The IP Strategy Summit: Palo Alto

 Jim is the Senior Manager of the Patent Program at Autodesk, Inc. a producer of CAD and 3D design software used for product and building design as well as the motion picture industry.  He’s worked with product teams, researchers and software engineers helping them to articulate and characterize their innovations then developing a strategy for protecting those assets.  He started his IP career as a software engineer and got more interested in patentable work at Phone.com, where he worked on several of his own inventions, now issued patents.  Jim has several other issued patents and enjoys every aspect of the patent process.  Jim earned his B.A. in Russian and Eastern European Studies from the University of Michigan.

Subroto Bose is Head of IP at Astera Labs, where he manages Astera’s patent and trademark portfolio, domain names, customs enforcement, invention harvesting, and patent strategy.  Prior to joining Astera Labs, he was Assistant General Counsel, IP Strategy and Development at Marvell Semiconductor, and Senior Director, Global Patent Strategy and IP Operations at Dolby Laboratories.

Subroto’s in-house experience includes global patent and trademark portfolio strategy, European patent prosecution, patent acquisitions, and global IP operations.  He also advises on patent issues in licensing transactions, open source issues, and issues related to standard setting organizations and standard essential patents.  His prior experience also includes working at several law firms, where he represented both plaintiffs and defendants before the International Trade Commission (ITC) and federal district courts.

Andrew Borja is a Senior Patent Portfolio Architect at pSemi, a Murata Company, where he leads global IP strategy for advanced power electronics, with over a decade of experience in patent development and prosecution.  At Power Integrations, he transformed the company’s approach to intellectual property by establishing its first in-house patent program, laying the foundation for strategic filings and long-term portfolio growth.

Andrew is a Senior Member of IEEE and a registered Patent Agent. He holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from UC Santa Cruz and is listed as an inventor on a pending U.S. patent. His work spans cross-functional collaboration, innovation enablement, and enforcement readiness in high-stakes environments.

Blair Hoyt is a Principal of Harness IP, bringing over 20 years of experience in patent prosecution and portfolio management. Serving clients from major corporations to individual inventors, he excels at aligning IP strategies with business goals and delivering customized, actionable counsel. Blair stays abreast of evolving IP trends through his involvement in legal organizations and internal firm committees, transforming those insights into value-added guidance. With deep expertise across a broad range of technologies – including AI, telecommunications and wireless technology, medical technology, agrifood tech and heavy machinery – he crafts efficient prosecution strategies and expert opinions that mitigate exposure and risk while maximizing the long-term value of intellectual property assets.

Thomas George is an Associate General Counsel and Head of the Patent Group at Samsung Research America (SRA). His responsibilites include managing invention evaluations, managing the preparation and prosecution of patent applications, patent analysis, publication clearance, export compliance, copyrights, and open source. He manages a team of patent attorneys, patent agents, and paralegals. He has worked at SRA for 12 years and prior to that worked in-house at Xilinx and Siemens and also worked at various law firms in Silicon Valley and New York.

Tao Zhang is Vice President, Deputy General Counsel of IP and Product at Juniper Networks. Her responsibilities include patent portfolio development and optimization, product risk management, security/privacy/open-source compliances, IP transactions, supply chain and procurement contract negotiations. Prior to Juniper, she was Associate General Counsel of IP and Technology, at Ansys, and senior director of IP strategy, at Huawei Device USA, respectively. Before Huawei, she was with Hewlett-Packard for 23 years. She obtained a JD from Concord Law School and a PhD in Physics from Stanford University.

Dr. Zhang is a member of the California Bar and a registered patent attorney with the US Patent and Trademark Office. She is co-author of the book “Mining Ideas for Diamonds – Comparing China and US IP Practices from Invention Selection to Patent Monetization”. She also co-authored several IP articles, including “Call for Standardization in Patent Claim Drafting” (Santa Clara High Tech Law Journal, Volume 34, Issue 3, April 2018), “Making Trademark Decisions Based on Cost Considerations: A Model for Action” (World Trademark Review, April 2020). Dr, Zhang was recognized by the IAM Strategy 300 in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

David Sanker is a Mathematician, a Software Engineer, and a Patent Attorney. David earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Berkeley, and returned to Berkeley 15 years later for his law degree after careers in academia and production software development. As a Patent Attorney at Morgan Lewis, David was a patent litigator for four years and a patent practitioner for more than 13 years. As a patent practitioner, David works with clients, inventors, the U.S. Patent Office, and associates throughout the world to build strong IP protection. This has included a lot of work with AI, and David continues to speak and write about AI. David also has an entrepreneurial spirit, launching his own small patent firm SankerIP in February 2024. In this way, David is able to provide high-quality work without the very high billing rates and conflicts of large law firms.

Peter Jovanovic is a Legal Director, IP at Dell Technologies, providing support for several business units.  At Dell, he is responsible for patent portfolio development, patent litigation, open source management, and license drafting and negotiation.  Before joining Dell, he was an associate patent attorney providing prosecution, litigation, and licensing services.  Prior to becoming an attorney, Peter was a software engineer, having experience in computer security, satellite communications, and logistic planning software.

Peter has bachelor’s degrees in computer science and mathematics from UC San Diego, a master’s degree in computer science from San Diego State, and a juris doctorate from UC Hastings College of the Law.  He is registered to practice before the USPTO and is a member of the California Bar.

Peter has taught as an adjunct law professor, instructing on the primary legal and procedural requirements for preparing and prosecuting patent applications under US federal law.

Stan Gibson, Chairman of JMBM’s Patent Litigation Group, is a nationally recognized trial lawyer with over 30 years of experience handling high-stakes technology and trade secrets disputes. He secured a $24.8 million jury verdict in a Bluetooth trade secrets case and led Medtronic v. Michelson to a $570 million verdict, resulting in a historic $1.35 billion patent portfolio acquisition. His expertise spans satellite technology, medical devices, software, and LCD manufacturing. Recognized in Best Lawyers in America® and leading a U.S. News & World Report First-Tier ranked practice, Gibson is frequently quoted by The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times on key IP issues. He also publishes the Patent Lawyer Blog, offering insights on patent and trade secrets litigation.

Jonathan Tuminaro, Ph.D. is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Trial & Appellate and Electronics Practice Groups. Jonathan is an experienced trial lawyer who focuses his practice on complex electronics litigation in the U.S. district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). He has represented some of the leading high-tech companies in patent litigation matters relating to telecommunications, network security, LCD flat-panel displays, computer graphics, automotive technologies, GPS location-based service, and wireless power transfer. Jonathan is particularly well known for his extensive experience handling economics issues in patent litigation—including damages in district court, domestic industry at the ITC, and objective considerations of non-obviousness at the PTAB. He has defended patents that have led to judgments worth nearly $25M and has defended against patents where the damages were alleged to exceed $100M.

Kristopher B. Kastens advises and represents clients on issues at the intersection of law and technology. Kris represents clients in patent litigation across multiple technology areas, including computer security, cryptography, artificial intelligence, distributed systems, and network infrastructure. He also advises on the various legal issues intertwined with the development of blockchain technologies and has been a frequent author on blockchain-based technologies and the law.

Caity Ross received her JD from Harvard Law School and her BA from Colorado College in Biochemistry & Classics-History-Politics. After working for the start-up Gamblit Gaming, Caity joined SharkNinja in 2019 as a Senior Patent Counsel.  She has focused on international patent portfolio management for the Shark brand, now holding the Associate General Counsel, Global IP & Robotics position at SharkNinja.

Brett Sandford represents clients in high-stakes intellectual property cases, with a focus on trial.

Brett draws on experience — in more than a dozen trials and at every stage of the litigation process — to help clients pursue and defend a range of intellectual property claims, including patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation.

Brett has had success representing both plaintiffs and defendants in all of the patent-heavy districts. He has a highly developed team ethos, informed by a prior career in professional baseball, and an ability to play the long game to achieve success for his clients. Brett has developed expertise in the trial phase and handling intellectual property damages. He has successfully led damages cases for clients on the plaintiff and defense side, including achieving a unique result of zero damages for established direct infringement that was affirmed by the Federal Circuit on appeal.

Brett represents clients in every forum, including in district court and before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the International Trade Commission (ITC), and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). He also serves as Co-Chair on Latham’s Artificial Intelligence committee for the IP group and maintains an active pro bono practice, with a focus on helping clients win at trial.

Prior to joining Latham, Brett was a judicial extern for Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Corley of the Northern District of California. He also served as a judicial intern for Judge Thomas P. Anderle and Judge Brian E. Hill in the Santa Barbara Superior Court.

During law school, Brett was a member of the Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition and an executive editor of the Berkeley Business Law Journal. He received the Prosser Award for trial advocacy.

Brian P. Johnson is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office at Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP, specializing in intellectual property litigation. With over 15 years of experience, he serves as first-chair counsel in cases before the International Trade Commission (ITC) and federal district courts, often handling high-stakes disputes for major telecom clients and arguing appeals before the Federal Circuit. Brian has litigated standard-essential patents under FRAND obligations across ETSI cellular, IEEE Wi-Fi, and JEDEC memory standards, and has guided clients through complex ITC investigations and multijurisdictional strategy, including interactions with U.S. Customs. Before joining Axinn, he was a partner at a prominent D.C. firm and began his career as a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He earned his J.D. from George Washington University Law School and holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Kathryn Bi is a Partner in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of its Patent Litigation practice. Ms. Bi focuses on complex technology disputes, with an emphasis on patent and trade-secret cases. She has extensive experience devising and executing winning strategies from case inception through trial and has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in successful jury and bench trials, including two as lead counsel. She has also secured numerous early, dispositive victories that allowed clients to avoid trial. Her technical experience spans a wide variety of industries, including computer hardware, software, telecommunications, video streaming, medical devices, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and biologics. Ms. Bi received her B.E. in chemical engineering from Dartmouth College, and J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School.

Gail Su is a Senior Counsel on the Patent Transactions Team at Google. She is an IP attorney and United States registered patent attorney with experience in all forms of patent-related and intellectual property-related transactions, including inbound and outbound licensing, standard essential patent licensing, video and audio patent pools, complex technology transactions, cross-border transactions, and M&A. Prior to joining Google, she was IP counsel for Hewlett Packard Company and then, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where she supported HP and HPE’s global supply chain, partnerships, emerging technologies, tax, and M&A teams.

Gail is also a co-founder of ADAPT.legal, a nonprofit organization that supports existing IP professionals and works to give every person the opportunity and support to be part of the next generation of IP professionals. ADAPT was founded by a community of friends who hope that every person in the IP profession can find success.