This time next week, we will have finished a great Day 1 of #LESI2024 featuring 2 keynotes, 2 thought leadership sessions, an industry sector panel, a fireside chat session PLUS numerous workshops and roundtables. We will be getting ready to attend the Gala Dinner and looking forward to Day 2 featuring even more content! It's not to late to make plans to join us in Madrid! Register at www.lesi2024.org. Don't miss out!!

Following Madrid, there are lots of interesting in-person and online events lined up for May to help cure our post-Conference blues. Find out more below:

• April 25 - "From Problem to Profit: AI-Driven Innovation and Licensing" (LES USA-Canada) SANTA CLARA
• April 26 - "2024 World IP Day Celebration" (LES USA-Canada) ONLINE
• April 28 - "Train-The-Trainer" (LES Spain-Portugal) MADRID/ONLINE
• April 28-30 - 2024 Annual Conference (LESI) MADRID
• May 7 - "Navigating the Global Expansion of a Visionary Concept: Safeguarding IP and Licensing Strategies In-House" (LES Britain-Ireland) MANCHESTER
• May 8 - "Trade Secrets, Data and AI: Assets for Growing Business and Generating Revenue" (LES USA-Canada) ONLINE
• May 15 - "Navigating Improvements in Licensing and Innovation Collaborations" (LES Austria) ONLINE
• May 15 - "2023 Patent Law Year in Review" (LES USA-Canada) SCOTTSDALE
• May 20 - "Avoiding Litigation Through Lessons Learned In Licensing" (LES USA-Canada) AMES
• May 20 - "20th Annual Silicon Valley Conference - AI Unleashed: Unicorn or Trojan Horse?" (LES USA-Canada) REDWOOD SHORES
• May 23 - "Ethics Issues for IP and Other Attorneys-Best Practices for Avoiding Common Mistakes" (LES USA-Canada) POTOMAC
• May 28 - "Trade Secrets: A European Perspective" (LESI YMC) ONLINE
• May 30 - "UPC One Year Later: A First Overview" (LES Italy, LES Germany & LES France) MILAN/ONLINE

Details on these events are posted below and on connect.lesi.org.

See the full list of upcoming events on the LESI website.

View information on previous LES events.

To get more involved in LESI, consider joining a committee.

LES USA-Canada

"From Problem to Profit: AI-Driven Innovation and Licensing"

Thursday, 25 April 2024

11:00am - 2:00pm (PDT)

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA

Learn how AI is helping to accelerate innovation and commercialization by re-shaping problem-solving, invention, and licensing, impacting research, development, manufacturing, and supply chain ecosystems.

Join LES USA-Canada's Silicon Valley Chapter (LES-SVC) for a session featuring seasoned industry experts, including representatives from Hyundai New Horizon Studio, Owl Autonomous Imaging, Iprova, Dolcera, and KPMG. Together, they will guide you through the journey from identifying problems areas (or opportunities to innovate) and novel solutions to turning them into profitable licensing opportunities. This event is perfect for professionals in the technology and intellectual property licensing field, as well as inventors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders seeking innovative solutions that generate profits.

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LES USA-Canada

"2024 World IP Day Celebration:

Building Our Common Future with Innovation and Creativity"

Friday, 26 April 2024

2:00pm - 3:30pm (EDT)

ONLINE

To build our common future and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) we need to re-think how we live, work and play. World IP Day 2024 is an opportunity to explore how intellectual property (IP) encourages and can amplify the innovative and creative solutions that are so crucial to building our common future.

Speakers:

• Kathi Vidal, Director, USPTO
• Dr. Gary Michelson, Founder and Co-Chair at Michelson Philanthropies
• Judge Pauline Newman
• Paul Redmond Michel, Former Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Dr. Vinton Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
• Raymond Van Dyke, Attorney, Van Dyke Intellectual Property Law

This event is FREE to participants.

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LES Spain-Portugal

"Train-The-Trainer"

Sunday, 28 April 2024

11:00am - 2:00pm (CET)

MADRID, SPAIN / ONLINE

Are you interested in teaching the LES 100, a One-Day introductory Licensing course for your Local Chapter or at LES Meetings? Now is your chance!

LES Spain-Portugal and other chapters are currently recruiting instructors. To be eligible, you will need to take the half day TTT course and attend the LES 100 course. The Train-the-Trainer (TTT) is a course developed by Licensing Executives Society International (LESI), that will provide you with the necessary information to organize and teach a LES 100 Course in your society.

View full details here.

Instructors:

• Danie Dohmen (LES South Africa) - Partner at Adams & Adams
• Maria José Huertas (LES Spain & Portugal) - Director and Co-Founder at The Lighthouse Team

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LES International

"2024 ANNUAL CONFERENCE"

Sunday-Tuesday, 28-30 April 2024

MADRID, SPAIN

We invite you to join us for our global Annual Conference, LESI2024 in Madrid, Spain, April 28-30, 2024!

Not only are our members global, but they come from a wide range of industries and professional experiences all with a common connection point – driving the business of technology forward through collaboration and tech transfer. LESI2024 is the place to gather unique information about technology development and build critical relationships to help you serve your clients and navigate your own business opportunities. Read the Top Reasons to Attend LESI2024.

The program includes engaging keynote speakers, timely, industry-led plenary panels, topical thought leadership sessions, fireside chats, workshops and roundtables. Topics include SEPs, Artificial Intelligence, Unified Patent Court (UPC) litigation, EU Data Act requirements, green tech, wearables food, and many flavors of Intellectual Property Management across a broad variety of fields and countries. Check out the program.

You will leave this meeting with tools and relationship that will help you navigate the future. Join us in Madrid!

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LES Britain-Ireland

"Navigating the Global Expansion of a Visionary Concept: Safeguarding IP and Licensing Strategies In-House"

Tuesday, 7 May 2024

5:30pm - 7:30pm (BST)

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

Speaker: James Wall, Head of Legal (Global Projects) at Therme Group.

He is an experienced and versatile commercial lawyer, team leader and legal project manager, having provided commercial and pragmatic advice and solutions to executive boards of businesses and their in house legal teams for the last two decades.

James’ background extends across leisure and hospitality, sports, entertainment, real estate, data protection and governance and he has lead the contract negotiations for a number of significant projects in Manchester and beyond. By fostering and managing relationships both internally and externally at a senior level, James has built value for businesses through leading high performing teams and delivering on key strategies. James supports and advises board executives and business leaders across the global Therme ecosystem on key strategic projects and governance matters, providing commercially driven effective legal solutions. He is also a member of the senior leadership team delivering the Therme Manchester vision. Prior to joining Therme in early 2022, James was a partner at leading Manchester firm Kuits Solicitors, heading up the Commercial team.

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LES USA-Canada

"Trade Secrets, Data and AI: Assets for Growing Business and Generating Revenue"

Wednesday, 8 May 2024

12:30pm - 4:30pm (EDT)

ONLINE

Join LES USA-Canada to hear how non-patented assets, including trade secrets, data, and AI, have become prominent drivers of value and revenue across industries. Leading in-house and outside counsel and professionals will share real-life, practical tips and takeaways regarding legal and business strategies for protecting and monetizing these assets.

Learning Outcomes:

• Interrelationship between patent and other IP strategies
• Determining when to patent and when to retain as trade secret
• Operational, technological and legal/contractual steps for protecting trade secrets/confidential info
• Strategies for dealing with AI-created innovations
• Business models for licensing data
• Key issues in (do’s and don’t’s of) licensing non-patented assets (trade secrets, data, software, AI)

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LES Austria

"Navigating Improvements in Licensing and Innovation Collaborations"

Wednesday, 15 May 2024

4:00pm - 5:00pm (CET)

ONLINE

Elevate your understanding of IP improvements in licensing and collaborations.

Speaker: Ia Modin, Partner at Gozzo Advokater

Expert Ia Modin will guide you through best practices for managing and governing improvements and give hands on advice on how to structure, negotiate and draft terms to maximize commercialisation in licence and collaboration agreements.

This session is only open to LES members.

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LES USA-Canada

"2023 Patent Law Year in Review"

Wednesday, 15 May 2024

11:30am - 1:00pm (MDT)

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

In 2023, several patent-related cases have made a significant impact on US patent practice. At the launch meeting of the LES USA-Canada Phoenix LES Chapter, they will discuss patent cases from 2023, analyze the affects of these cases, and provide practical tips for navigating these developments while determining patent strategy and practicing patent law.

Steve Bachmann will be the featured presenter in a fireside chat with Sam Wiley, with audience input and participation encouraged.

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LES USA-Canada

"Avoiding Litigation Through Lessons Learned In Licensing"

Monday, 20 May 2024

10:00am - 2:00pm (CDT)

AMES, IOWA

Morning Session: Learning from License Agreement Disputes: Insights and Lessons Learned to Improve Your Contracts and Mitigate Risk

Agreement language matters. Time and again parties end up in litigation when the language of their agreements proves ambiguous. In many cases the ambiguity might have been avoided during drafting, as sometimes small changes to language, or a careful extra eye in review, may have been all that was needed to avoid a dispute.

What should the drafter look out for? Does the complexity of the relationship matter, for example if the parties contemplate a long-term relationship that may involve multiple contracts? In comparison to a single-agreement relationship, broader multiple-contract relationships present some unique challenges when trying to craft language that will age gracefully, provide flexibility to the relationship, and control any later potential dispute. Using recent cases as a guide, including cases that we litigated and successfully presented to a jury, we identify specific contract drafting lessons related to the use of defined terms, the interplay of multiple contracts in commercial relationships, improving dispute resolution provisions, and defining the scope of a license. With these lessons from litigation in mind, we present strategies to help identify and address issues of ambiguity before they result in a dispute.

Afternoon Session: Lessons Learned in Licensing

This panel will discuss common issues in licensing and best practices to address IP licensing issues.

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LES USA-Canada

"20th Annual Silicon Valley Conference - AI Unleashed: Unicorn or Trojan Horse?"

Monday, 20 May 2024

8:00am - 5:30pm (PDT)

REDWOOD SHORES, CALIFORNIA



As AI continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, its impact on businesses, research, and on IP creation, protection, and commercialization is profound and far-reaching. This conference is designed to explore the depths of this dynamic relationship, offering insights, strategies, and discussions on the uses of AI, and how AI is not just influencing but actively reshaping businesses and the landscape of IP and licensing.

Key Themes:

• AI and Business: How AI is disrupting traditional modes of conducting business, and attracting capital in the process.
• Licensing in the AI Era: The evolving dynamics of licensing agreements in the age of AI, including the negotiation of AI-generated content and software.
• Future Frontiers: Look ahead to the future of AI, including emerging technologies, potential uses of AI, and the global landscape of IP rights in the digital age.

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LES USA-Canada

"Ethics Issues for IP and Other Attorneys -

Best Practices for Avoiding Common Mistakes"

Thursday, 23 May 2024

7:30am - 9:00am (EDT)

POTOMAC, MARYLAND



Attorneys are facing scrutiny by government regulators over whether their law practices comply with the rules of professional conduct. Lawyer and their employers who run afoul of their jurisdiction’s ethics rules may find themselves facing daunting collateral consequents, including responding to ethics grievances, malpractice complaints, and disqualification orders.

This session will address common ethical issues faced by attorneys and best practices for creating a practice environment that promotes compliance with ethical obligations, including conflicts of interest, ineffective communications, and complying with the duty of candor before a tribunal.

This event is FREE to participants.

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LESI Young Members Congress (YMC)

Pan-European Webinar Series "Trade Secrets: A European Perspective"

Tuesday, 28 May 2024

2:00pm - 3:30pm (CET)

ONLINE



AGENDA:

• Introduction by LESI YMC Chair
• EU Overview
• National Specifics (trade secret protection and enforcement)
• Implementation
• Q&A

SPEAKERS:

• Marko Brumnik (Austria)
• Jan Vanbeckevoort (Benelux)
• Nicolas Le Pays du Teilleul (France)
• Tobias Baus (Germany)
• Emanuela Bianco (Italy)
• Cristina Espín Martí & Joana Maria Andion (Spain & Portugal)

View the flyer here.

This event is FREE to participants.

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LES Italy, LES Germany & LES France

"UPC One Year Later: A First Overview"

Tuesday, 28 May 2024

2:00pm - 6:00pm (CET)

ONLINE / MILAN, ITALY



This is momentous occasion to celebrate the 1st anniversary of the UPC and the opening of the new Section of the Central Division in Milan.

Join LES Italy, LES Germany and LES France on the eve of this landmark event as they delve into the latest developments, challenges, and innovations shaping the future of patent law in Europe.

View the flyer here.

This event is FREE to participants.