LES Silicon Valley Webinar "Funding IP Enforcement to Support Licensing and Monetization"

The Silicon Valley Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society [LES] is hosting a webinar titled, “Funding IP Enforcement to Support Licensing and Monetization” on February 24 from noon to 1:30 pm [Pacific Standard Time].  Here are details concerning the event:

Program:
The LES Silicon Valley Chapter is pleased to present this webinar in which leading experts will provide insight into the funding of IP enforcement to support licensing and monetization. Whether you're trying to protect a product, license your IP or monetize, chances are that expensive litigation will be required.

The webinar will explore the various aspects of financing the litigation process, including:

• Realities of doing licensing without litigation
• Financing litigation from the point of view of funders and companies/attorneys seeking funding
• How litigation funding may influence royalty rates or asset valuation
• Examine various options that are available
• What kind of cases are most suitable for financing
• Typical deal structures
• Details of the process and how long it takes
• U.S./Non-U.S. IP assets
• Other important considerations/lessons learned

Panel:
Michael Gulliford, Founder/Managing Principal, Soryn IP Capital Management, LLC
Phil Hartstein, President and CEO, Finjan Holdings, Inc.
Jeremy Pitcock, Founder, The Pitcock Law Group
Ron Vaisbort, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Ivalua
Moderator: Dave Stevens, Stevens Law Group

​Panel Bios:
Michael Gulliford, Founder/Managing Principal, Soryn IP Capital Management, LLC
Michael is the Founder of the patent advisory firm Soryn IP Group, as well as its sister company Soryn Capital, which invests significant capital in a host of patent-centric opportunities.  Prior to founding Soryn, Michael was a partner in the IP Litigation group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.  At Soryn, he is a trusted advisor and investor to a number of the world’s most prestigious universities, law firms, companies and inventors.  He guides the management of private and publicly traded companies with respect to patent strategy, and has been the name behind almost two hundred million dollars in patent related deals.  Michael has also repeatedly been recognized as one of the Leading IP Strategists in the World.

Phil Hartstein, President and CEO, Finjan Holdings, Inc.
Phil is President and Chief Executive Officer of Finjan Holdings, Inc. and oversees the direction and management of current assets and future investments as well as working with the company’s executive management team to execute the shareholders vision as a public technology company.  Phil has worked in a number of technology and intellectual property related roles for over a decade. He started with a boutique IP law firm, worked in an in-house IP function for a VC funded startup, spent time in IP consulting and IP brokerage firms, and prior to joining Finjan spent four years with two groups focused on bringing both private and public market capital, expertise, and credibility in licensing and enforcing patent rights on behalf of owners.

Jeremy Pitcock, Founder, The Pitcock Law Group
Jeremy's current practice involves counseling clients in all areas of intellectual property, with a particular emphasis on patent litigation.  He serves as lead counsel on a variety of patent matters, and has been involved in all aspects of trial and appellate practice before federal courts throughout the country.  He has successfully argued all phases of litigation including at trial and at various summary judgment and Markman hearings, in diverse fields such as, Internet and mobile technology, authentication and encryption, fiber optic networks and various optical components, network and microprocessor architecture, computer software, Ethernet routing and communications, semiconductor manufacturing and fabrication, pharmaceutical inventions and business methods. Jeremy Pitcock also has served as lead counsel in copyright (including computer-related matters), trademark and trade secret litigation.

Ron Vaisbort, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Ivalua
Ron is a serial general counsel to world-class software and services companies. Prior to Ivalua, Ron served as the chief legal officer to MemSQL, C3.ai, Good Technology and Trillium Digital Systems. A veteran of the technology, media, and entertainment industries, Ron has been at the forefront of numerous innovative business concepts -  as both an attorney and business leader for startups as well as Fortune 100 companies such as Intel and Toshiba. Ron’s expertise is building and leading global legal and business development teams, and spans IPO/M&A readiness, international IP creation, data privacy and protection, commercialization strategy, licensing, and technology alliances.

Moderator: Dave Stevens, Stevens Law Group
Dave’s IP practice includes patent prosecution, transactions, due diligence work, agreements, opinions (including validity, infringement, patentability, right-to-practice (RTP), and freedom-to-operate (FTO) opinions), counseling, offensive and defensive patent issues, licensing, and litigation.  The technical focus of his practice includes electronics, computer technology, automotive technology, communications, optical systems, green technologies, software, semiconductors, and mechanical devices.  He also serves as an expert witness in technical and intellectual property legal issues and has been called as a fact witness in enforcement actions involving the many patents he has written. He also is an expert in copyright (including software, publications, products and artworks, and other copyrightable forms) and open source issues. He works with foreign IP firms and foreign clients with respect to domestic and international patent prosecution, including Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) work.

Here is the link to register: Licensing Executives Society (LES) (lesusacanada.org).  The cost for non-LES members is $69.

LES of Silicon Valley FREE Webinar on Corporate Finance and IP Management

One of the “positives” of Covid-19 is that many organizations are offering fantastic content online and even for free.  Here’s another great opportunity with an excellent organization and chapter of the Licensing Executives Society (LES).  The Silicon Valley Chapter of the LES and the Financial Executives International are offering a FREE webinar titled, “Intellectual Capital.  Connecting the Financial and IP Communities,” on Thursday, September 24, 2020 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm (Pacific Standard Time).  The registration link is below.  Here are the details from their email notice:

REGISTER Registration Fee is complimentary. A webinar link will be sent after your registration. The Silicon Valley Chapters of the Financial Executives International and the Licensing Executives Society USA/Canada invite you to participate in a groundbreaking interactive webinar on the integration of Corporate Finance and IP Management. PROGRAM: A panel of seasoned professionals will discuss a number of Intellectual Capital (IC) intersection areas including: Identifying the relevant categories of IC for a particular company Getting board-level and C-Suite support for establishing a corporate IC strategy Developing IC management business processes, such as:   o    IC Valuation o    IC Accounting o    IC Financial Reporting o    IC Transactional Issues o    IC Tax Considerations PANEL: Mary Adams, Founder, Smarter Companies Bill Elkington, Founder, Mind IC Petra Loer, Managing Director, Valuation Services, Andersen Moderator: Ron Laurie, Executive Chairman and CIPO, InventionShare PANEL BIOS: Mary Adams, Founder, Smarter Companies Mary is a consultant, speaker and practitioner of intangible capitalism which focuses on the long-term pursuit of both profits and prosperity.  Her current work is focused in three communities that she helped create:  The Exit Planning Exchange that brings long-term thinking to the private company market.  The Integrated Reporting U.S. Community that brings long-term thinking to public companies. And Smarter-Companies, a specialty consulting community that provides methodologies and tools to support intangible capitalism. Mary is the co-author of Intangible Capital: Putting Knowledge to Work in the 21st Century Organization. Prior to starting her consulting firm in 1999, she spent 14 years as a high-risk lender in the U.S. and Latin America at Citicorp and Sanwa Business Credit. Bill Elkington, Founder, Mind IC Bill’s career in three Fortune 500 companies, a startup, and now in his consulting firm—Mind IC LLC—has been in the field of intellectual capital management. His focus has been on uncovering, creating, protecting, and extracting the value of companies’ intellectual capital assets. His expertise is in various areas of intellectual capital management: business cadre leadership, rights valuation, rights strategy, public policy, enterprise policy and process, transactions, patent protection, and change management and communication across the enterprise. Ron Laurie, Chair, LES Silicon Valley Chapter Ron has worked in Silicon Valley since before it had that name, initially as a systems engineer and then as an IP lawyer and patent strategist.  He was a founding partner of the Silicon Valley offices of Irell & Manella, Weil Gotshal and Skadden Arps and has taught IP strategy courses at Stanford and Berkeley law schools.  Ron is Executive Chairman and CIPO at InventionShare, a new kind of early-stage fund that transforms breakthrough inventions into broadly patented platform technologies which can be productized by global companies across a broad range of applications and markets.  He sits on four other boards, including the oldest and most successful publicly-traded patent licensing company. Petra Loer, Managing Director, Valuation Services, Andersen Petra is a member of the Valuation Services Group at Andersen, a global tax and financial advisory firm. Her experience includes the valuation of closely-held businesses, business interests, intangible assets, intellectual property, debt instruments, and derivatives. These engagements span a variety of purposes, including financial reporting, tax planning and reporting, mergers and acquisitions, litigation support, strategic planning, and restructuring. Petra’s client basis ranges from small closely held businesses to multi-billion-dollar multinational public companies, in industries as diverse as manufacturing to technology.

Experiences of IP and VCs

Next Thursday 29th April in London, Jon Calvert of ClearView IP will be sharing his experience of investors and their views on intellectual property in an evening presentation for the Licensing Executives Society.

According to Jon, the likely programme will include:
- IP in early stage companies
- The management team's knowledge of IP
- Divergence between the IP and the product/service being sold
- The patent landscape
- Variations in due diligence with the amount to be invested

The meeting is open to non-members as well as members of LES. More information is available here.

Forthcoming event

“Fundamentals of Intellectual Asset Management”, a three day course held at the Cranfield Management Development Centre, Cranfield University (England) from Monday 9 March to Wednesday 11 March 2009, has a programme developed by the LES (Licensing Executives Society) Britain & Ireland.  

The first day begins with an introduction to the types of IP including trade secrets, patents, trade marks, copyright and design rights. This is followed by an introduction to the basics of licensing, including exercises and a review of the important clauses of a licence. The course then goes on to cover 

* "A Business Framework for Licensing" (a review of high-level business processes for intellectual asset management and the relation of licensing to corporate strategy, 

* "The Deal" (identification and application of valuation approaches; extensive licence negotiation exercise, based on case study materials from earlier sessions); 

* "Living with the Deal" (what happens after the deal is made; construction of a strategy for IP management).

The course is said to be aimed at anyone from beginner’s level to those with up to two years’ experience in licensing.  12 CPD points are available for those attending days two and three. For further information click the LES B & I website here.