Chicago, Ill. – Meredith Addy and Robert Hart, co-founding partners at litigation and intellectual property law firm AddyHart P.C., will be joined this year by AddyHart partner and patent attorney Gregory B. Gulliver as presenters at the second annual PTAB Masters program, presented by IPWatchdog®, to be held virtually from January 24–27, 2022.
PTAB Masters prepares patent owners for the challenges of monetizing patents, presenting best practices for litigating in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board, providing expert insights from practicing patent attorneys and strategies to better manage intellectual asset portfolios.
This winter’s conference, co-chaired by Scott McKeown of Ropes & Gray and IPWatchdog founder and president Gene Quinn, will focus on the PTAB from the viewpoint of both patent owners and petitioners challenging patents. It addresses issues facing the PTAB and USPTO, including its discretionary denials, and offers best practices and expert insights on tactics and strategies for PTAB trials and master level planning, including for parallel litigation.
On Monday, Jan. 24, AddyHart’s Robert Hart is joined by Kayvan Noroozi of Noroozi P.C. to address “The PTAB Today: A Review of the PTAB Landscape and Important Rulings.” Panelists will discuss changes to settlement requirements, due process challenges that continue to fail, arbitration clauses that do not deprive the PTAB of jurisdiction, sua sponte claim construction without notice by the PTAB and more.
In the afternoon of Jan. 24, Meredith Addy is joined by David McCombs of Haynes Boone LLP and Teresa Rea of Crowell & Moring on a panel entitled, “The PTAB Tomorrow: Top 5 Most Important Issues Facing the PTAB & New Director in 2022.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 25, Greg Gulliver is joined by Matt Johnson of Jones Day for a discussion entitled “Tactics & Strategies for Avoiding it All,” addressing the uphill battle faced by patent owners once an IPR has been filed due to 37 CFR 42.108(c), which invites the PTAB to view a petition in a light favorable to the petitioner and in turn places a burden on the patentee to succeed early in defending its patent. Among other things, panelists will discuss expert declarations, strategies for filing a response should be, and whether to file a response at all.
On Wednesday, Jan. 26, Addy returns to lead the panel, “Reversing the Result: Motions to Reconsider, Arthrex Director Reviews, Appeals to the Federal Circuit, Reissue/Reexaminations,” which examines what makes for successful motions and appeals at the PTAB, offers insight into arguments that have the best chance to prevail when seeking to reverse an unfavorable result, and discuss why certain types of motions, appeals and arguments routinely fail.
Meredith Martin “Mimi” Addy co-founded AddyHart P.C. with long-time colleague Robert Hart in January 2019. Addy has handled more than 100 appeals to the Federal Circuit and more than 80 cases in US district courts; she has testified to the US Congress on the state of patent law and the Federal Circuit. Addy has also held leadership positions at several AmLaw 100 law firms. Addy has received multiple accolades, including being the only female attorney named to Band 1 for IP Law in Illinois from Chambers USA for multiple years in succession—as well as high rankings from Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and IP Stars. Addy has been named one of the Top 250 Women in IP from Managing IP and IPmetrics LLC, as one of the Most Influential Women in IP Law by IP Law360, as one of Law360’s Female Powerbrokers, and to the IAM 1000.
Robert P. Hart, co-founder of AddyHart P.C., is an experienced first-chair trial attorney with more than 30 years’ experience in private practice and as in-house counsel. He focuses his practice in corporate law and intellectual property trials and strategy. Licensed by the USPTO and the Canadian IP Office, Hart is former Chief IP Counsel for Harman International and before that was division IP counsel for a major semiconductor company. He has led and managed international patent and trademark cases in Germany, Japan, China, France and Italy, and advises on transactions including mergers and acquisitions. Hart’s corporate law experience includes counseling companies on entity formation, compliance and corporate governance, securities filings, transactional matters and mergers and acquisitions.
Gregory B. Gulliver is a patent attorney with vast patent prosecution experience. A founding member of AddyHart P.C., Gulliver focuses his practice on domestic and international patent counseling and prosecution; opinion work, clearance, and strategies; transactional matters related to patents; trademarks, copyrights, and licensing issues, and business methodology. Gulliver has experience in commercial and intellectual property litigation in both state and Federal courts, focusing on infringement proceedings involving complex electrical or software-based technologies. His experience includes nine years as a software engineer at Motorola, Inc., including in its Cellular Infrastructure Group and its Multimedia, Information, and Messaging Sector, and at Bell Northern Research.
More information about this year’s PTAB Masters program is available at IPWatchdog.com.