Global IP Community: Eventful Season For Career Changes

The past few months have been eventful for career changes in the international intellectual property community. Here is a look at some of the changes in governments, international organisations, NGOs/academia, private sector and law offices.

Send your People news to info@ip-watch.ch!

GOVERNMENTS

Geneva Delegates

Karin Ferriter, who was the Intellectual Property Attaché at the United States Mission to the World Trade Organization, left this position at the end of July. She returned to be a patent attorney with the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Deborah Lashley-Johnson took over as the Intellectual Property Attaché for the US Mission to the WTO. She previously served as the US IP Attaché to the UN in Geneva, with responsibility for the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Ahlem Sara Charikhi, Attaché at the Algerian Mission with responsibility for WIPO has gone back to Algiers, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her replacement is not yet known.

Sara Amini, Senior Policy Analyst, Copyright and International Intellectual Property Policy Directorate, Department of Industry, Canada joined WIPO in July, for the Madrid system for international trademark registration.

Lourdes Chamorro, who had responsibility for the global public health and the World Health Organization for the European Union delegation in Geneva has moved to the EU delegation to the African Union in Addis Ababa. She will be replaced by Maya Matthews.

Andrés Guggiana, former Chilean delegate to the WTO and WIPO has been Manager International Trade for Philip Morris International in Switzerland since the end of last year.

Latin America / Caribbean

João Paulo Ortega Terra is the new head of the IP division at the Ministry of External Relations in Brazil since June.

Europe

European Commission

The European Commission appointed Alexander Italianer as new Secretary-General at the end of June. This followed the decision of Catherine Day to retire on 1 September, after which Italianer’s appointment takes effect.

The Commission’s senior management team was also reshuffled, at the Director General level:

Joao Aguiar Machado – Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE)

Daniel Calleja Crespo – Environment (ENV)

Lowri Evans – Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW)

Karl Friedrich Falkenberg – Senior Adviser for Sustainable Development

Jonathan Faull – DG “Task Force for Strategic Issues related to the UK Referendum in SG (Secretariat General)”.

Robert Madelin – Senior Adviser for Innovation

Xavier Prats Monne – Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (SANTE).

Stephen Quest – Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD)

Martine Reicherts – Directorate-General for Education and Culture (EAC)

Claus Sørensen – Senior Adviser for Resilience, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.

European Patent Office

Former EPO spokesperson and director of communications Oswald Schröder left the EPO at the end of last year. He joined Maison Moderne, an independent Luxembourg publisher, to take charge of its communications agency on 1 July.

United States

White House

In May, the White House named Ed Felten as Deputy US Chief Technology Officer. Felten serves as the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where he is also the founding Director of the Center for Information Technology Policy. Prior to joining Princeton, Felten served as the first Chief Technologist at the US Federal Trade Commission, and worked with the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division.

USPTO, USTR

On 30 July, Drew Hirshfeld was appointed as Commissioner for Patents at the USPTO. Hirshfeld had been Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination since 2011 at the USPTO. Prior to that position, he served two years as the USPTO Chief of Staff. He replaced Commissioner Margaret Focarino, who served at the USPTO for 38 years and retired in early July. Focarino had served as Acting Director and Deputy Director of the USPTO.

Earlier this year, the USPTO appointed Meryl Hershkowitz as Deputy Commissioner for Trademark Operations. Hershkowitz was expected to oversee the examination and processing of applications throughout trademark operations. Hershkowitz was one of two group directors for trademark operations at the USPTO for the last seven years. She first joined the office in 1990 as a trademark examining attorney.

Marisa Lago was nominated Deputy US Trade Representative with the rank of Ambassador in July. She replaced Miriam Sapiro, who resigned. Lago previously was the Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Development at the Department of the Treasury. She also served as the Acting United States Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Copyright Office

Erik Bertin was appointed in spring as Deputy Director for Registration Policy and Practice at the US Copyright Office. In this newly created position, Bertin assists the Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Registration Policy and Practice on a full range of legal, policy, and governance issues involving the Copyright Office and its administrative responsibilities. Bertin served as Assistant General Counsel from 2013 to 2015 and joined the Copyright Office in 2011 as an Attorney Advisor for the Office of Policy and International Affairs. Prior to joining Copyright Office, Bertin worked in private practice representing clients in intellectual property matters.

Asia

Japan Patent Office (JPO) Deputy Patent Commissioner Yoshitake Kihara retired on 31 July. He was replaced by Masayuki Koyanagi. In addition, Tomoki Sawai, former JPO Director of the Administrative Affairs Division, became Director General of the Examination Department for Mechanical Technologies.

Choi Donggyou, formerly South Korea’s Ambassador to Kenya, was appointed as the new Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) in May. Choi started his public service career at KIPO in 1988 before joining the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy and moving on to become Director General of the FTA Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, involved in trade negotiations.

New Board members were appointed at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore in the spring: Professor Tsui Kai Chong, Chairman at the Examination & Awards Committee of the SIM University, Lim Kuo-Yi, Managing Director at Monk’s Hill Ventures, Tan Min-Liang, CEO of Razer Inc, Douglas Foo, Executive Chairman of Sakae Holdings Ltd, Audrey Yap, Managing Partner at Yusarn Audrey, and Sim Feng-Ji, Director, Resource Division at the Ministry of Trade & Industry.

The following Board members stepped down on 31 March: Jacqueline Poh, Managing Director at Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore; Professor Freddy Boey, Deputy President and Provost (chairman) at Nanyang Technological University; Guy Proulx, Chairman and CEO of Transpacific IP Management Group Pte Ltd, and Kevin Theseira, International IP Counsel at Keysight Technologies Singapore.

NGOs, ACADEMIA

In the spring, French non-governmental organisation La Quadrature du Net announced that Agnès de Cornulier replaced Miriam Artino in the position of legal and political analysis coordinator. Marie Walrafen left her position as logistics and administrative coordinator.

Non-profit open access research journal eLife announced that Eve Marder became its Deputy Editor. Marder, who was one of eLife’s senior editors, is the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience at Brandeis University and Past President of the Society for Neuroscience. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the Biophysical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the International Society of Neuroethology.

Founder and long-time director of the Center for Media and Social Impact (CMSI) Pat Aufderheide transitioned into the position of senior research fellow at the center. She resumed her teaching position as University Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Communication at American University in Washington DC. Aufderheide received the “George C. Stoney Award for Outstanding Documentary Work” from the University Film and Video Association in 2015.

Aufderheide was replaced by two co-executive directors: Caty Borum Chattoo, who was CMSI principal investigator and creative director, and is Executive in Residence in the School of Communication; and Brigid Maher, filmmaker and associate professor of film and media arts at American University.

The Yale Law Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic (MFIA) named David Schulz as its Co-Director and Clinical Lecturer in the spring. The MFIA provides pro bono representation to clients on diverse subjects touching issues of transparency, free speech, and press freedom. Prior to this position, Schulz was Floyd Abrams Visiting Clinical Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. He has supervised students in the MFIA Clinic since it began in 2009.

PRIVATE SECTOR

The International Publishers Association (IPA) has appointed José Borghino as new Secretary General. Borghino has been IPA’s Policy Director since 2013. Before that Borghino served as Manager of Industry Representation at the Australian Publishers Association. He replaced outgoing Secretary General Jens Bammel, who had been in the position for the last 12 years. Bammel was a frequent presence at WIPO negotiations for years.

The Organisation for an International Geographical Indications Network (OriGIn) announced last spring that it was adding a United States-based representative to its team. Ivan Butina is based in Washington, DC, and is an independent consultant on strategic communication and communities of practice.

Herbert Wamsley, Executive Director of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) in Washington, DC, announced in the spring that he would step down at the end of this year. Wamsley had been with the IPO since 1983 and formerly was director of trademark examining at the USPTO.

President and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Fadi Chehadé announced in May that he would conclude his tenure in March 2016. Chehadé said he would move into the private sector and outside of the domain name industry. ICANN is seeking a candidate for the position of CEO and welcomes applications until 20 September.

Alibaba Founder Jack Ma was elected co-chairman of the Global Internet Governance Alliance (GIGA) at the first general meeting of GIGA council at the end of June. GIGA is co-sponsored by ICANN, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee and the World Economic Forum. It aims to provide a platform for the discussion of internet governance solutions.

Change of name for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in early 2016. The organisation is to become the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and will maintain its acronym. BIO’s new Board Chair, Ron Cohen, CEO of Acorda Therapeutics, made the announcement in June, saying that the new name better reflects the essence of what BIO member companies represent.

Generic pharmaceutical company Mylan Europe President Jacek Glinka has been nominated as the President of the European Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (EGA). He takes over from Nick Haggar. The appointment will become effective in October. Glinka has also been serving as Executive Board member of the EGA since the beginning of 2014.

Stroz Friedberg, a global cybersecurity and risk management company, acquired Technology Litigation Consulting Firm Elysium Digital at the beginning of August. Elysium Digital is an IP litigation consulting and expert testimony firm. The acquisition is aiming at strengthening Stroz Friedberg digital forensics and litigation consulting capabilities for cases involving intellectual property, such as patents, copyright, and trade secrets.

CPA Global, an IP management services and software company, is expanding to China. In June, the firm announced the opening of an office in Beijing, which makes it the firm’s third office in mainland China. Yifeng Song has been appointed as General Manager, China, and will head the Beijing office. Song was a consultant at PL Capital, a China-based private equity and asset management company prior to joining CPA Global.

Sanofi appointed former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service Suresh Kumar to the Executive Committee and as Executive Vice President, External Affairs. The appointment for the newly created position took effect on 1 June. Kumar previously worked for Oliver Wyman, an international management consulting firm. Kumar also worked in the past for Johnson & Johnson and the Clinton Foundation.

Mike Weatherley, former Intellectual Property Advisor to United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, was appointed to be the Director of the Motion Picture Licensing Company (MPLC) in the United Kingdom, and the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation in the United States. He also is Vice Chairman of the UK company. Weatherley, who was a British Member of Parliament, was the first ever IP rights advisor to the Prime Minister. Weatherley was previously Vice President, Finance and Administration for the MPLC.

The US-India Business Council welcomed six global business leaders on its Board last May: Marc Allen, President of Boeing International; Anurag Bhargava, Chairman, IREO; David Cordani, President and CEO, Cigna Corporation; Patrick Dewar, Chairman, Lockheed Martin Global; Kenneth Frazier, Chairman and CEO, Merck; and Edward Monser, President and COO, Emerson Electric.

Law Offices

Ropes & Gray announced that Heather Egan Sussman and Rohan Massey have joined the firm, Sussman in Boston and Massey in London. Sussman will counsel multinational companies on areas such as technology, healthcare, and financial services companies on domains such as information security, privacy and consumer protection. Massey will advise clients on European Union and United Kingdom privacy and data protection matters as well as media, e-commerce, outsourcing, IT and intellectual property matters.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP announced it added two intellectual property litigation partners to its practice in New York in early August. Jane Love and Robert Trenchard, who were previously partners at WilmerHale, will practice intellectual property and life sciences litigation. Love and Trenchard handled cases for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, including litigation on behalf of leading pharmaceutical companies.

Jennifer Fraser joined Dykema’s Intellectual Property Practice Group in the Washington, DC office in late July. Fraser’s practice focuses on the selection, use and enforcement of trademarks, including managing global brand portfolios and litigating rights before courts, in particular in the areas of construction, machinery, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, information technology, agriculture, and cybersecurity. Prior to joining Dykema, Fraser served as Co-Chair of Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg LLP’s national trademark and copyright practice, and is a former Examining Attorney with the USPTO.

Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP announced that James Darnley joined the firm’s Intellectual Property Department in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Darnley served as counsel for global corporations in particular in the areas of pharmaceutical and biologic products. His practice will focus on advising clients on licensing and acquisitions. Prior to joining Honigman, Darnley was with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company/Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he served as Vice President, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel.

Gregory Morris also joined Honigman in June, as partner in the IP department. Morris focuses on patent infringement actions involving pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device technologies. He has been an IP litigator for over 10 years.

Joan Kluger has joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP’s Intellectual Property Department as a partner in the Delaware office. Kluger comes from Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP. Kluger focuses on patent and trademark procurement and licensing arrangements in areas such as patenting inventions directed to integrated circuit design, semiconductor device manufacturing, medical devices and chemical processes.

Nicole Bashor, associate with Quarles & Brady LLP’s Intellectual Property Practice Group, was appointed in June as an affiliate representative of the National LGBT Bar Association and Foundation board of directors. At Quarles & Brady, Bashor provides counseling on patent, trademark, copyright, and social media issues.

Quarles & Brady LLP’s Intellectual Property Practice Group also announced that Jonathan Hudis joined the group. Hudis specialises in trademark, copyright, designs and trade secrets. Hudis is a member of the Trademark Public Advisory Committee of the USPTO.

Morrison & Foerster announced last month that it expanded its Patent Group in Denver, with two patents agents and one patent attorney. Matthew Hollister has experience in electrical, software and mechanical arts. Prior to practicing patent law, Hollister worked at a medical device company as an electrical engineer for implantable medical devices. Cong Luo focuses her practice on patent prosecution and counselling, in particular in the area of automotive technology, aircraft technology, and medical imaging devices. Patent attorney Jordan Lofdahl has experience in software and mechanical arts. He was a patent examiner at the USPTO in the mechanical arts.

Morrison & Foerster also announced in May that Wolfgang Schönig joined the firm’s Technology Transactions Practice Group as counsel in Berlin. Schönig specialises in life sciences, pharmaceuticals and high-tech on research and development co operations, and the protection of rights in technology and know-how. He was previously with Clifford Chance in Dusseldorf.

Jon Spanbauer joined Quarles & Brady LLP as a partner in its Intellectual Property Practice Group in May. Spanbauer focuses on complex patent litigation, with a particular emphasis on pharmaceuticals.

Alex Thomas Nguluma, a senior corporate and tax law practitioner, is Managing Partner of the newly created ENSafrica/Tanzania. ENSafrica announced in May that it joined forces with attorneys from Rex Attorneys in Tanzania, to form ENSafrica/Tanzania. Ambassador Mwanaidi Sinare Maajar, previously Tanzania’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Tanzania’s ambassador to the United States, is the Chair of ENSafrica. The office is based in Dar es Salaam and will provide services including mining, oil, banking, competition, intellectual property and telecommunications.

Attorney Eric Sosenko has joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP as partner in its Intellectual Property Department’s Patent Practice Group. Sosenko focus includes patent and trademark procurement, product and mark clearance in several technical fields, such as mechanical, electro-mechanical, and medical. He previously worked for Brinks Gilson & Lione.

Patent litigators Brian Slater and Gregory Sephton have joined Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP earlier this year. Both Slater and Sephton come from Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto. Slater served as lead counsel to companies such as Gilead, Merck, and Sanofi. Sephton has litigated and tried patent cases for companies such as Astra Zeneca, Novartis and Warner Chilcott.

Two new partners and a special counsel were hired by Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP in the spring: Michael Keats, a litigation partner in New York, Laura Besvinick, and insurance litigation partner in Miami, and Julie Nevins, who focuses on complex commercial litigation, as special counsel in Miami. Keats is a former Managing Director in Goldman Sachs’ Litigation and Regulatory Proceedings Group. In addition, the firm also hired Steven Atlee, a financial services/class action partner in the Litigation Practice Group, and Yousuf Dhamee, an investment management partner in its Los Angeles office.

Fabricio Vayra joined the Intellectual Property practice of Perkins Coie in Washington, DC last spring. Vayra focuses on trademark, internet policy issues, and domain name counselling and enforcement. He is former Assistant General Counsel-Intellectual Property with Time Warner Inc.

Perkins Coie also welcomed Thomas Holt in the Intellectual Property practice in Chicago. Holt, who focuses on trademark, copyright, false advertising, patent and trade secret law, was formerly a partner at Steptoe & Johnson.

Kacvinsky Daisak Bluni PLLC (KDB) announced earlier this year that it was opening offices in Boston and Washington, DC.

Jason Lohr joined Hogan Lovells’ Intellectual Property, Media and Technology practice in April. Lohr’ focus include patent counselling and portfolio management, prosecution and post-grant proceedings, and licensing. He came from Novak Druce Connolly Bove & Quigg LLP. He previously worked as a software engineer and conducted materials research and software development as an analytical scientist.

 

Image Credits: James Cridland – Flickr CC