Judge Alan Albright, United States District Court for the Western District of Texas

Judge Albright is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas where he oversees a significant portion of patent litigation within the United States. He will be joining for an engaging conversation sharing his views on several matters of importance to the IP community.   

Marko Brumnik, Managing Partner, Sonnenberg Harrison

Marko Brumnik is a managing partner at Sonnenberg Harrison, with experience in IP prosecution, litigation, and strategic IP portfolio management. He advises local and multinational clients across diverse industries, helping them navigate complex intellectual property challenges and optimize the value of their IP assets.

Marko's expertise includes developing tailored IP strategies that integrate technical, economic, and legal perspectives to support innovation and business growth. He holds a Master’s degree (Dipl. Ing.) in Mechanical Engineering – Management from the Vienna University of Technology, earned with distinction, and is dedicated to providing holistic and forward-thinking IP solutions.

Josh Budwin, Principal, McKool Smith

Roberto Carapeto, Partner, Licks Legal

Dana Colarulli

Dana Robert Colarulli is an attorney and senior government affairs professional with more than two decades of experience working on legal-related technology policy and intellectual property issues in and with the private sector, the Executive Branch and the U.S. Congress.

He is based in in the Washington, DC area and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Licensing Executive Society International (LESI), an organization of 33 societies around the world supporting professionals who license cutting-edge technology and intellectual property, managing and growing this 50-year-old organization and serving its 12-member Board of Directors.  He is also a Partner at the DC-based consulting firm ACG Advocacy LLC supporting policy analysis and governmental engagement around global intellectual property issues.  From 2009-2019, Mr. Colarulli served as the Director of the Office of Governmental Affairs and member of the Executive Management team at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  Prior to that role, he was the Director of Government Relations and Legislative Counsel for the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).

He was born in Rhode Island and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.

Jim Ko, Principal Attorney, Ko IP & AI Law PLLC

Jim, Principal Attorney at Ko IP & AI Law PLLC, focuses his practice on providing counsel for all the ways that intellectual property and artificial intelligence (AI) issues can and will impact businesses. Before, Jim served as Senior Program Attorney for The Sedona Conference for almost a decade, managing its patent litigation (WG9/10) and trade secret (WG12) working groups. Earlier in his career, Jim was sole in-house counsel for Ubee Interactive Corp., headquartered in Taiwan and with offices in the U.S. and the Netherlands, and was a patent litigator at Howrey, LLP in Washington, D.C. Jim also has served as co-founder and general counsel for a startup AI company, and is currently serving as a board member of the Arizona College of Trial Advocacy and as a board advisor for Artificial Intelligence Venture Network, a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to realizing the promise of AI in business and society. 

Jim coauthored a paper on Testing the Limits of the IP Legal Framework: The Unique Challenges of Artificial Intelligence, with former Chief Judge Paul R. Michel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (available here). Jim also hosts an AI Law blog focused on keeping pace with the rapid and sweeping societal changes initiated by the rise of AI while mitigating the risks of government overreach or excessive litigation (www.koailaw.com/blog/).

Amandine Metier, Partner, Hoyng Rokh Monegier

Amandine dedicates herself exclusively to patent litigation. She is involved in cases relating to telecommunications, medical devices, chemistry, pharmacy as well as mechanics and electronics.

Amandine intervenes in worldwide disputes concerning standard-essential patents and Frand licenses but also in disputes relating to supplementary protection certificates and biosimilars.

She also develops her expertise in advising and litigating in the employees’ inventions field and in the context of arbitral procedures.

Dr. Tilman Muller, Attorney-at-Law, Rechtsanwalt, UPC Representative, Partner

Dr. Tilman Müller specializes in patent infringement proceedings and parallel invalidity proceedings not only in national courts but also in front of the Unified Patent Court since day one.

His work focusses on the representation of patent pools, the enforcement of standard-essential patents, and all related antitrust issues. Tilman is not only familiar with different standardized technologies, including video and audio coding, telecommunications, wireless charging, and lighting, but also has profound knowledge of the economic and legal framework for patent pools and licensing.

Tilman Müller became particularly known by representing Access Advance and Via Licensing as well as the patent owners of these two pools in comprehensive infringement and validity proceedings. For many years, he has also been acting for Philips in various technological areas, particularly in complex cross-border and SEP-related disputes. He also represents clients in national and international IP-related arbitration proceedings.

Additionally, Tilman Müller has vast experience in drawing up licensing programs and relevant agreements as well as enforcing them, including in arbitration. In this context, he also accompanied and shaped the creation of several international standardization organizations in the lighting industry.

Tilman Müller is familiar with various technologies and advises clients from many industry sectors. For example, he advises clients in the areas of electrical engineering, consumer electronics, medical devices, and communications technology, mechanical engineering, lighting, and chemistry.

Steve Pollinger, Principal, McKool Smith

Mario Pozzi, Attorney at Law, UPC Representative

Mario Pozzi is an expert in intellectual property law, with a particular focus on Italian, pan-European, and cross-border patent litigation, including proceedings before the Unified Patent Court (UPC). His practice is centred on patent litigation and strategy, especially in the mechanical, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical sectors.
Mario’s clients include leading Italian and international companies from various industries.

He brings extensive experience in advising clients on complex IP negotiations and high-stakes litigation.  A frequent speaker at intellectual property conferences, Mario also lectures at universities and contributes to specialized journals. He is an active member of LES and AIPPI.  Mario is consistently recognized as a Managing Intellectual Property IP Star.

Matteo Sabattini, President and Chief Licensing Officer of Convida

Dr. Matteo Sabattini currently serves as President and Chief Licensing Officer of Convida, a pioneer in research and innovation for IoT and cloud services. Formed in 2012 as a joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and InterDigital, Convida’s patented technology helps lay the groundwork for a future where everything, in every home, business and industry, is connected. Dr. Sabattini in the past held positions at Ericsson, the Sisvel Group, InterDigital and other leading organizations in the IP industry. He also held several teaching and research positions in wireless and mobile communications at UCSD and at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).

Dr. Sabattini is a though leader in the IP space. He has years of expertise in technology licensing and IP strategy, and his background blends business, policy and technical skills. He has published extensively and regularly speaks at industry events on IP matters. He holds an MBA from the George Washington University (GWU), a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and a Laurea Magistrale magna cum laude also in electrical engineering from the University of Bologna.

Dr. Sabattini is a member of the board of the Licensing Executive Society International (LESI). He is an IEEE senior member, a Beta Gamma Sigma lifetime member, as well as a member of the MIT Enterprise Forum. He is active in the community and has served on several boards of non-profit organizations. He is an avid skier and a mediocre surfer.

Caren Yusem Sterne, Counsel, Addy Hart

Caren Yusem Sterne has experience in trials and settlements for intellectual property disputes in the US and Europe, and 20 years of experience in product development and marketing for high-growth businesses. Yusem Sterne’s legal experience includes resolving patent litigation matters for small and large businesses in Munich, Germany. She worked at the Meissner Bolte law firm in Munich, preparing legal documents, settlement agreements, and client opinion letters for utility and design patent disputes.

Yusem Sterne was formerly a Judicial Extern analyzing pending matters for Judge Jimmie V. Reyna of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She previously was a summer associate at Belgravia Group Development in Chicago, IL. Yusem Sterne earned her J.D. at the Washington College of Law at American University, a M.A in Intellectual Property Management and Markets at the Illinois Institute of Technology, a M.A.L.D at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a B.A. at Cornell University. She is based in Washington D.C.

Ken Withers, Executive Director, The Sedona Conference

Ken is the Executive Director of The Sedona Conference and a member of its Board of Directors. Since 1989, he has published several widely distributed papers on electronic discovery and given presentations at more than 500 conferences and workshops for legal, records management, and industry audiences. An Internet pioneer, Ken hosted a popular website on electronic discovery and electronic records management in the 1990’s, co-authored The Internet Guide for Massachusetts Lawyers in 1997, and received the 1999 Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran Award from the British Irish Legal Education Technology Association for his postgraduate essay on the then-emerging field of eDiscovery. From 1999 through 2005, Ken was a Senior Education Attorney at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington D.C., where he developed training programs for the federal judiciary concentrating on issues of technology and the administration of justice. He also contributed to several well-known FJC publications, including Effective Use of Courtroom Technology (2001), the Civil Litigation Management Manual (2001), and the Manual for Complex Litigation, Fourth Edition (2004). Ken joined the staff of The Sedona Conference in 2006  and continued publishing scholarly articles, including Ephemeral Data and the Duty to Preserve Discoverable Electronically Stored Information in the University of Baltimore Law Review (2008); Living Daily with Weekley Homes in the Texas State Bar Advocate (2010); and Risk Aversion, Risk Management, and the Overpreservation Problem in Electronic Discovery in the South Carolina Law Review (2013). Ken received his J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in 1984 and his M.S. in library and information science from Simmons University in 1998.

Jayde Wood, Partner, Gowling WLG

Jayde Wood is an IP lawyer, patent agent, and trademark agent at Gowling WLG's Vancouver office. She has extensive experience in IP prosecution, portfolio management, and commercialization, assisting local and multinational clients. Jayde's patent practice focuses on biotech, medical devices, and food-tech industries, leveraging her advanced science degree. She helps clients with brand protection, trademark prosecution, and navigating regulatory issues. Jayde excels in commercial IP services, conducting IP due diligence for transactions and supporting clients by negotiating and drafting licensing, co-development and research, and services agreements. She serves as the Vice Chair of the Life Sciences Committee of the Licensing Executives Society International.