Fifth Annual International IP Summit

Past events: 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018

Please join Boston College Law School and Ropes & Gray at our 5th Annual International IP Summit. The summit is a premier forum for practitioners, business leaders, academics, and government officials to explore the dramatically evolving global IP environment.

This event will take place in-person at Boston College Law School (885 Centre Street, Newton, MA 02459).

CLE provided for CA, IL and NY

Date	Time All times are EST	Panel
October 13	8:00-8:30AM	Registration and Breakfast
	8:30-8:45AM	Welcome Remarks
	8:45-9:15AM	Opening Address
	9:20-10:35AM	Global Tech Trends: Africa, China, Europe, Latin America and Russia
	10:50AM-12:05PM	IP Protections – Have We Gone Too Far?
	12:30-1:15PM	Keynote: A Conversation with Lynnette C. Fallon
	1:25-2:15PM	Evolution of FinTech: Are Regulation and Law Keeping Up?
	2:50-3:40PM	The EU’s Unified Patent Court: Impact on US Companies and IP Litigation
	3:40-4:40PM	Leading and Thriving Through Prolonged Uncertainty: A Conversation with General Counsels
	4:40-4:50PM	Closing Remarks
	5:00-6:00PM	Networking and Cocktail Reception
October 14 By invitation or application	8:15AM-11:45AM	Roundtable

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• Registration & Breakfast
  8:00 – 8:30 AM
• Welcome Remarks
  8:30 – 8:45 AM
• Speaker:
• Diane Ring, Interim Dean, Professor, Boston College Law School
• Opening Address
  8:45 – 9:15 AM
• Speaker:
• Yasheng Huang, Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management and Faculty Director of Action Learning, MIT Sloan School of Management
• Global Tech Trends: Africa, China, Europe, Latin America and Russia
  9:20 – 10:35 AM
  This panel will examine significant developments around the world impacting technology and life sciences companies, and best practices for maximizing the value of technology in a dynamic international environment of global tensions and shifting sanctions. Our experts from around the world will discuss the impact of sanctions and controls from the Russia-Ukraine war, developments in US IP policy on China, fintech in Africa, the deal environment in Brazil, and IP developments in Europe.
• Speakers:
• Sean O’Connor, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Center for Intellectual Property x Innovation Policy, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School (Moderator) 
• Ama Adams, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP
• Mayowa Kuyoro, Partner, McKinsey & Company
• Michael Mangelson, Principal Counsel and Director for China IP, Office of Policy and International Affairs, USPTO
• Marcus Valverde, Managing Partner, Marcus Valverde Sociedade de Advogados
• Networking Break
  10:35 – 10:50 AM 
• IP Protections – Have We Gone Too Far? 
  10:50 AM – 12:05PM
  The breadth and strength of IP rights have changed in the United States over the past 20 years and continue to be examined. This panel will discuss whether IP owners, in particular patent owners, have too many rights. Should a patent holder be able to restrict use of her invention by others, even those who need that invention for healthcare? Alternatively, have the Supreme Court’s efforts to scale back patent rights and the proposed ability to allow the US government to negotiate drug prices, reduced the value of patent rights such that we need check whether society is incentivized to invest in interesting but risky research and development efforts?
• Speakers:
• Melissa Rones, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP (Moderator)
• Michael J. Meurer, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
  
• Molly Silfen, Counsel Detailee, Office of Senator Patrick Leahy
  
• Anita Varma, Partner, Global Chair of Intellectual Property, White & Case LLP
  
• The Honorable William G. Young, Judge, United States District Court, District of Massachusetts 
  
• Peter Yu, Regents Professor of Law and Communication, Texas A&M University
• Lunch Break
  12:05 – 12:30 PM

• Keynote: A Conversation with Lynnette C. Fallon 
  *This session will not be recorded
  12:30 – 1:15PM
  Join us a for a lunchtime conversation with Lynnette Fallon, Executive Vice President HR/Legal and General Counsel of Axcelis Technologies, as she recounts lessons from her storied legal career, including the Axcelis story from its infancy through its incredible growth to a $2-billion company with over 1000 employees.

  Regina Sam Penti, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP (Moderator)

• Evolution of FinTech: Are Regulation and Law Keeping Up?
  1:25 – 2:15PM
  This panel will explore innovations in Fintech, and the legal and regulatory landscape that governs this technology, with particular focus on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other digital assets, including the shifting application of intellectual property rights to protect Fintech innovation.
• Speakers:
• David Olson, Professor, Faculty Director for the Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Boston College Law School (Moderator)
• Robert Bench, Assistant Vice President Secure Payments & FinTech, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston 
• Melissa Bender, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP
• Justin McCormack, Senior Vice President and Senior Managing Counsel, State Street Corporation
• Regina Sam Penti, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP
• Networking Break
  2:15 – 2:50 PM
• The EU’s Unified Patent Court: Impact on US Companies and IP Litigation
  2:50 – 3:40 PM
  The Unified Patent Court seems ready to launch this Spring and will be a significant development for patent law. The UPC will issue decisions with effect over an economic zone comparable in size to the U.S. GDP. Additionally, the UPC makes the European court system more accessible to U.S. litigants as it consolidates European patent litigation into one set of rules and laws, a scope much more manageable for U.S. General Counsel.  And the biggest rule of the UPC is “Move Quickly”. The one-year time-period for a UPC case requires U.S. attorneys supporting a U.S. litigant to play a key role as “boots-on-the-ground” collecting evidence and prior art and organizing pleadings. The UPC and the role of the U.S. attorney will be reviewed.
• Speakers:
• Ed Kelly, Boston & Galway, LLC (Moderator)
  
• Sabine Agé, Avocat, Partner, Hoyng Rokh Monegier
  
• Chris Carroll, Partner, Burns & Levinson LLP
  
• Mathias Karlhuber, Partner, Cohausz & Florack
  
• Kevin Brayton McGoff, Vice President, Assistant General Counsel Intellectual Property, Butterfly Network
• Leading and Thriving Through Prolonged Uncertainty: A Conversation with General Counsels
  *This session will not be recorded
  3:40 – 4:40 PM
  In this session, GCs from leading technology and life sciences companies will share their challenges and lessons learned from navigating the uncertainties of the past three years, including the pandemic, ESG, and changes in the geopolitical environment.
• Speakers:
• Beibei Sun, Senior Corporate Counsel, Global Licensing and Business Development, Sanofi (Moderator)
  
• Wendy Cassity, Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Nuance Communications
  
• Paul Connors, Vice President, Legal & Corporate Secretary, Salsify, Inc.
  
• Paul T. Dacier, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Indigo Agriculture, Inc.
  
• Brian Elworthy, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Toast
  
• Karen Tepichin, General Counsel, Gingko Bioworks, Inc.
• Closing Remarks
  4:40 – 4:50 PM 
• Networking and Cocktail Reception
  5:00 – 6:00 PM 

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By application and invitation
8:15 – 11:45 AM

The Roundtable Session will bring together people with experience and interest in international IP law and business to share what they are seeing in the market and brainstorm best practices. The roundtable will be a fully interactive three-hour session and participants are asked to attend the entire roundtable. Topics to be discussed include:

• IP issues and trends affecting the life sciences and technology industries
• Pending legislative and policy proposals, including the CHIPS and Science Act
• Deal making and industry trends
• Open discussion of challenges and best practices

Facilitators:

• Raj Banerjee, Associate, Ropes & Gray LLP
• Sam Brenner, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP
• Chris Comeau, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP
• Melissa C. Danforth, Head of Legal, Bain Capital Life Sciences
• Jason D. Herpel, Esq., Vice President & Counsel, Corporate, Securities & Strategic Transactions, EyePoint Pharmaceuticals 
• Sally Wang Liang, J.D., M.P.H., Senior Vice President of Business Development, Head of Global Business Unit, PepLib; Venture Partner, Viva Bioinnovator
• Samer Musallam, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP
• Bryce Youngren, Managing Partner, Polaris Growth Fund
  
• Peter Yu, Regents Professor of Law and Communication, Texas A&M University