Moving Landscape In The IP World – Organisations, Industry, Law Firms

The end of 2017 and start of 2018 brought a lot of changes in the global intellectual property arena. The World Health Organization underwent major changes in its leadership following a new head elected in May, UNAIDS has a new deputy executive director, the World Intellectual Property Organization is seeking a new leader of its Global Challenges division, and the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers decided on a number of appointments. The European Patent Office elected a new president, and the industry world also saw its share of changes. The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations welcomed some new faces, and the head of the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry is changing. Law firms saw a high level of revolving chair movements, and promotions of attorneys to partners.

International Organisations

The World Intellectual Property Organization welcomed Charles Randolph, former deputy director, Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement, United States Department of State as the head of Global Health, in the Global Challenges Division. He replaced Thomas Bombelles, also American, who moved over to be head of Nongovernmental and Industry Relations Section at WIPO (IPW, WIPO, 3 October 2017).

The organisation is now seeking to replace Anatole Krattiger, head of the Global Challenges Division, who left at the end of the year. Krattiger is consulting out of Geneva and Ithaca, New York, and renewing his teaching engagement at Cornell University, US. According to WIPO, the recruitment process is ongoing.

UN Secretary General António Guterres appointed Gunilla Carlsson as the new UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Management and Governance, and Assistant Secretary General of the UN in December. Carlsson served as an elected member of the Swedish Parliament from 2002 to 2013, and as Minister for International Development Cooperation from 2006 to 2013. She was expected to take office in early 2018 and succeeds Jan Beagle.

Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim, a leading AIDS researcher, was appointed UNAIDS Special Ambassador for adolescents and HIV in November. Abdool Karim is the Associate Scientific Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa. She is Professor in Clinical Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, US.

The November meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board saw a number of elections, among which was the ICANN Board Chair, Cherine Chalaby, and Chris Disspain as Vice-Chair of the Board.

A number of other appointments were decided: Accountability Mechanisms: Disspain as Chair, and Becky Burr, Sarah Deutsch, Léon Sanchez, and Mike Silber; Audit: Lousewies van der Laan as Chair, with Deutsch, Silber, and Akinori Maemura; Compensation: Chalaby as Chair, and Disspain, Ram Mohan, George Sadowsky, and Jonne Soininen; Executive: Chalaby as Chair, with Burr, Disspain, and Göran Marby; Finance: Ron da Silva as Chair, with Maarten Botterman, Disspain, Khaled Koubaa, and Sadowsky; Finance: da Silva as Chair, and Disspain, Koubaa, and Sadowsky; Governance: Burr as Chair, with Botterman, da Silva, Mohan, and van der Laan; Risk: Rafael Lito Ibarra as co-Chair, Mohan as co-Chair, with Maemura, Kaveh Ranjbar, Matthew Shears, and Soininen; Organisational effectiveness: Koubaa as Chair, with Avri Doria, Lito Ibarra, Sadowsky, Sanchez, and Shears; and Technical: Ranjbar as Chair, with Lito Ibarra Vice-Chair, Chalaby, da Silva, Doria, Maemura, Mohan, Sadowsky, and Soininen.

Marby was elected as President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN, John Jeffrey as General Counsel and Secretary, Xavier Calvez as Chief Financial Officer, Akram Atallah as President, Global Domains Division, Susanna Bennett as Chief Operating Officer, David Olive as Senior Vice-President, Policy Development Support, and Ashwin Rangan as Senior Vice-President Engineering & Chief Information Officer.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (“Dr Tedros”) of Ethiopia, who took office in July this year announced its new leadership team in October. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan (India) is Deputy Director General for Programmes (DDP) and Jane Ellison (United Kingdom) Deputy Director General for Corporate Operations (DDC). Peter Salama remained in his role as the Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme. The Assistant Director General appointees are: Bernhard Schwartländer (Germany), Chef de Cabinet; Naoko Yamamoto (Japan), Assistant Director General for Universal Health Coverage and Health Systems Cluster; Lubna A. Al-Ansary (Saudi Arabia), Assistant Director General for Metrics and Measurement; Svetlana Akselrod (Russia), Assistant Director General for Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health: Amb. Michèle Boccoz (France), Assistant Director General for External Relations; Ranieri Guerra (Italy), Assistant Director General for Special Initiatives; Ren Minghui (China), Assistant Director General for Communicable Diseases; Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão (Brazil), Assistant Director General for Drug Access, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals; Princess Nothemba (Nono) Simelela (South Africa), Assistant Director General for Family, Women, Children and Adolescents; Stewart Simonson (United States), Assistant Director General for General Management; and Joy St John (Barbados), Assistant Director General for Climate and Other Determinants of Health. See related Intellectual Property Watch stories here, and here.

An unsuccessful candidate in the 2017 WHO Director General election, Sania Nishtar (Pakistan) was appointed by Dr Tedros to chair the High-level Global Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), created in October.

Outgoing European Patent Office (EPO) President Benoît Battistelli was elected Chairman of the University of Strasbourg Center for International Intellectual Property Studies Administrative Board in November for a three-year term. He succeeds António Campinos, Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

Campinos, a Portuguese national, was elected in October as the new EPO president for a five-year term starting on 1 July 2018.

Governments

United States

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet announced at the beginning of the year that he would not seek re-election when his term expires at the end of 2018.

Congressman Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) was elected by his peers to lead the Judiciary Subcommittee – Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, in January. Johnson is a former judge and criminal defense attorney, and has served on Judiciary since 2007. “At a time when the Trump Administration is trying to kill Net Neutrality, I am eager to take on the challenge of ensuring that the Internet remains open to all content regardless of source. Content must be available without discrimination and accessible to all,” he said.

In November, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) announced he will not seek re-election when his term expires at the end of 2018. Smith, who co-authored the landmark Leahy-Smith America Invents Act that was signed into law in 2011, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986. He has been a long-time champion of the intellectual property system and served as the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee from 2011-2013.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced that Kevin Moley, former US ambassador in Geneva (2001-2006), is to be an Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizational Affairs. He has been a senior executive in the health care industry and served the federal government as Deputy Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services in 1992-1993 (Bush Administration).

There’s a new name for the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center, which announced that it has rebranded to be known as the Global Innovation Property Center. They also celebrated industries and individuals which generate jobs, encourage innovation and creativity, which they describe as IP Champions: DHS Operation Engine Newity for enforcement; Novartis’ Kymriah for innovation; Neal Adams, a comic book artist, for creativity; NBCUniversal, for creativity/animation; Karen Kerrigan, CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council for advocacy; and Billy Gibbons, former ZZ Top musician, for creativity.

Republican Joe Simons was appointed to chair the US Federal Trade Commission, as well as Democrat Rohit Chopra, and Republican Noah Phillips. Simons directed the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, Chopra served as Assistant Director and Student Loan Ombudsman, and Phillips was Chief Counsel for Senator John Cornyn on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Also in October, Barbara Weisel, assistant US Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, retired after 33 years of government service, including 23 years at the USTR.

Industry

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) has welcomed some new faces, the latest being the former head of the Medicines Patent Pool Greg Perry as its new Assistant Director General. Perry is expected to join IFPMA in mid-February and will be responsible for IFPMA’s external outreach and stakeholder engagement in global health topics including innovation access. Perry is former Director General of the European Generic Medicines Association in Brussels.

The IFPMA also welcomed Helen Gallagher in November as its new Communications Director. Gallagher comes from Ferring Pharmaceuticals where she headed the Corporate Communications.

In September James Headen Pfitzer joined IFPMA as the Director of the global ‘Access Accelerated – Moving NCD Care Forward’ initiative. Pfitzer was previously at the World Health Organization where he handled strategy, engagement and policy for the Assistant Director General of Health Systems and Innovation and Global Health Security.

The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) Board of Directors selected Cyrus Ardalan as its new chair. Ardalan is the Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Citigroup Global Markets Ltd, and is also Chairman of OakNorth Bank, as well as Chairman of the Financial Services Advisory Board of Alvarez and Marsal. He began his term on 1 January, and succeeds René Karsenti, who served as Chair since 2012. The resources raised by IFFIm are used by the Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Tish Berard is the 2018 International Trademark Association President and Chair of its Board of Directors. Berard is formerly Vice President and General Counsel for Hearts On Fire Company, LLC, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Also nominated are David Lossignol, Global Head of Trademarks, Domain Names & Copyright at Sandoz International GmbH, Germany, as President-Elect: Ayala Deutsch, Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for NBA Properties, Inc., US, as Vice-President; Tiki Dare, Assistant General Counsel at Oracle Corporation, US, as Vice-President; Zeeger Vink, IP Director at Maus Frères, France as Treasurer; Jomarie Fredericks, Deputy General Counsel, Chief IP Counsel at Rotary International, US, as Secretary; and Anna Carboni, Partner at Wiggin LLP, UK, as Counsel.

Michel Demaré, Syngenta’s Vice Chairman and Lead Independent Director retired from the company’s Board after five years of service. Jürg Witmer, a Member of the Syngenta Board of Directors since 2006, has been nominated by the Board to become Lead Independent Director from 1 January, 2018. Carl Casale, former CEO of agriculture company CHS Inc., has been nominated to join as an Independent Director.

Syngenta Chief Financial Officer Mark Patrick joined other 36 CFOs across the globe to signal his support for the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in December. The signatories are from organizations such as Dow DuPont, Coca-Cola HBC, Tesco and Royal DSM among others. representing over USD1.5 trillion in combined total assets.

In December, Gilead Sciences announced that Executive Chairman John Martin is transitioning to Chairman of the Board of Directors effective 9 March. Martin was named Executive Chairman in March 2016, when he was succeeded as CEO by John Milligan.

Tom Valente joined the Intellectual Property Owners Association as Senior Counsel, International and Legal Affairs in December. Valente previously was an attorney at Ryan Smith and Carbine.

In November, the Berkeley Research Group announced that Jeffery Stec had joined its Chicago office as Managing Director and leader of the firm’s IP practice. Stec was formerly Vice President of Charles River Associates.

Gail MacKinnon was appointed Executive Vice-President for Government Affairs for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to join in November. Previously MacKinnon served as Executive Vice President and Chief Government Relations Officer for Time Warner Cable. She succeeds Joanna McIntosh, who became Senior Vice-President for Government Affairs at the National Cable & Telecommunication Association in September.

The Licensing Executives Society (LES) (US and Canada) announced the 2017-2018 Board of Directors in October. The President and Chair of the Board is William Elkington, Senior Director of Intellectual Property Management at Rockwell Collins, the President-Elect and Chair-Elect is Robert Held, the Immediate Past-President and Past-Chair of the Board is Brian O’Shaughnessy, the Secretary is Kevin Spivak, the Treasurer Mike Pellegrino, the Counsel Paul Roberts. The Senior Vice-President, Membership, Communications and Technology is Ida Shum, the Senior Vice-President, Meetings, Education & Strategic Alliances is Gary Fedorochko, the Vice-President, International is Jim Bratton, the Vice-President, Public Policy and Standards is Rachel Kreppel, the Director, Local Chapters East is Annie Gauthier, the Director, Local Chapters West is Louise Levien, the Director, Membership & Member Engagement is Annemarie Meike, the Director, Communications & Publications is Gillian Fenton, the Director, Meetings is Scott Williams, and the Director, Education is Matthew McNeill.

Alberto Bichi, Secretary General of the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI) left the hem of the federation in October. The FESI Annual General Assembly appointed Jérôme Pero, FESI’s Director of Policy as new Secretary General, and Youri Mercier Deputy Secretary General. Frank Dassler was also appointed as FESI’s new President for a two-year term of office during the General Assembly.

Academia/NGOs/Think Tanks

William Reinsch joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in January as the new Scholl Chair in International Business. He succeeds Scott Miller, who is to become a senior advisor for the Abshire-Inamori Leadership Academy at CSIS. Reinsch was previously at the Stimson Center, and continues to serve as a senior adviser at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. He is former President of the National Foreign Trade Council, and served as the Under Secretary for Export Administration in the Department of Commerce.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) announced that Jan Techau was expected to join the GMF as Director of the Europe Program and Senior Fellow on 2 January. Techau comes from the American Academy in Berlin where he was the director of the Richard C. Holbrooke Forum for the Study of Diplomacy and Governance.

Daniel Sepulveda also joined the GMF in December as a non-resident fellow with the Technology and Innovation programme based in Washington DC. Sepulveda is a former US ambassador, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and played a key role in internet governance negotiations at the UN.

Katherine Hagen, Executive Director of the Geneva-based Global Social Observatory, which was launched in 2004, said it is closing its doors. An event was held on 19 December to celebrate the organisation’s mission. Hagen can now be followed at www.katherinehagen.net.

Michael Gollin, Co-Founder of the Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors, Inc. (PIIPA), an international nonprofit organization that provides pro bono intellectual property legal counsel to governments, businesses, indigenous peoples, and public interest organizations in developing countries, passed away on 20 November. His blog is here.

Georg Greve, founding President of the Free Software Foundation Europe, is now co-founder and president of the board at Vereign AG in the Cryptovalley in Zug (Switzerland), which is the vendor of NotarySERVER hard- and software. NotaryTRADE is an hyperscale business blockchain cooperative. Greve was formerly CEO and president of Kolab Systems AG.

Access Now Board of Directors welcomed Arzu Geybulla, Donna McKay, and Bruce Schneier in October. Melody Patry joined the organisation as the new Advocacy Director. Yvette Alberdingk-Thijm, and Esra’a Al Shafei are stepping down from the Board. Schneier is a security technologist, and a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Geybulla is an Azerbaijani columnist and journalist, and McKay is the executive director of Physicians for Human Rights. Patry comes from Index on Censorship in London.

Brianne Kent became the new Chair of eLife Early-Career Advisory Group in the Fall. Kent is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Her research involves looking at whether changes in sleep patterns and body weight can be used to identify the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Prachee Avasthi joined eLife Board of Directors, the first early-career research to join the Board. Avasthi is Assistant Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, US.

Law Firms

Gustavo Siller became president of Brinks Gilson & Lione (US) and took office on 1 January. He succeeds James Sobieraj, who was elected in 2011.

Dykema appointed Dan Harkins as Director of its Intellectual Property Department, and a few days earlier announced the appointment of Reed Heimbecher as Office Managing Member of its Minneapolis office. Heimbecher is also Leader of Dykema’s IP Transactional Group. Prior to joining Dykema, Heimbecher managed his own firm.

Eric Evain will lead the Grant & Eisenhofer Intellectual Property Litigation Practice launched this month [pdf]. Evain was previously a partner with Reed Smith and before that with Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz.

Morrison & Foerster announced that it promoted 10 lawyers to partner, six women and four men, effective on 1 January. Those partners are located across multiple practice groups and nine different offices in the US, Europe, and Asia. Megan Jennings is based in San Francisco, Ryan Malloy is based in Los Angeles, Eric Pai in Palo Alto, Karen Potter in San Diego, Sean Ruff is based in Washington DC, Wolfgang Schönig in Berlin, Nicole Serfoss Denver, Yuka Teraguchi in Tokyo, Sarah Thomas in Hong Kong, and Claudia Vetesi, in San Francisco.

Frank Ryan has been named co-chair of the DLA Piper’s global Intellectual Property and Technology practice, and Ann Ford named co-chair of its US IP and Technology practice, both effective on 1 January. Ryan joins Stéphane Lemarchand as global co-chair of IP and Technology and will continue to serve as chair of the US IP and Technology practice alongside Ford.

Stroock announced it promoted 11 lawyers to partner and special counsel effective 1 January. Trevor Adler, John Loftus, André Nance, Arjun Rao, Jason Sobel, and Gail Suchman have been promoted to partner, while Nicole De Bare, Christine Ellice, Hans Hertell, David Kahne, and Daniel Park are now special counsels.

Bruce Little joined as a partner in the IP Department of Barnes & Thornburg at the beginning of January. Little joins from Lindquist & Vennum. Barnes & Thornburg also announced in December that 12 attorneys would be made partners effective 1 January. The new partners involved in intellectual property are: Mark Vrla (Chicago); and Samuel Giesting and Phillip Scaletta (Indianapolis).

Also in the first days of January, Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners announced that Massimo Sterpi joined the international law firm Intellectual Property IT and Media department. Sterpi previously worked at boutique firm Jacobacci.

Williams & Connolly started the year with the addition of five attorneys to partnership. Effective 1 January, Steven Cady, Colette Connor, Christopher Mandernach, Liam Montgomery, and Katherine Trefz became partners.

Neal Gerber Eisenberg announced the election of four associates to the firm’s partnership. at the start of the year: Eric Choi, Christopher Anderson, Thomas Campbell, and Katherine Dennis Nye.

At the end of November, Cooley announced that 18 of its lawyers were elected to the firm’s partnership effective 1 January: Brian Burke (Reston), Derek Colla (Washington, DC), Angela Dunning (Palo Alto), Adam Gershenson (Boston), Joshua Holleman (Washington, DC), Tanisha James (New York), Eric Kauffman (San Diego), Daniel Knauss (Palo Alto), Susan Krumplitsch (Palo Alto), Jeff Laretto (New York), Bradley Libuit (San Francisco), Brooke Nussbaum (Washington, DC), John Paul Oleksiuk (Los Angeles), Gerard O’Shea (New York), Joshua Rottner (Boston), Jason Savich (San Francisco), Megan Arthur Schilling (San Diego), and Adriana Lofaro Wirtz (New York).

Veteran Pharma Litigator Jay Deshmukh joined Arent Fox LLP in December in the firm’s New York office. He previously was a partner at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP.

BakerHostetler announced in November that Pierre Yanney joined the firm’s Intellectual Property Group and patent litigation team in its New York office. Yanney comes from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. Andreas Kaltsounis joined the firm in September. Katlsounis was previously with international risk management firm Stroz Friedberg. He also served as a special agent with the US Department of Defense inspector general’s national cyber field office and as a task force officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Seattle Cyber Task Force.

Brinks Gilson & Lione opened office in Shenzhen, China, in December, the first non-Chinese law firm with office in the high-technology hub. Harold Johnson is the office managing shareholder. Fei Hu, also joined the Shenzhen office. Hu was previously senior legal counsel for chipmaker ARM Ltd.

Patent attorneys Safet Metjahic and Paul Zagar joined Leason Ellis LLP as Partners and Lauren Beth Emerson as Counsel in November. Metjahic joined from McGuireWoods LLP, Zagar from Blank Rome LLP, and Emerson from Baker Botts LLP.

Wiggin and the IP property law firm Redd announced in November that they would join forces. Their combined team includes 20 specialist IP lawyers. Sara Ashby, one of the founding partners of Redd, said: “Joining Wiggin will allow us to achieve scale while retaining our absolute focus on IP. We have a lot in common – both firms are specialists in what they do and are lucky enough to act for some fantastic clients, have been involved in leading cases and advisory work, and have great teams of lawyers with a similar ethos and culture.”

Zheng Liu, commercial litigation and IP attorney, joined Rimon in October. Zheng was the past President and currently is a Board Member of Chinese American Lawyers of the Bay Area (CALOBA), she was previously with at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP announced in October that Paul Brinkman will rejoin the firm’s Washington DC office as a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group. Brinkman joins Kirkland from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP. The firm also announced that 97 attorneys were promoted to partner, as of 1 October.

In the Fall, DLA Piper welcomed Douglas Emhoff as a partner in the firm’s IP and Technology practice. Emhoff, who joins from Venable, will be based in the Los Angeles and Washington DC offices.

Willmore Holbrow joined Buchalter as a Shareholder and member of the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups in Los Angeles.

Andrew Fletcher joined Blank Rome LLP as a Partner in the Commercial Litigation group in the Pittsburgh office.