Novartis Pharma AG | Head
Global Patent Litigation Strategy

Jürgen Dressel is responsible for the global litigation strategy at Novartis Pharma IP with focus on patents. He started his chemistry studies in Germany, got a PhD in organic chemistry from the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA, and did a postdoc in bioorganic chemistry at the ETH Zurich. He worked as a medicinal chemist at Bayer Pharma Research for nine years until 1997 before he moved to the patents department and qualified as a European Patent Attorney. In 2002 he joined the Generics group in the Novartis patents department, in 2004 returned to the originator business and became responsible for Patents Primary Care which included the cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, dermatological, arthritis, gastro-intestinal and neuroscience disease areas. From 2007 to 2014 he headed the patent litigation outside the US, and in 2014 he switched to his current role. Jürgen’s main experience is preparing for and executing patent litigation between originators and generics

Remfry & Sagar | Partner

Ms. Negi is a Partner and has been associated with the firm for the past 20 years. She is a registered patent agent, CPVA (Certified Patent Valuation Analyst) and holds a bachelor’s degree in law and a master’s degree in computer science. She has wide experience in areas of patent searching, patent drafting, prosecution, opposition and litigation matters. Well versed with all aspects of patent law and familiar with the prevalent patent climate in India, she is an active participant in several international forums and has authored articles on IP in India.

Remfry & Sagar | Partner

Mr. Vishnumohan Rethinam is a Partner in the firm’s Trade Marks department engaged in non-contentious and contentious trade mark work, including prosecution, oppositions, cancellations and appeals before the Trade Marks Office and Intellectual Property Appellate Board. He heads the Copyright Department as well. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in French (Honours) from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, a Bachelor of Laws degree from Delhi University and a Master’s degree in Business Laws from the National Law School of India. He has counselled a wide array of clients across a diverse spectrum of trade and industry, developed and implemented enforcement strategies, facilitated complex negotiations and successfully argued several opposition/ cancellation cases. He has authored articles and delivered presentations on varied subjects in intellectual property law with emphasis on Trade Marks and Copyrights on the Internet. Additionally, he has served on the Asia-Pacific sub-committee of INTA’s Amicus committee and is on the IP committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). In his spare time, Vishnu trains his telescope on the Universe.

Gorodissky & Partners | Partner
Russian Trademark Attorney

Alexey joined Gorodissky & Partners in 1999 and in 2010 was promoted to partner at the firm. His experience includes advising clients on issues relating to trademarks and service marks, appellations of origin, including non-traditional (color, sound, volume, etc.), collective, well-known trademarks etc. He represents clients before the Russian PTO and commercial courts, Russian IP Court also. Alexey is intensively involved in creating defense and protection strategies in case infringement of clients’ rights as well as in transactional, enforcement and opinion work.cialist in trademark prosecution and strategy in Russia.

Gorodissky & Partners | Partner
Head of Legal Practice

Graduated from the Moscow State Linguistic University and from the Moscow University of Law.

From 1973 till 1998 worked for the major IP firm (Moscow).
In 1998 joined Gorodissky & Partners, in 2001 he became a partner.

Mr.Biriulin counsels clients on Russian and foreign IP legislations, including international IP treaties, conventions, agreements and peculiarities of their implementation in Russia, technology transfer, licensing, copyrights and elaborating efficient strategy of company intangible assets protection. His particular interest covers enforcement and infringement of IP owners’ rights, unfair competition, parallel import and also litigation. Mr. Biriulin is a recognized litigation adviser representing a broad range of national and international clients in both patent- and trademark- related cases.

As the Head of Legal Practice Mr. Biriulin is in charge of the strategy in the most important and sophisticated cases, he is also a mentor of the firm’s young generation of lawyers. Mr.Biriulin delivers lectures at national and international IP events. He is an author and co-author of quite a number of publications in legal magazines and books on various IP issues mostly relating to comprehensive Russian IP legislation landscape and the practical conclusions.

The “International Who’s Who of Patent Lawyers” ranks Vladimir Biriulin as one of the leading IP professionals in Russia. In “IAM Patent 1000” Vladimir Biriulin is listed among the best lawyers in litigation area in Russia. “WTR 1000” listed Vladimir Biriulin among the best trademark lawyers in both enforcement and litigation areas, he is also mentioned as notable specialist in trademark prosecution and strategy in Russia.

Adams & Adams | Partner
Patent Attorney

Philip Pla is a partner in the patent department in the firm’s Cape Town office. He is a mechanical engineer and lawyer admitted to practise before the High Court in South Africa. He has substantial experience in drafting and prosecuting patent and design applications for both local and foreign clients in the mechanical engineering field. He is also experienced in IP litigation and commercial aspects of IP including the drafting of IP licence agreements and due diligence investigations on behalf of local clients.

Adams & Adams | Partner
Trade Mark Attorney | Litigation Attorney | Commercial Attorney

An experienced intellectual property advisor with over 20 years experience gained in local and international law firms as well as in-house

Especially interested in IP management (primarily brands), prosecution, commercialisation and enforcement in Africa but worked for a decade in London, focusing on Europe

Lead counsel for the BSA The Software Alliance in South Africa

An editorial board member of Oxford University Press: Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice Blogmeister and founder of the Afro-IP weblog. He tweets from @DarrenTOlivier

Recognised by Who’s Who Legal, Chambers Global, World Trademark 1000, Legal 500, South African Institute of IP Law, Managing Intellectual Property and IAM 300

Trustee of the CEO SleepOut Trust, a change agent in South Africa responsible for raising the most amount of money ever on a single night for good causes

The only African to be recognised in IAM’s Guide to the World’s leading IP Strategists

Chair of the firm’s IP Commercialisation team

Co-founder of 4 kids

Credentials:

• Law Society Northern Province – Member
• SA Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL) – fellow
• International Trade Marks Association (INTA)
• AFRO-IP (African Intellectual Property Community) – co-founder
• Frequent speaker and writer on IP issue

Adams & Adams | Partner
Patent Attorney

Pieter is a registered patent attorney in the Patent Department. His practice is focused on the drafting of patent specifications and the prosecution of patent applications both locally and abroad. In this respect, Pieter has had extensive exposure to the practices of the patent offices of most major jurisdictions, including the United States, the European Patent Organisation, China, Japan, Australia, etc. In addition to a law degree from the University of South Africa, Pieter holds a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Stellenbosch. His practice therefore involves dealing particularly with inventions in the fields of chemical and process engineering, and applied chemistry. Specific technology areas in which Pieter has drafted and prosecuted patent applications includes nuclear energy, radiochemistry, petrochemicals, refrigeration technology, applied polymer chemistry, explosives, food technology, renewable energy, water purification, chemical water treatment, beer brewing, and the like.

Adams & Adams | Partner
Firm Chairman | Trade Mark Attorney

Specialisation

Litigation relating to Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs, Unlawful Competition
Domain names, and Counterfeit Goods
Litigation in the above areas

Credentials

Who’s Who Legal: The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers – Trademarks 2013
The International Who’s Who of Trademark Lawyers 2013
Chambers Global Guide Legal Rankings: South Africa 2013
Best Lawyers: Intellectual Property Law – South Africa 2014

Chief Executive, Brand Finance plc

David is the CEO and founder of Brand Finance plc, the leading independent brand valuation consultancy. David qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London. He has worked in the area of branded business, brand and intangible asset valuation since 1991 and since January 1995 has specialised entirely in this area. David has represented the British Standards institute on the International Standards Committee working party on the standardisation of brand valuation methods and practices, whose standard (ISO 10668) was published in early 2010. David is a passionate writer and has written many articles for the marketing and financial press on branded businesses and brand valuation and is the author of numerous publications. He also lectures on the subject of branded business, brand and intangible asset valuation at many of the leading business schools around the world.

Chief Intellectual Property Counsel - Richemont Group

Sheila Henderson is a UK qualified solicitor (1990) who has spent time working for Unilever in the UK and Netherlands, Mars, Reckitt Benckiser and is currently Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for the Richemont group.

Daniel Advogados | Partner

Rana Gosain is a Senior Partner at Daniel Advogados. He has worked with Intellectual Property for more than 30 years. His expertise covers Patents, Designs and Litigation Strategies with a special focus on Life Sciences and legal pharma issues. Rana counsels clients on patent filing strategies and obtaining best patent protection. Rana has a technical background in Civil Engineering, and completed a law course in 2005. He is a Brazilian Intellectual Property Agent and a Brazilian attorney registered at the Brazilian Bar Association (Rio de Janeiro). Rana also holds a postgraduate degree in Intellectual Property obtained from the PUC University in collaboration with the Brazilian PTO. He has a strong focus on life sciences and is on the Standing Pharma Committee of AIPPI. Rana’s current role at Daniel Advogados involves advising clients on the full range of Intellectual Property matters and developing strategies for protecting and managing IP portfolios. Rana also participates as a member of the AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property), as well as of the LES (Licensing Executives Society); the FICPI (International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys); the ABP (Brazilian Intellectual Property Association) and the AIPLA (American Intellectual Property Law Association).

CCIPT Patent & Trademark Law Office | Deputy Director

Mr. Liu Ji is the deputy director of Chemical Division at CCPIT Patent and Trademark Law Office and has worked as a patent attorney for fifteen years. Mr. Liu graduated from Beijing University of Chemical Technology with a Master Degree of polymer science and studied intellectual property laws in Cardozo School of Law. Mr. Liu was also trained in US and German law firms for the patent laws and practice in the US and European countries. Mr. Liu's practice focuses mainly on patent prosecution. He has successfully represented many renowned corporations, especially in chemical fields, in patent prosecution. He has handled more than a thousand patent filings and prosecuting cases covering various technical fields, particularly the fields of polymers and chemical engineering. Mr. Liu has also represented clients in many patent reexamination cases and patent invalidation cases. In addition, Mr. Liu has also drafted many patent applications for clients and filed these patent applications in China and many jurisdictions outside of China, such as the USPTO, EPO, JPO and KIPO.

Legal Intellectual Property Director, ABInBev.

Pieter is an IP Counsel with 9 years’ experience in protecting trademarks and related intellectual property rights of a multinational beverage and brewing company. He manages both global brands and regional brands, with a specific focus on Africa. Pieter is an expert in developing international trademark strategies all the way from brand development to registration and enforcement, including licensing and settlement.

About SABMiller:
SABMiller is a FTSE-10 company, with shares trading on the London Stock Exchange, and a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It is the world’s second largest brewer with 69,000 employees in more than 80 countries. The company owns than 200 brands and Group Net Producer Revenue in 2016 was US$24,149m of which almost a third derived from Africa.

CCIPT Patent & Trademark Law Office | Trademark Attorney

Ms. Ling ZHAO is a qualified trademark attorney and attorney at law. She passed the Chinese bar exam in the year 2012. Ms. ZHAO earned her master degree in law from Renmin University of China with major in intellectual property law, trained in the BSKB law firm in USA in 2008, and in Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, New York, in 2015.

Ms. ZHAO joined the firm in the year 2000, and has been practicing trademark law ever since for about 16 years. Her expertise ranges from trademark prosecution, consultation on trademark registrability, assessment of infringement, availability search, recognition of well-known trademark, negotiating for the transfer of trademarks and licensing, domain name dispute, trademark protection strategy to trademark litigation. She represents many well-known brand owners in developing their brand protection strategies and protecting their trademark rights in China. Among the clients represented by Ms. ZHAO, there are top 500 Fortune companies from the United States, Europe and Asia, in various industries, including world renowned petrochemical company, pharmaceutical companies, health products companies, fashion brand owners, etc. Ms. ZHAO obtained well-known trademark recognition for the famous LG and MOBIL trademarks in administrative and civil litigations before the court, and for NOVO NORDISK in invalidation proceedings before the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. Ms. ZHAO and her team won a retrial case before the Supreme People’s Court in 2015.

Gorodissky & Partners | Russian and Eurasian Patent Attorney

Denis holds an engineer diploma from the National University of Science and Technology (MISIS) and a diploma in law from the Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property. Got training at the Intellectual Property Office in Newport, law firms Boehmert & Boehmert, Vossius & Partners and Hoffmann Eitle in Germany. Started his carrier with the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (Russian PTO). Joined Gorodissky and Partners in 2007 and at present works in the Mechanics Department of the firm. He focuses his work on counseling clients on creating patent protection strategy in the field of machinery and equipment for metallurgy, mining, motor vehicles, trucks, passenger cars, ships, helicopters and other flying machines, aircraft, spacecraft and other transport vessels, agriculture and forestry etc. as well as generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, natural gas, steam and hot water, production of hydroelectricity. Has a great experience of oppositions and appeals before the Russian and Eurasian Patent Offices.

Managing Director, Compliance & Enforcement – EMEA, BSA | The Software Alliance

Sarah Coombes leads BSA’s compliance & enforcement efforts in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). She manages the legal affairs team and drives the enforcement programs across the region. She also oversees BSA’s regional compliance marketing, educational and enforcement policy efforts. Before joining BSA in 2005 to head the legal affairs team in EMEA, Sarah spent 10 years as an intellectual property litigator in London-based law firms, Bristows and FFW, where she became a partner in 2001.

About BSA | The Software Alliance
The Software Alliance is the leading advocate for the global software industry before governments and in the international marketplace. With headquarters in Washington, DC, and operations in more than 60 countries, BSA pioneers compliance programs that promote legal software use and advocates for public policies that foster technology innovation and drive growth in the digital economy.