Speaker

Graduate School of Intellectual Property, Osaka Institute of Technology, Dean / Professor

Biography in Work Life

1981:

Join the Japanese Patent Office (JPO)

1990:

Deputy Director of Examination Standard Office

1996:

Director for Intellectual Property, Duesseldorf Center of JETRO (Germany)

1999:

Director for Multilateral Negotiation / International Cooperation (JPO)

2001:

Director of Planning Office for the Board of Appeals (JPO) / Professor at Graduate School of Tokyo University

2005:

Director of International Affairs (JPO)

2011:

Director-General of the First Patent Examination Department (JPO)

2013:

Professor of the Graduate School of IP at Osaka Institute of Technology (OIT)

• Charged with legislations of Patent Law in 1993, 1994, 2003 and 2004, and preparation of Implementing Guidelines for revised laws.
• Responsible for international rule-making negotiations in the WIPO/WTO and bilateral agreements including Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) with US, UK, Korea and Germany.
• Engaged in establishing a quality control system in patent examination, and established a system of “Collective Examinations for IP Portfolios.”

CEO, Provenance Asset Group LLC

Dan McCurdy is the founding CEO of Provenance Asset Group. Provenance provides operating companies with assertion-ready patent rights to counter-assert against other operating companies alleging patent infringement.

In addition to his role at Provenance, Dan is also a Principal of Quatela Lynch McCurdy LLC which he joined on January 1, 2017. Previously, he was a senior vice president of RPX Corporation from July, 2014 through December, 2016. From 2008 through June 2014, Dan was CEO of Allied Security Trust and CEO of PatentFreedom. In June 2014, PatentFreedom was acquired by RPX.

Mr. McCurdy was also founding CEO of ThinkFire; President of Intellectual Property of Lucent Technologies and Bell Laboratories; a Vice President of IBM responsible for the creation of its Life Sciences business unit; a Vice President of Ciena Corporation where he directed merger, acquisition and corporate development; Director of Business Development for IBM Research; and Manager of Technology and Intellectual Property Policy for IBM worldwide.

Mr. McCurdy graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Carolina. He served on the Intellectual Property Policy committee of the United States’ National Academies, in 2011 was named CEO of the Year by Intellectual Property Magazine, and in 2014 was named one of the 40 most influential “movers and shakers” in IP transactions and acquisitions by Intellectual Asset Magazine. He has been named in the IAM Strategy 300, honoring the leading 300 IP strategists worldwide, every year since the annual list has been published.

Deputy Director, Licensing & IP Transaction Division, Intellectual Property Department Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Dylan Lee currently leads a team for Huawei’s intellectual property investment and transactions department. This work includes patent purchase, sales, investment, patent alliance and consortium activities. He is also deeply involved in Huawei’s intellectual property strategy, licensing, litigation, disputes, structuring and policy matters etc.

Dylan Lee also leads the team to provide legal and intellectual property advice to all capital investment projects in Huawei, including mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, venture capital and divestures. This role makes him a key member of the company’s legal team.

Dylan Lee joined Huawei Technologies in 2005 having studied for his LL.M. degree at the University of Sheffield in the UK.

Hiroshi Kawana is general manager of Intellectual Property Department at KDDI Corporation, which is providing mobile and fixed-line communications services under the brand name "au", various applications, and other services in japan and other countries.

Mr Kawana is responsible for all IP activities of the company, including IP portfolio development, licensing and litigation. He has more than 15 years’ experience in IP.

He is a registered patent attorney in Japan.

Partner, Litigation, Paul Hastings

Mr. Hagiwara offers more than 20 years of experience in representing the world’s leading companies. He is well-recognized as the leading IP litigation expert in the industry. He also frequently advises clients in civil and criminal investigation matters relating to trade secret misappropriation, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and alleged regulatory rules violations, Independent sources have singled him out as one of the very best in advising Japanese clients in navigating the complex cross-border dispute landscape. One source says Mr. Hagiwara “is admired for his robust approach and is deeply experienced in IP generally and U.S. patent litigation in particular” (Chambers Global). IAM Patent 1000 says of him, “Commercially canny partner Hiroyuki Hagiwara has an exceptional ability to extract the maximum value from his clients’ assets.” Another source calls Mr. Hagiwara a “Local Disputes Star” (Benchmark Litigation Asia Pacific).

Mr. Hagiwara is often engaged to speak on legal subjects in his expertise. He is a frequent lecturer at such renowned institutions as University of Washington Law School, Keio Law School, Waseda Law School, and Osaka Institute of Technology.

Professor, Graduate School of Intellectual Property, OIT / Office of Society-Academia Collaboration, Kyoto University

Hisao Yamasaki, founder and managing director of Syndefense, is responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of the company. Before founding Syndefense, Mr Yamasaki served as the president of RPX Asia, a leading provider of patent risk management solutions. Before RPX, Mr Yamasaki had a distinguished 25-year career at Hitachi, Ltd a global electronics conglomerate, as general manager of IP business development and licensing, where he was responsible for business aspects of the electronics conglomerate’s IP assets, including licensing strategies and operations, and patent portfolio balancing transactions.　Mr Yamasaki has several law degrees and serves as a professor at the Graduate School of Intellectual Property at the Osaka Institute of Technology in Osaka, Japan. Mr Yamasaki also serves as the president of Unified Patents Asia. Mr Yamasaki also serves as the Head of Kyoto University's Strategy and Planning Office of Society-Academia Collaboration.

Professor of graduate school of Intellectual Property of OSAKA Institute of Technology

1987

Master of civil engineering
Japan Patent Office

1991

Examiner of civil engineering div.

1994

Assistant director of patent examination planning Div.

1996

First secretary of Japanese Embassy in Morocco

1999

Appeal examiner of civil engineering Div.

2001

Assistant director of patent appeal planning Div.

2005

Research director of Institute of Intellectual Property

2008

Director of amusement examination Div.

2012

Director of civil engineering appeal Div.

2015

Prof. of Osaka Institute of Technology

Kenichi Nagasawa was appointed to the Head of the Intellectual Property and Legal Headquarters, Canon Inc. in April 2010.
After graduating from the Department of Engineering of Doshisya University, Mr. Nagasawa joined Canon Inc. in 1981 and he has been engaged in Intellectual Property Division since then.

After many experience in patent prosecution, Mr. Nagasawa was loan to Canon Europe Ltd. from 2001 to 2006 as a Head of Intellectual Property Group. During his stay in Europe, he established IP management system for Canon’s affiliates in Europe, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. Having served as Senior General Manager of Intellectual Property Technology Center for 2 years from 2006, Mr. Nagasawa was transferred to Canon U.S.A. Inc. as a Head of Intellectual Property Division from 2008 to February 2010. After returning, Mr. Nagasawa served as the Director, Member of the Board, and in March 2016, Mr.Nagasawa became a Managing Executive Officer of Canon Inc..

Mr. Nagasawa serves as a member of Committee on Intellectual Property of Keidanren, and serves as a member of the Evaluation, Planning and Verification Committee of the Government’s Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters from November 2013, and serves as the President of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) of Japan, where he has made contribution to the progress of AIPPI Japan’s presence. Also, in February 2017, he became a board member of Licensing Executives Society (LES) Japan,

Mr. Nagaswa also serves as a member of several Intellectual Property subcommittees of METI Industrial Structure Council, and has been a speaker at several universities, law schools and professional graduate schools giving lectures about his experiences for fostering IP human resources.

In 2015, Mr.Nagasawa was officially commended of “Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office Awards” of “Intellectual Property Achievement Awards” by Japan Patent Office.

Founder / CEO
UNIFIED PATENTS

Kevin Jakel is Founder and CEO of Unified Patents. Prior to founding Unified Patents, Kevin served as Intuit’s Head of IP Litigation. Kevin previously practiced as a patent litigator with Kaye Scholer LLP and Howrey LLP and advised clients on intellectual property strategy, litigation and patent prosecution. Kevin began his career in IP as a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Kevin has a JD from George Washington University Law School and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA

Deputy Director-General, AIST Chubu, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology(AIST)

1992

Ph D., Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University

1992

Researcher,　National Institute for Resources and Environment（AIST）

2001

Deputy Director, Council for Science and Technology Policy

2003

Director for Research and Development Policy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

2006

Director General, Research and Development Division, Gifu Prefecture

2009

Director of Regional Collaboration Office(AIST)

2011

General Director of Collaboration Promotion Division(AIST)

2014

Deputy Director-General, AIST Chubu
Dr.Shimizu is responsible for collaborative research with private companies.

Partner, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP

Lionel Lavenue is a partner in Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP’s Reston, Virginia office. His practice focuses on patent trial litigation and on creating and managing large patent portfolios. With experience in more than 170 patent cases, Lionel has managed or served as first chair in numerous district court litigations, including more than 60 cases in the E.D. Texas, patent infringement cases under Section 1498(a) in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, disputes under Section 337 before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and arbitrations.

Lionel has argued dozens of Markman hearings. He directed the discovery for numerous complex cases and disputes, and he has taken or defended nearly 200 depositions. He also has experience with patent/IP appeals at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. With experience in the preparation of over 1,000 patent applications, Lionel oversees the creation and management of large corporate patent portfolios. He has organized and managed numerous large domestic and foreign patent portfolios.

Lionel’s practice includes litigation, patent applications, and opinion work related to business methods, computers, software, and electrical and mechanical devices (including medical devices, especially medical device software applications). He has directed numerous ex parte and inter partes patent reexamination proceedings, including more than 75 “defensive reexaminations” used during litigations. As one of the first to challenge a patent via the inter partes review (IPR) procedure, he has led the filing of more than 75 IPR petitions and covered business method (CBM) petitions.

Lionel has a particular expertise with patent disputes involving Government contracts, including patent infringement claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1498, with extensive experience with numerous cases before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He holds Public Trust clearance, and previously held Top Secret and Code Word clearances.

Lionel is an active airplane and helicopter pilot, and he counsels many aviation and aerospace companies on IP issues. Lionel also has extensive experience with drone, UAV, and UAS technologies.

Lionel and his wife are alpine mountaineers, skydivers, and adventurers. Of the Seven Summits (the highest peaks of the seven continents), they have summited six (Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa in 1999; Mt. Elbrus in Russia in 2002; Mt. Aconcagua in South America in 2002; Mt. McKinley in North America and Mt. Vinson in Antarctica in 2004; and Mt. Kosciuszko in Oceania in 2007) and plan expeditions to Mt. Cho Oyu in 2018 and to Mt. Everest in 2020.

Partnership and Technology Transfer Adviser, CNRS Tokyo Office
French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)

Before moving to Japan, Louis Avigdor managed the partnership and technology transfer department at CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) office in Paris. CNRS is the largest research organization in Europe, with more than 30.000 employees and 1.000 laboratories, addressing all fields of science. Within the framework of a bilateral agreement between Kyoto University and CNRS, Louis Avigdor was seconded to Japan from 2015 to 2017, with a view to enhance cooperation on innovation and technology transfer between both institutions.
After his mission at Kyoto University, he has been appointed to CNRS Office in Tokyo since January 2018 in order to develop technology transfer activities in the 5 joint research labs that CNRS has set up with Japanese universities.
With a 15-year experience of dealing with public-private collaborative research, intellectual property and technology transfer affairs in France and Japan, Louis Avigdor has gained a precise knowledge of research landscapes and initiatives to foster innovation in both countries.

Chief Executive Officer, HEVC Advance LLC

Peter J. Moller is CEO of HEVC Advance LLC. Pete led the formation of HEVC Advance and was appointed CEO upon commencement of operations on July 1, 2015.
Prior to his appointment, Pete was Executive Vice President of GE Ventures Licensing. In this role, Pete focused on technology commercialization and investment opportunities in innovative technology and intellectual property complementary to GE’s major initiatives, as well as overseeing business operations at various acquired companies. These investments included the acquisition of Fraunhofer’s HEVC patent portfolio; a substantial ownership position in SIPCO, a leading IP wireless mesh company; the acquisition of an ownership stake in MPEG LA, a patent pool administrator; and the acquisition of Imbera OY, a Finnish company with foundational technology and patents in microelectronic embedded packaging. Pete served as GE’s Board Representative to various companies in addition to MPEG LA.

Prior to this position, Pete lead Patent Licensing and Technology Development at GE Licensing, leading GE’s corporate patent licensing activities and GE Licensing’s technology development at GE’s Global Research Center.

Pete has over 30 years of experience in patent and technology licensing, technology commercialization, and technology investment, including leading GE’s participation in several patent pools managed by MPEG LA and serving as GE’s first board representative to MPEG LA from 2009 to 2015.

Pete received his MBA and B.A. in Finance, each with High Distinction, from Babson College.

COO / SVP Legal / Co-Founder
UNIFIED PATENTS

Shawn Ambwani is COO and co-founder of Unified Patents. He is responsible for running Unified’s operations, counsel & docket management, analytics, and marketing. He has co-authored papers on PTAB analytics and procedures which have been published in law reviews affiliated with the University of Chicago and Northwestern among others. A full list of his contributions can be found here. Most recently, Shawn was VP of Licensing and Business Development at Intertrust Technologies, Inc. responsible for patent and technology licensing programs with over $500 million in revenue. Prior to that he served as EVP at Nextreaming (KOSDAQ) and co-founded Envivio (NASDAQ; ENVI). Shawn has a JD/MBA from Boston University and a BS in Mathematics from UCLA. He is an active member of the California Bar.

Executive Director& General Manager, Intellectual Property, FUJIFILM

Graduated from the University of Electro-Communications in 1981. In the same year, he joined Hitachi, Ltd. He is engaged in patent prosecution work at Intellectual Property Headquarters.
In 1989, he joined　to Nippon Steel Corporation and organized intellectual property team from zero at　Electronics Department of Nippon Steel. He experienced all the work related to intellectual property. Also he negotiated a license with an overseas semiconductor company as Nippon Steel's semiconductor business enters.
In 1999, following the withdrawal of Nippon Steel's LSI business, he moved to Fuji Photo Film Co. ltd. During the period when Fujifilm made significant structural reforms from photo business to new business, He worked actively in technical negotiations, M & A, contracts, disputes and lawsuits, etc. at the Intellectual Property Legal Department.
In 2013 he promoted to general manager of Intellectual Property Legal Department and from 2016 he became general manager of Intellectual Property Headquarters responsible for all intellectual property issues in FUJIFILM Group.

Outside activities
・Leader of JIPA License Committee.
・Leader of JBMIA Anti-Counterfeiting　Committee.
・Leader of Japan Trademark Association Anti-Counterfeiting　Committee.
　He experienced talks with the customs officials in China and Taiwan about seizures counterfeiting products.

・Committee member of the International Intellectual Property System of the Ministry of Economy on 2016,

Senior General Manager, Intellectual Property Division, Sony Corporation

1991

Joined Sony Corporation

1999

Transferred to Sony Europe GmbH

2003

Director, Legal Department, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

2014

General Manager, Intellectual Property Division, Sony Corporation

2017

Senior General Manager, Intellectual Property Division, Sony Corporation

Outside Activity

-Director of International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) of Japan

Professor
Director, Technology Transfer Division,
Office for Industry-University Co-Creation
Co-Creation Bureau, Osaka University

Toshihiro Masaki received the B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. degrees, all in information systems engineering, from Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, in 1993, 1995, and 1997, respectively. He joined the Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University in 1997 as a research associate, where he was promoted to an assistant professor in 2000. Then, he joined the Collaborative Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (CRCAST), Osaka University in 2002 as an associate professor, and the Center for Advanced Science and Innovation (CASI), Osaka University in 2008 as a professor. He was an Advisor to the Trustees, Osaka University from 2012 to 2014, and, a director of planning and promotion/intellectual property management, Office for University-Industry Collaboration, Osaka University from 2008 to 2018.
He is currently a professor, and a director of Technology Transfer Division, Office for Industry-University Co-Creation, Co-Creation Bureau, Osaka University.
He is a director of the University Network for Innovation and Technology Transfer, Japan (UNITT).

Professor, General Manager, Intellectual Property, Head of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation Director’s Office, Kyoto University

Yasuhiro ASHIHARA is Professor, Head of Director’s Office & Executive Manager of Intellectual Property Section of Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation, KYOTO-University.

After graduating from Faculty of Agriculture at Kyoto University, he entered the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in 1991, engaged in patent examination in the field of medical equipment etc. Yasuhiro ASHIHARA also has worked at University of Maryland (Office of Technology Liaison & Office of Research and Development), National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training (INPIT, Patent Distribution Policy), Cabinet Secretariat Intellectual Property Strategy Promotion Office, JPO Policy Planning and Research Division (Director of IP Strategy), Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC, Director of IP Division), and, JPO 2nd Examination Department (Director).

General Manager, Motorcycle and Power Product Intellectual Property Division, Intellectual Property and Standerdization Supervisory Unit, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Mr Yoshihiro Endo is General Manager of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. He graduated from Keio University (LL.B. 1993) and received master degree from New York University School of Law (M.C.J. 1996). Admitted to the New York Bar in 1998 (currently voluntary suspended).

Founder & CEO, ScienBizip Group

ScienBizip Group Founder & CEO
Senior Patent Agent and Litigation Agent
Council members of China IP Society
Government IP expert of Guangdong Province of China
Advanced Individual of IP work

Mr.Xie has specialized in IP industry for 20 years and he is very good at IP Management and Operation. His work experience and achievements are follows：

1.July, 2013 till now ScienBizip Group Founder & CEO

• (1)Implemented a series of Large IP Business Consulting Project for government and enterprises
• (2)Implemented National Patent Operation Platform Planning Program.
• (3)Leaded team members to undertake Patent Operation experimental work, and granted by National Patent Operation Pioneer Enterprise.
• (4)Participated in designing Patent Pledge Financing Project, the project was adopted by State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), SIPO promoted the project and widespread used it in many places.
• (5)Invited by National Ministry of Industry and Information, Governments and large companies for Speech, lecturing Technology Standard-Patent and Patent Alliance, Enterprise IP Strategy, IP Risk subject, etc.

2.October, 2007 – June, 2013 Foxconn Technology Group IP Dept. General Manager, in charge of Foxconn global IP business.

• (1)Foxconn IP achieved No.8 position of US Patents and the top three of China Invention Patent applications under Mr.Xie’ s leading
• (2)Developed thousands of Internationalization IP Talents for China IP industry during Mr.Xie’s tenure.

3. July, 1998-September, 2007 Patent engineer and Dept. director, responsible for China and US patents for production line in each business unit.