Brian O'Shaughnessy, Partner, Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

Brian is chair of Dinsmore’s IP Transactions and Licensing Group. He is a past president of the Licensing Executives Society (USA and Canada), Inc. (LES), the leading professional society devoted to commercial transactions and licensing of intangible property. He continues to serve LES as senior vice president for public policy. He has extensive experience in a wide variety of commercial transactions involving intangible property, and is known for creative licensing strategies to promote collaboration and resolve IP-related disputes.

He is a registered patent attorney with more than 30 years of experience before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in structuring global IP portfolios and strategies. He has extensive experience in contested proceedings before the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (interferences, Inter Partes Reviews and Post Grant Reviews), as well as contested matters in federal courts and the International Trade Commission. His wide-ranging experience affords a broad, informed perspective and facilitates creative approaches to intellectual property management, licensing, and enforcement.  In addition to his leadership of LES, Brian served on the LES Board of Directors 2007 – 2018.

In his ongoing role as senior vice president for public policy he is responsible for coordinating the society’s public policy positions, amicus briefs, and congressional outreach. He works with legislators, the executive branch, and the courts toward consistent, reliable, and prudent IP laws and policies that advance innovation and economic development. He has also served LES as trustee for education, and has long served as an author, editor, and faculty member of LES educational programs focusing on best practices in IP licensing.

He is also active in the global society, LES International (LESI). Among his various roles in LESI, he has served as co-chair of the External Relations Committee, coordinating public policy and advocacy for effective IP laws and policies among the 33 regional LES societies, and with various non-governmental organizations such as WIPO and EPO. In 2019, he received the LES International President’s Service Recognition Award.

Brian also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Bayh Dole Coalition, a 501(c)(4) corporation dedicated to promoting and preserving the Bayh Dole Act. He is a member of the Founding Board of Directors of the United States Intellectual Property Alliance (USIPA), an organization dedicated to raising public awareness of, and appreciation for, the role of IP in fostering innovation for the public good; and he has served on the DC Bar Intellectual Property Section Steering Committee (2013 – 2016).

In 2016, Brian testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on the effects of the America Invents Act on small business and entrepreneurs in a hearing entitled “An Examination of Changes to the U.S. Patent System & Impacts on America's Small Businesses.”  With his longstanding and diverse patent practice, in both private practice and in-house, Brian advises corporate leaders and entrepreneurs in effective IP procurement practices, and in maximizing value from IP assets. He has been retained as a testifying witness in IP and licensing disputes by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and by various private enterprises.

Brian has been acknowledged by IAM magazine as among its “IAM Strategy 300”, the world’s leading IP strategists, and among “The World's Leading Patent and Technology Licensing Lawyers.”  He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Department of Chemistry, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY; and Juris Doctor from Syracuse University, College of Law, Syracuse, NY (1986).  Brian has served his alma mater as president of the RIT Alumni Association 2005 – 2009; and now serves on the RIT Board of Trustees as a member of its Executive Committee, chair of its Student Life Committee, and vice-chair of its Committee on Trustees. In 2013, Brian was awarded RIT’s Outstanding Alumnus Award, and in 2005 he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by RIT’s College of Science.

Joseph Matal, Principal, Clear IP, LLC

Joe has served as both the U.S. Patent and Trademark’s Acting Director and Acting Solicitor. As Acting Solicitor, he defended the agency in intellectual property cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court. In his role in the Solicitor’s Office, he participated in briefing almost every major case involving PTAB trials that has come before the Federal Circuit, including cases that have defined the Board’s powers and the evidence that it may consider, the content of final decisions, and the burdens and scope of motions to amend. Recent cases include Uniloc v. Hulu, Thryv v. Click-to-Call, and Aqua Products v. Matal. Previously, Joe served in senior legal roles for more than a decade for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In that capacity, he negotiated and drafted many of the key provisions of the America Invents Act.

In his roles at the USPTO, Joe briefed and argued numerous appeals of patent and trademark decisions before the Federal Circuit; oversaw the management of the USPTO and its 13,000 employees; and advised the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office in key IP cases before the Supreme Court. 

Moderator: Ray Van Dyke, Van Dyke Intellectual Property Law

Raymond Van Dyke is an IP/Patent Attorney and Educator. In his practice he helps a variety of clients in their IP matters. He specializes in patent and trademark matters in various technologies, litigation, licensing, and procurement. After being a partner in big firms, he started his own IP consultancy in Washington, DC, with diverse domestic and international clientele and technologies, handling matters at the USPTO, Federal Circuit and local State and Federal courts. He is an Adjunct Professor at Geroge Washington University, and teaches IP courses for engineers, business people and other professionals at the University of Maryland and George Mason University, also teaching about the history and philosophy of IP, history of technology, famous inventors and deals, etc.  He has also taught at Southern Methodist University, American University, and across the world.  Ray also teaches at NIH and other institutions. He is the Senior Vice President of Special Events at LES and Chair of the LES DC Chapter; an AIPLA Fellow and former Chair of a number of Committees; Chair of the Montgomery County Bar Association IP Section, former Board Member of the DC Chapter of the ACM, former Board Member of ITechLaw (Computer Law Association); and continues his involvement in IPO, the MSBA, AIPPI, ABA, BIO, IEEE and other legal and technical organizations. Ray got his BS, MS in Computer Science and law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is licensed to practice in DC, MD, NY, NJ and TX, as well as the USPTO, and is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Federal, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Circuit Courts and a number of District Courts, Court of International Trade and Federal Court of Claims.  Ray also continues in his efforts to fight on behalf of the small inventor community in protecting the principles of the patent system.