Mr. Carbonneau is also an inventor himself and holds US international patents around multimedia technology. Mr. Carbonneau studied economics at McGill University and received his law degree from the University of Montreal. He is a member of both the Washington State and Quebec Bar.
Brian Casper
Brian Casper, partner at Klemchuk PLLC , is an experienced business attorney and litigator who focuses on intellectual property and commercial litigation. Brian counsels businesses on all aspects of their general business and IP transactions and has secured trademark protection for his clients all over the world. He has also litigated patent disputes in cases involving internet broadcast technology, design patents, shale shakers in the oil drilling industry, and the technology behind medical drug testing. Brian also advises clients on other matters such as drafting Master Service Agreements, licensing and non-disclosure agreements, IP acquisition, due diligence, corporate governance, and general business matters.
Brian earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Production and Engineering from Berklee College of Music. In addition to attending Vanderbilt University Law School, Brian attended the Intellectual Property Summer Institute and Franklin Pierce Law Center, where he had the privilege of learning from the Honorable Gerald J. Mossinghoff, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, and from John M. Whealan, former Deputy General Counsel for IP Law and Solicitor at USPTO.
Richard Chang
Richard Chang is the Associate General Counsel at iFIT Inc. Richard has extensive legal experience developing and implementing trademark and patent portfolio strategies in the U.S., China, Taiwan, and Europe. In addition, Richard developed and implemented iFIT’s regulatory compliance programs for marketing, FCPA, and U.S. sanctions, and assists with iFIT’s privacy program. Richard has also drafted and negotiated a wide variety of intellectual property, supplier, retailer, non-disclosure, SAAS, and other transaction agreements and helped develop and establish iFIT’s privacy compliance program. Before iFIT, Richard was corporate counsel at Caterpillar Inc. At Caterpillar, Richard managed the track-type tractor, machine implements, electronics, software, plastics, and business method patent portfolios. Richard began his career as a patent agent at Madson & Metcalf, a Salt Lake City boutique IP firm. Richard graduated from BYU with a J.D., a B.S. in mechanical engineering, and a minor in Mandarin.
Candy Chen
Candy KY Chen is a partner of the international patent department at Tsai Lee & Chen Patent Attorneys & Attorneys at Law.
She is a professional engineer, a registered Taiwan patent attorney and a registered US patent agent.
Ms Chen specializes in technology-related intellectual property – in particular, patent prosecution and invalidation for mechanical, automation and software-related inventions, as well as industrial designs. She is also proficient in administrative litigation proceedings. She has assisted many Fortune 500 corporations in filing and managing their patent portfolios. She also provides legal consultation on patent validity.
Ms Chen received her bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and her master’s in manufacturing engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. She also received an LLM in Taiwan.
Ms Chen was a member of the Patent Examination Quality Advisory Committee convened by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office from 2011 to 2017. She was also a member of the Board of Supervisors of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association Taiwan Group from 2012 to 2018, and of the Taiwan Patent Attorneys Association from 2015 to 2018. Ms. Chen is currently a co-chair of the Design Committee of both the Asian Patent Attorneys Association Taiwan Group and the Taiwan Patent Attorneys Association. She is also a member of the International Board of Council of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association and an independent member of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property.
Eldora Ellison
Eldora L. Ellison, Ph.D., is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Biotechnology & Chemical and Trial & Appellate Practice Groups. Eldora is a co-chair of the firm’s Patent Office Litigation Practice. Over the course of her 28-year career, Eldora has gained extensive experience in inter partes patent matters, building on a strong foundation in patent prosecution. Eldora’s practice also includes preparing and prosecuting patent applications; evaluating patent portfolios (e.g., for due diligence analyses, invalidity, non-infringement, or freedom-to-operate); counseling clients on intellectual property strategy, including Hatch-Waxman issues; and resolving inventorship disputes. She represents a variety of types of clients, including large multinational corporations, start-up companies, and not-for-profit organizations.
Eldora earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her Ph.D. in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology from Cornell University, where she serves on the Board of Trustees. Eldora holds a B.S. in biology from Haverford College.
Adam Gill
Adam Gill is a founder and Managing Director at GLS Capital, where he leads all patent-related investments and sits on the firm’s Investment Committee. GLS Capital is a litigation finance firm with more than $500 million of assets under management, and the only litigation finance firm ranked as Band 1 by Chambers and Partners for IP litigation finance at both the individual and firm level. Before founding GLS Capital, Adam led patent investment teams at two of the world’s largest litigation finance providers. As a funder he has evaluated thousands of patent cases and executed hundreds of millions of dollars in IP-related investments.
Adam’s investments at GLS Capital include a recent success in funding quantum dot maker Nanoco Technologies’ patent litigation against Samsung, which resulted in a $150 million pre-trial settlement announced earlier this month.
Prior to entering litigation finance, Adam was a partner in the patent litigation group of Kirkland & Ellis.
Richard C. Gilmore
Rick is involved in all aspects of intellectual property law, with a focus on patent and trademark application preparation and prosecution domestically and internationally. He represents large and small clients from a diverse range of industries and often works directly with in-house counsel to develop and maintain their worldwide patent and trademark portfolios. His patent practice includes utility and design patents, appeals to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Board of Appeals and Interferences, and reexamination proceedings.
Rick is a frequent speaker on patent and trademark matters. He speaks each year at the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Annual Trademark Boot Camp. He has also taught many law school classes on patent and trademark issues.
Rick is most at home in the water. He’s a three-time All-American swimmer, competing at a national and international level. At one point, he was ranked as one of the top twenty-five swimmers in the world. When on dry land, Rick enjoys golfing, skiing, and running.
Mat Gordon
Mat Gordon is Assistant General Counsel at Myriad Genetics, Inc. where he manages a global IP portfolio directed to life-altering molecular diagnostic products. As a strategic partner to his clients, Mat gives actionable advice on matters relating to the procurement, monetization, assertion, defense and disposition of IP assets.
Tiffany Johnson
Tiffany Johnson is an IP Attorney at Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) and supports the company’s Neuromodulation Division located in Southern California. Prior to joining BSC, Tiffany was a Patent Attorney at The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. in New York and worked in private practice where her practice focused on patents, trade secrets, and intellectual property counseling.
Tiffany also worked as a Patent Examiner at the USPTO, and prior to attending law school, Tiffany worked as a Mechanical Engineer for an engineering consulting company. Tiffany received her Law degree from Texas Southern University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M.
As the 2022-2023 Secretary and Chief Collaboration Officer of the Foundation for the Advancement of Diversity in IP Law (FADIPL), Tiffany is passionate about achieving diversity in IP law. She is also a member of Boston Scientific’s Inclusive Innovation Committee and a mentor in Harrity & Harrity’s Patent Pathways Program, which is dedicated to increasing registered African American/Black women patent attorneys and agents.
Molly Kocialski
As the Director of the Rocky Mountain Regional United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), since January 2016, Mollybeth (Molly) Kocialski carries out the strategic direction of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and is responsible for leading the Rocky Mountain regional office. Focusing on the nine states within this region and actively engaging with the community, Ms. Kocialski ensures the USPTO’s initiatives and programs are tailored to the region’s unique ecosystem of industries and stakeholders.
Mia Lin
Mai has over 15 years’ experience in advising multinationals on a broad range of intellectual property issues in China, including trademark portfolio management, IP enforcement and commercial IP matters. Mai’s clients operate in a wide range of industries, including cosmetics, software, toys, wine & spirits, automotive, entertainment, fitness, skincare and fashion.
She has assisted scores of clients in reclaiming their trademarks in China from registry pirates, and provides practical solutions for navigating the IP landscape in China.
Over the course of her career, Mai has worked with major international law firms out of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Mai speaks frequently on IP developments in China, including most recently on trademark filing strategies for China and how to use Chinese customs to protect your IP at the border at the INTA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
She currently serves on the International Trademark Association’s (INTA) Enforcement Committee and the Trademark Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). She is also a member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).
Mai received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Mai graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in Ethics, Politics and Economics.
Mai is a native of California and fluent in Mandarin.
Thomas Lingard
Mr. Lingard prepares and prosecutes domestic and foreign patent applications in a variety of technological areas, including oil and gas drill bits, rotary steerable systems, downhole power generation and distribution, heavy material handling equipment, medical devices, exercise equipment, additive manufacturing, metallurgy, and materials science. He has experience in identifying infringing products and preparing non-infringement positions. Prior to law school, Mr. Lingard earned four years of hands-on experience working for DMC Mining Services, a mining general contractor. As an engineer, Mr. Lingard worked at several mines across the United States and Canada, including surface coal, underground coal, surface hardrock, underground hardrock, underground trona, underground salt, and underground limestone mines.
Michael Lubitz
Michael Lubitz founded GTT Group in 1997. Patents have been vital to Michael’s life since he was a child. Growing up in Southern California, his father and mentor, a patent expert, litigator, and pioneer most specifically in Japan and Silicon Valley in the 1960’s, guided his sons down a similar path.
Now, with more than three decades of intellectual property experience of his own, Michael is passionate about creating avenues to patent value generation for GTT’s clients, and he embodies non-traditional thinking at his core. His creative spirit and novel ideas are what make Michael unique in the industry.
Michael is most proud of GTT’s commitment to exemplary service, of being able to change the lives of inventors, advise on historically significant patent transactions, and for always being there when GTT’s clients need him. Always.
Michael earned a Bachelor of Science in General Business from Arizona State University (emphasis in Japanese language), lived and worked as a salaryman in Japan as part of his corporate training, and received his Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego. Michael was employed by, co-founded and was a board member of a number of Silicon Valley-based start-ups.
Michael E. McCabe, Jr.
Michael E. McCabe, Jr. is the Managing Partner of McCabe Ali LLP, resident in the firm’s Potomac, Maryland office. Michael has practiced IP law for thirty years and is a registered patent attorney and nationally recognized lecturer and author on topics related to ethics and malpractice in the practice of intellectual property law.
Michael’s practice focuses on the representation of patent, trademark and intellectual property practitioners, law firms, students, in-house counsel, and government employees in ethics matters, bar investigations, and disciplinary proceedings before the USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline and the state bars in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Michael also serves as an expert witness in disciplinary proceedings and legal malpractice actions.
Michael is the current Vice Chair of the ABA IP Section’s Professional Issues Division. He is the past Chair (for three years) and current Vice Chair (for three years) of the ABA’s Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, and he is the Chair of the AIPLA Patent Agent Subcommittee on Ethics. He is a member of the faculty of the Virginia State Bar’s Professionalism Course for new attorneys. In 2014, Michael created IPethics & INsights, an award-winning law blog focusing on ethics, malpractice and related issues in patent and trademark law (www.ipethicslaw.com).
Michael earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland. Before attending law school, Michael’s professional career began as an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Michael graduated magna cum laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Mike Pellegrino
Mike Pellegrino is the Founder and President of Pellegrino & Associates, LLC (P&A), a boutique intellectual property (IP) valuation firm. He has extensive experience valuing patents and other forms of IP, establishing royalty rates, and evaluating businesses. His company engagements number more than 400 for more than 200 clients, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to startups. Courts at the state and federal level, tax jurisdictions, and arbitration panels have accepted Mike’s work for issues including bankruptcy valuations, estate tax valuations, copyright infringement claims, trade secret misappropriation claims, patent infringement claims, breach of contract claims and others. He is the author of first and second editions of BVR’s Guide to Intellectual Property Valuation, with more than 1,000 copies in circulation among attorneys, tech transfer officers, business valuation firms, competing IP valuation firms, and more. In addition, his finance- and software-related articles appear in internationally and nationally recognized outlets.
Mike has taught IP valuation concepts to officials from the governments of Brazil, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Thailand, Guatemala, and New Zealand on behalf of the U.S. State Department. He has counseled and testified before legislators about valuation issues. He was also instrumental in helping to change Indiana law regarding the valuation of embedded application software for personal property tax reporting purposes and for the taxation of patent-derived income.
In addition to his valuation expertise, Mike developed a state-of-the-art patent analytics tool that provides key insights and intelligence into the patent landscape. This system removes information asymmetry rampant in the patent marketplace by consolidating millions of disparate records into a user-friendly database.
His educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in computer science from Indiana Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree in business administration from Ball State University. He also completed additional accounting coursework sufficient to fulfill the academic requirements for an undergraduate accounting degree.
Tim Schade
Tim Schade is General Counsel for Lifetime Products, a privately held, US based manufacturer of consumer goods that employs over 1,800 people in the United States and over 2,000 people worldwide. Founded in 1986, Lifetime Products is a leader of innovation in the market for consumer products including basketball systems, tables and chairs, outdoor sheds, lawn and garden products, kayaks, outdoor play systems, coolers and grills. Tim focuses on protecting Lifetime’s innovation by seeking extensive patent protection and by monitoring the markets in numerous countries for infringing products to protect Lifetime’s intellectual property rights throughout the world. Tim also addresses and coordinates the defense of product liability and other consumer claims against Lifetime and takes care of a number of other novel and scintillating legal issues that arise on a daily basis.
Before joining Lifetime in 2007, Tim worked in the commercial litigation area at Snell & Wilmer in Salt Lake City, Utah. Prior to that, he practiced in Chicago, Illinois for 2 years in the business litigation section at Locke Lord (formerly Lord Bissell & Brook).
Tim received his BA in Economics from Weber State University in 1996 and his JD from the J. Ruben Clark law school at Brigham Young University in 1999.
Adam Smoot
Adam Smoot is a Shareholder at the Intellectual Property firm Maschoff Brennan. His practice focuses primarily on post-grant proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, patent prosecution and counseling, and complex intellectual property litigation. Specific technology areas of emphasis include medical devices, chemical arts, software, hardware, optical systems, oil and gas systems, cellular telephone technology and standards, and geosciences.
Adam has handled numerous inter partes review proceedings, as well as inter partes reexamination proceedings. He also has experience with other post-grant proceedings before the USPTO. Adam has represented both Petitioners and Patent Owners before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Adam is also involved in the local Utah IP and legal communities, where he currently serves as the Chair of the Silicon Slopes Legal Chapter. In addition, he has previously held many positions at the Intellectual Property Law Section of the Utah State Bar, including serving as Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary.
Juliette P. White
Ms. White’s clients represent a diverse spectrum of industries, including technology, healthcare, food and beverage, recreation, consumer goods, online retail, and health and wellness.
In her intellectual property practice, Ms. White regularly represents clients in patent, trademark, false advertising, copyright and trade secret litigation throughout the United States. Ms. White also advises clients regarding trademark and copyright protection and enforcement strategies.
Ms. White’s also represents clients in a wide range of business disputes including antitrust and unfair competition, class actions, and consumer fraud. Ms. White also regularly serves as a faculty member and presenter for the Utah State Bar’s Trial Skills Academy.
Ms. White is the past president of the Board of Trustees for the Disability Law Center, Utah’s protection and advocacy organization. In addition, Ms. White is currently pro bono counsel to the plaintiffs in a class action brought on behalf of individuals with intellectual and PRACTICE AREAS developmental disabilities who successfully asserted claims against the State of Utah seeking access to community-based services.
Ms. White is currently serving as president of the Board of Trustees for And Justice For All, a nonprofit organization supporting access to justice in Utah. She is also chairperson of the Board of Trustees for the Tenth Circuit Historical Society and a member of the Utah Women’s Forum. She is a past president of the David K. Watkiss- Sutherland II Inn of Court, the Utah Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and the Utah State Bar’s Antitrust & Unfair Competition Section.
Ms. White received her Juris Doctorate (J.D.) degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. Contemporaneously with her law degree, Ms. White also received a Master of Public Policy degree (M.P.P.) from Duke University.
Heather Woodward
Heather has over 17 years of experience as a patent attorney and in a wide range of intellectual property matters, including the acquisition and enforcement of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret rights, computer and multimedia law, and administrative actions before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office.
Heather attended Brigham Young University, where she earned a B.S. in Mathematics prior to attending law school at the University of San Diego. While attending law school, Heather worked as a law clerk for a large golf company and later at a pharmaceutical company.
After finishing law school, Heather returned to Utah as an associate at Workman Nydegger until leaving with several colleagues to form Maschoff Brennan. Heather was an associate and then shareholder at Maschoff Brennan for 11 years before leaving in 2021 to become the Director of Patents and Open Source at eBay. At eBay, Heather and her team help advise the business in a number of areas including managing eBay’s patent portfolio, securing trade secrets, and advising eBay’s Open-Source community.