Why Attend
The European Summit on Pharma and Biotech Patent Litigation will be back in January 2024 for 3 days of practical discussion around the leading industry topics. Our internationally recognised summit will provide you with the necessary practical tools to both defend patent litigation challenges for your pharma and biotech product, whilst also maximising your litigation strategy to allow for successful IP protection.
At this event, you will network with leading figures in the industry and gain unique insights on the latest regulatory changes and case-law updates. This makes it a must-attend event for anyone working within the life sciences IP industry.
2023 Highlights Included
- The impact of the SPC Referral Cases and the uptake of the Manufacturing Waiver with Heidi Adler (Orion Corporation), James Horgan (MSD) and Robin Ellis (Reddie & Grose).
- Transatlantic understanding of Biologics Patent Litigation with topics such as: biosimilar launches, section 112 and sufficiency of disclosure with Julia Pike (Sandoz), Mike Cottler (Alvotech) and Robert Cerwinski (Gemini Law).
- Examine recent case law in Europe on preliminary injunctions and assess how the decisions affect your litigation strategy with Jenny Davies (Gowling WLG), Peter Meier-Beck (UPC Advisory Committee), Sara Burghart (Sandoz), and Gerben Hartman (CJEU).
2023 Dedicated UPC Sessions
- Action-packed pre-event workshop day, including UPC Mock Trial with our chair, Peter Meier-Beck (UPC Advisory Committee).
- Patent Litigation Strategies at the UPC covering Pharma and Biotech approaches to the court, technical changes, and operational challenges with Fiona Bor (Mereo BiopPharma), Stefan Luginbuehl (EPO), Gabriel Cuonzo (Trevisan & Cuonzo), and Kristin Cooklin (Zentiva).
- UPC Regulatory Update: Advisory Committee and Board of Appeal, with an exploration of the best venues for litigation at the UPC, procedure for the selection of the judges, and insights on all the latest developments regarding UPC procedure with Willem Hoyng (UPC Advisory Committee Chairman), and Peter Blok, (Judge, UPC Court of Appeals).
- UPC Judicial Panel Session with UPC Judges András Kupecz, Paolo Gerli, and Margot Kokke.
Testimonials

In the innovation-driven Life Science industry, a company’s IP litigation strategy serves to support its long-term business interests. This requires smart, cost-effective decisions, a profound understanding of the litigation process, and alignment of in-house and outside litigation counsel. Kisaco Research has a unique approach of aligning with IP professionals to ensure conferences feature current law practice and industry trends, and I am honored to contribute to this community strategic considerations and expert recommendations from my 10+ years life science patent practice
Life Sciences Patent Advisory Board
Leslie Fischer is a Principal Patent Attorney at Sandoz, who focuses on global IP strategy for biosimilars. Before joining Sandoz, Leslie was a patent attorney at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where she worked for over a decade developing global patent portfolios for biologicals. Before joining the Novartis group, Leslie was an associate at Fitzpatrick Cella (NY) (now Venable). Leslie holds a J.D. from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Thomas Jefferson University. Her scientific work appears in JCB, JBC, and Osteoarthritis & Cartilage. She speaks frequently at patent-related events and is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School.

Dr. Leslie Fischer
Leslie Fischer is a Principal Patent Attorney at Sandoz, who focuses on global IP strategy for biosimilars. Before joining Sandoz, Leslie was a patent attorney at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where she worked for over a decade developing global patent portfolios for biologicals. Before joining the Novartis group, Leslie was an associate at Fitzpatrick Cella (NY) (now Venable). Leslie holds a J.D. from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Thomas Jefferson University. Her scientific work appears in JCB, JBC, and Osteoarthritis & Cartilage. She speaks frequently at patent-related events and is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School.

Christof Bull
Karine Crepin is the Vice President, Head of Vaccines Patents at GSK. She holds a Master Degree in Bioengineering (specialising in Biochemistry) and a PhD in molecular Biology. She is also a qualified European and Belgian Patent Attorney.
Before re-joining GSK in her current role, she worked for more than 9 years at Sanofi where she built a global team of more than 40 patent attorneys worldwide responsible for all patent matters relating to Sanofi Biologics including Vaccines and platform aspects, and before that for 15 years at GSK vaccines where she started her patent career.
Karine coordinates a large variety of patent related activities, from the protection of innovation to freedom-to-operate and post-grant administrative and judicial proceedings.

Karine Crepin
Karine Crepin is the Vice President, Head of Vaccines Patents at GSK. She holds a Master Degree in Bioengineering (specialising in Biochemistry) and a PhD in molecular Biology. She is also a qualified European and Belgian Patent Attorney.
Before re-joining GSK in her current role, she worked for more than 9 years at Sanofi where she built a global team of more than 40 patent attorneys worldwide responsible for all patent matters relating to Sanofi Biologics including Vaccines and platform aspects, and before that for 15 years at GSK vaccines where she started her patent career.
Karine coordinates a large variety of patent related activities, from the protection of innovation to freedom-to-operate and post-grant administrative and judicial proceedings.
Fredrik is a qualified European Patent Attorney and experienced international IP strategist. Having completed academic studies of innovation and entrepreneurship processes, as well as IP law and management, he has a good grasp of various intellectual property rights (IPR).
Thanks to his many years as IP professional in the Pharma and Biotech industry, Fredrik has learnt to use this IPR toolbox to pursue his professional passion; maximizing return on investment for innovation.”

Fredrik Fredh
Fredrik is a qualified European Patent Attorney and experienced international IP strategist. Having completed academic studies of innovation and entrepreneurship processes, as well as IP law and management, he has a good grasp of various intellectual property rights (IPR).
Thanks to his many years as IP professional in the Pharma and Biotech industry, Fredrik has learnt to use this IPR toolbox to pursue his professional passion; maximizing return on investment for innovation.”
Frank Landolt is Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property and Legal at Confo Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical start-up based in Ghent, Belgium specializing in GPCR-targeted therapeutics.
After studying chemistry and law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, Frank worked for almost ten years on pharmaceutical and biotechnological patents and licensing in private practice in the Netherlands, where his clients included major pharmaceutical companies as well as some of the top biotech firms and research institutions in the Netherlands.
Prior to joining Confo in 2018, Frank worked for fifteen years in Ablynx N.V. (now a wholly owned Sanofi company), where he was a member of the management team and headed an integrated IP and legal group of four lawyers and five patent professionals. At Ablynx, Frank was involved in negotiating Ablynx’s strategic partnerships and licensing deals with AbbVie, Boehringer-Ingelheim, MSD, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Wyeth.
From 2000 to 2004, Frank was director of IP and legal counsel at Devgen N.V. (now part of Syngenta), another Ghent-based biotechnology company, where he was involved in negotiating Devgen’s strategic collaborations with Sumitomo, Monsanto, and DuPont Pioneer.
Frank is a Dutch and European patent attorney and also holds a degree in business law from the University of Antwerp. He is a member of the Dutch association of patent attorneys (where he is a tutor for the professional qualification course), EPI, and LES Benelux (where he is involved in the LES Licensing Course). He is a regular speaker on a range of topics relating to IP and licensing in the (bio)pharmaceutical sector. Frank was named as one of Managing IP’s ‘Corporate IP stars’ for four years in a row (2015-2018).

Frank Landolt
Frank Landolt is Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property and Legal at Confo Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical start-up based in Ghent, Belgium specializing in GPCR-targeted therapeutics.
After studying chemistry and law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, Frank worked for almost ten years on pharmaceutical and biotechnological patents and licensing in private practice in the Netherlands, where his clients included major pharmaceutical companies as well as some of the top biotech firms and research institutions in the Netherlands.
Prior to joining Confo in 2018, Frank worked for fifteen years in Ablynx N.V. (now a wholly owned Sanofi company), where he was a member of the management team and headed an integrated IP and legal group of four lawyers and five patent professionals. At Ablynx, Frank was involved in negotiating Ablynx’s strategic partnerships and licensing deals with AbbVie, Boehringer-Ingelheim, MSD, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Wyeth.
From 2000 to 2004, Frank was director of IP and legal counsel at Devgen N.V. (now part of Syngenta), another Ghent-based biotechnology company, where he was involved in negotiating Devgen’s strategic collaborations with Sumitomo, Monsanto, and DuPont Pioneer.
Frank is a Dutch and European patent attorney and also holds a degree in business law from the University of Antwerp. He is a member of the Dutch association of patent attorneys (where he is a tutor for the professional qualification course), EPI, and LES Benelux (where he is involved in the LES Licensing Course). He is a regular speaker on a range of topics relating to IP and licensing in the (bio)pharmaceutical sector. Frank was named as one of Managing IP’s ‘Corporate IP stars’ for four years in a row (2015-2018).
Mathilde is a European patent attorney, is qualified as a French patent attorney, and is admitted to the Paris bar.
She is head of Greater Europe patent litigation at Sanofi, after having been a patent litigator in private practice (mostly in the pharmaceutical field), and a patent attorney in the industry (Sanofi, Nestlé).
She has extensive experience in pharmaceutical and life-science patent litigation in France, at the EPO, in Europe, and in Eurasia.
Her expertise also comprises contractual matters, settlements, regulatory aspects, and the SPC regulation.

Mathilde Rauline
Mathilde is a European patent attorney, is qualified as a French patent attorney, and is admitted to the Paris bar.
She is head of Greater Europe patent litigation at Sanofi, after having been a patent litigator in private practice (mostly in the pharmaceutical field), and a patent attorney in the industry (Sanofi, Nestlé).
She has extensive experience in pharmaceutical and life-science patent litigation in France, at the EPO, in Europe, and in Eurasia.
Her expertise also comprises contractual matters, settlements, regulatory aspects, and the SPC regulation.
Lorenz Kallenbach is a senior corporate patent counsel in the healthcare division of Merck KGaA. He is responsible for defining and executing the IP strategy for innovator projects. Including the assessment of the IP landscape, coordination of worldwide patent litigation, and portfolio development.
Before joining Merck, Lorenz worked in private practice. He is qualified as a German and European patent attorney.
Lorenz studied biochemistry and received a Ph.D. in the field of epigenetics.

Lorenz Kallenbach
Lorenz Kallenbach is a senior corporate patent counsel in the healthcare division of Merck KGaA. He is responsible for defining and executing the IP strategy for innovator projects. Including the assessment of the IP landscape, coordination of worldwide patent litigation, and portfolio development.
Before joining Merck, Lorenz worked in private practice. He is qualified as a German and European patent attorney.
Lorenz studied biochemistry and received a Ph.D. in the field of epigenetics.

Stephan Kutik

Ewan Nettleton

Mike Cottler
Leslie Fischer is a Principal Patent Attorney at Sandoz, who focuses on global IP strategy for biosimilars. Before joining Sandoz, Leslie was a patent attorney at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where she worked for over a decade developing global patent portfolios for biologicals. Before joining the Novartis group, Leslie was an associate at Fitzpatrick Cella (NY) (now Venable). Leslie holds a J.D. from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Thomas Jefferson University. Her scientific work appears in JCB, JBC, and Osteoarthritis & Cartilage. She speaks frequently at patent-related events and is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School.

Dr. Leslie Fischer
Leslie Fischer is a Principal Patent Attorney at Sandoz, who focuses on global IP strategy for biosimilars. Before joining Sandoz, Leslie was a patent attorney at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where she worked for over a decade developing global patent portfolios for biologicals. Before joining the Novartis group, Leslie was an associate at Fitzpatrick Cella (NY) (now Venable). Leslie holds a J.D. from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Thomas Jefferson University. Her scientific work appears in JCB, JBC, and Osteoarthritis & Cartilage. She speaks frequently at patent-related events and is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School.

Christof Bull
Karine Crepin is the Vice President, Head of Vaccines Patents at GSK. She holds a Master Degree in Bioengineering (specialising in Biochemistry) and a PhD in molecular Biology. She is also a qualified European and Belgian Patent Attorney.
Before re-joining GSK in her current role, she worked for more than 9 years at Sanofi where she built a global team of more than 40 patent attorneys worldwide responsible for all patent matters relating to Sanofi Biologics including Vaccines and platform aspects, and before that for 15 years at GSK vaccines where she started her patent career.
Karine coordinates a large variety of patent related activities, from the protection of innovation to freedom-to-operate and post-grant administrative and judicial proceedings.

Karine Crepin
Karine Crepin is the Vice President, Head of Vaccines Patents at GSK. She holds a Master Degree in Bioengineering (specialising in Biochemistry) and a PhD in molecular Biology. She is also a qualified European and Belgian Patent Attorney.
Before re-joining GSK in her current role, she worked for more than 9 years at Sanofi where she built a global team of more than 40 patent attorneys worldwide responsible for all patent matters relating to Sanofi Biologics including Vaccines and platform aspects, and before that for 15 years at GSK vaccines where she started her patent career.
Karine coordinates a large variety of patent related activities, from the protection of innovation to freedom-to-operate and post-grant administrative and judicial proceedings.
Fredrik is a qualified European Patent Attorney and experienced international IP strategist. Having completed academic studies of innovation and entrepreneurship processes, as well as IP law and management, he has a good grasp of various intellectual property rights (IPR).
Thanks to his many years as IP professional in the Pharma and Biotech industry, Fredrik has learnt to use this IPR toolbox to pursue his professional passion; maximizing return on investment for innovation.”

Fredrik Fredh
Fredrik is a qualified European Patent Attorney and experienced international IP strategist. Having completed academic studies of innovation and entrepreneurship processes, as well as IP law and management, he has a good grasp of various intellectual property rights (IPR).
Thanks to his many years as IP professional in the Pharma and Biotech industry, Fredrik has learnt to use this IPR toolbox to pursue his professional passion; maximizing return on investment for innovation.”
Frank Landolt is Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property and Legal at Confo Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical start-up based in Ghent, Belgium specializing in GPCR-targeted therapeutics.
After studying chemistry and law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, Frank worked for almost ten years on pharmaceutical and biotechnological patents and licensing in private practice in the Netherlands, where his clients included major pharmaceutical companies as well as some of the top biotech firms and research institutions in the Netherlands.
Prior to joining Confo in 2018, Frank worked for fifteen years in Ablynx N.V. (now a wholly owned Sanofi company), where he was a member of the management team and headed an integrated IP and legal group of four lawyers and five patent professionals. At Ablynx, Frank was involved in negotiating Ablynx’s strategic partnerships and licensing deals with AbbVie, Boehringer-Ingelheim, MSD, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Wyeth.
From 2000 to 2004, Frank was director of IP and legal counsel at Devgen N.V. (now part of Syngenta), another Ghent-based biotechnology company, where he was involved in negotiating Devgen’s strategic collaborations with Sumitomo, Monsanto, and DuPont Pioneer.
Frank is a Dutch and European patent attorney and also holds a degree in business law from the University of Antwerp. He is a member of the Dutch association of patent attorneys (where he is a tutor for the professional qualification course), EPI, and LES Benelux (where he is involved in the LES Licensing Course). He is a regular speaker on a range of topics relating to IP and licensing in the (bio)pharmaceutical sector. Frank was named as one of Managing IP’s ‘Corporate IP stars’ for four years in a row (2015-2018).

Frank Landolt
Frank Landolt is Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property and Legal at Confo Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical start-up based in Ghent, Belgium specializing in GPCR-targeted therapeutics.
After studying chemistry and law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, Frank worked for almost ten years on pharmaceutical and biotechnological patents and licensing in private practice in the Netherlands, where his clients included major pharmaceutical companies as well as some of the top biotech firms and research institutions in the Netherlands.
Prior to joining Confo in 2018, Frank worked for fifteen years in Ablynx N.V. (now a wholly owned Sanofi company), where he was a member of the management team and headed an integrated IP and legal group of four lawyers and five patent professionals. At Ablynx, Frank was involved in negotiating Ablynx’s strategic partnerships and licensing deals with AbbVie, Boehringer-Ingelheim, MSD, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Wyeth.
From 2000 to 2004, Frank was director of IP and legal counsel at Devgen N.V. (now part of Syngenta), another Ghent-based biotechnology company, where he was involved in negotiating Devgen’s strategic collaborations with Sumitomo, Monsanto, and DuPont Pioneer.
Frank is a Dutch and European patent attorney and also holds a degree in business law from the University of Antwerp. He is a member of the Dutch association of patent attorneys (where he is a tutor for the professional qualification course), EPI, and LES Benelux (where he is involved in the LES Licensing Course). He is a regular speaker on a range of topics relating to IP and licensing in the (bio)pharmaceutical sector. Frank was named as one of Managing IP’s ‘Corporate IP stars’ for four years in a row (2015-2018).
Mathilde is a European patent attorney, is qualified as a French patent attorney, and is admitted to the Paris bar.
She is head of Greater Europe patent litigation at Sanofi, after having been a patent litigator in private practice (mostly in the pharmaceutical field), and a patent attorney in the industry (Sanofi, Nestlé).
She has extensive experience in pharmaceutical and life-science patent litigation in France, at the EPO, in Europe, and in Eurasia.
Her expertise also comprises contractual matters, settlements, regulatory aspects, and the SPC regulation.

Mathilde Rauline
Mathilde is a European patent attorney, is qualified as a French patent attorney, and is admitted to the Paris bar.
She is head of Greater Europe patent litigation at Sanofi, after having been a patent litigator in private practice (mostly in the pharmaceutical field), and a patent attorney in the industry (Sanofi, Nestlé).
She has extensive experience in pharmaceutical and life-science patent litigation in France, at the EPO, in Europe, and in Eurasia.
Her expertise also comprises contractual matters, settlements, regulatory aspects, and the SPC regulation.
Lorenz Kallenbach is a senior corporate patent counsel in the healthcare division of Merck KGaA. He is responsible for defining and executing the IP strategy for innovator projects. Including the assessment of the IP landscape, coordination of worldwide patent litigation, and portfolio development.
Before joining Merck, Lorenz worked in private practice. He is qualified as a German and European patent attorney.
Lorenz studied biochemistry and received a Ph.D. in the field of epigenetics.

Lorenz Kallenbach
Lorenz Kallenbach is a senior corporate patent counsel in the healthcare division of Merck KGaA. He is responsible for defining and executing the IP strategy for innovator projects. Including the assessment of the IP landscape, coordination of worldwide patent litigation, and portfolio development.
Before joining Merck, Lorenz worked in private practice. He is qualified as a German and European patent attorney.
Lorenz studied biochemistry and received a Ph.D. in the field of epigenetics.

Stephan Kutik

Ewan Nettleton

Mike Cottler
Download Agenda for 2023
Download the 2023 agenda of our upcoming event to get a preview of our key sessions, newly confirmed advisory board members, industry-leading partners and all the compelling facets of the programme.
Download Full Agenda
ATTEND WORKSHOPS
Workshop A
101 Refresher Masterclass: – Time to Refresh Your Technical Skills to Get Ready for The Unitary Patent Court
Monday 14th of March - 09:00-12:00
After countless delays, the long-awaited EU Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) look likely to be launched in 2022. While the UPC promises greater IP protection, it also means that if a company lost a case in a unified court, it would lose Europe-wide. Therefore, it is imperative to start preparation now and enhance your patent strategies for your portfolio. This interactive pre-conference workshop is specifically designed to provide a comprehensive and practical guide for in-house lawyers on how to make the most of the UPC system and avoid any potential pitfalls.
Secure your place at Pharma And Biotech Patent Litigation Europe Workshop A for €400!
Workshop B
Trade Secrets: Dissecting EU Trade Secret Directive: Directive (EU) 2016/943 and Successfully Implement the Legislation Into Practice
Monday 14th of March - 13:30-16:30
Protecting trade secret information is a critical competency for today’s life sciences industry. Companies need to establish sound practices, procedures, and policies to maintain confidentiality and reduce the prospect of misappropriation. In this dedicated workshop, you will learn how to build and enhance a trade secret protection framework to offer safeguards and protections against being compromised.
Secure your place at Pharma And Biotech Patent Litigation Europe Workshop B for €400!
Confirmed Companies Include

Who will you meet
Portfolio Testimonials

I had two goals in attending the litigation conference, and both were accomplished. First, network:
in just two short days, I met a number of lawyers who I may call to one day for advice or just to chat.
Second, learn: the presentations and roundtables provided just the right depth for someone like me, a
US-trained lawyer, who wanted to learn more about ex-US IP law and litigation. I am grateful for having
the opportunity to speak at the conference, and I look forward to attending others to come.

It is always great to attend conferences wherein both in house and law firm speakers are there, in addition when we can get generic and innovators views

Great topics and high quality speakers. Not to forget about the great networking opportunities face to face. I truly enjoyed the event.

Good, relevant and practical topics, with good interaction between attendees and frank but respectful exchanges of views.
PARTNERS
2023 Platinum Partner
Schertenleib Avocats
Website: https://schertenleib-avocats.com/en/equipe/denis-schertenleib/
Please visit our website for more information.2023 Gold Partners
Fish & Richardson
Website: https://www.fr.com/
Few firms have protected more innovative and valuable intellectual property than Fish & Richardson. We work with life sciences companies to protect and maximize the value of their IP so that they may achieve their strategic goals through partnership, licensing, financing, acquisition, and enforcement. The Fish team is comprised of accomplished patent attorneys and agents, many of whom boast Ph.D.s and extensive industry experience. Our clients choose to work with Fish attorneys because of their deep technical backgrounds, their expertise on the latest innovations in the industry, and the breadth of their experience working with life sciences companies of every size and in every field.
Pinsent Masons
Website: https://www.pinsentmasons.com/
Pinsent Masons international Life Sciences practice is one of the best in Europe.
Their team, comprising more than 100 sector specialists, many of whom are leading individuals in their field with relevant scientific degrees (some to Ph.D.) and experience, drawn from industry, is dedicated to helping their clients continue to develop cutting-edge strategies that use the law as a business enabler to positively impact their bottom line.
The team acts for businesses globally on complex market shifting transactions; cutting edge R&D collaboration; partnering and licensing deals; the most high profile, business-critical patent and regulatory litigations; and hugely impactful anti-trust investigations and litigations.
Comprising some of the world’s leading life sciences experts, the team works with senior management and in-house legal teams to navigate complex regulatory environments, develop effective risk management strategies, and spot and convert opportunities.
Clifford Chance
Website: https://www.cliffordchance.com/home.html
Please visit our website for more information.Gemini Law
Website: http://www.geminilaw.com/
Gemini attorneys are among the most experienced and successful at helping manufacturers of biopharma products navigate IP barriers to access the U.S. market. Gemini has particular expertise in patent strategy and litigation relating to biosimilar, biobetter, generic and 505(b)(2) products, as well as collateral issues concerning the Hatch Waxman and BPCIA regulatory schemes. Gemini is also very experienced in counseling early-stage biotech companies to optimize patent portfolios and mitigate the risk posed by competitors’ IP, as well as IP issues related to licensing and development transactions. Gemini offers “end to end” counseling on IP issues in support of biopharma product development and launch in the U.S., including:
- Litigation risk mitigation and avoidance
- Patent & trade secret design-around strategies
- Patent portfolio optimization
- Biosimilar (BPCIA) litigation & regulatory strategy
- Hatch Waxman litigation & regulatory strategy
- "Biobetter" & "fast follow-on" product litigation & regulatory strategy
- Pharmaceutical device-related litigation & regulatory strategy
- IP & regulatory issues concerning healthcare AI
- CREATES Act requests & litigation
- Section 1782 discovery requests for use in foreign litigation
- Global coordination of litigation strategy concerning biosimilar, generic and biobetter products
- Patent landscaping and freedom-to-operate opinions
- IP-related licensing, development & manufacturing transactions
- Lobbying and legislative initiatives relating to the BPCIA and Hatch Waxman laws
2023 Event Partners
Reddie & Grose
Website: https://www.reddie.co.uk/
Reddie and Grose is a European IP firm with offices in London, Munich and Cambridge. Our life sciences team is made up of specialist hubs that allow us to offer tailored services across the entire IP spectrum. This blend of specialism and diversity is recognised as one of our key strengths.
Our biotech hub is based out of our Cambridge office and has decades of experience taking clients from university spin-off to IPOs, as well as being experts in obtaining plant variety protection. Our London team specialises in managing the global patent portfolios and supplementary protection certificate strategies of multi-national companies based in the UK and Europe. In Munich, the team focuses on contentious pharmaceutical cases, regularly representing clients in EP opposition proceedings and advising on European product launch and litigation strategies.
Combining all this knowledge ensures that are clients will always benefit from rounded, commercially aware, advice of the highest standard.
Trevisan & Cuonzo
Website: https://www.trevisancuonzo.com/en/index.html
Please visit our website for more information.LAVOIX
Website: https://www.lavoix.eu/en
LAVOIX, a European firm fully dedicated to Intellectual Property (IP), has close to 200 IP professionals including 80 attorneys-at-law, industrial property attorneys and technology specialists.The firm’s sheer size and the diversity of its team’s areas of expertise enable LAVOIX to assist its clients in every aspect of IP across all business areas and technological fields.
Our Life Science team has extensive technical expertise in many areas including biotechnology, pharmaceutical chemistry and bioinformatics.
Our attorneys are able to prosecute patent applications in the three European Patent Office official languages (English, German and French). Our Munich office provides direct and easy access to the EPO and the German Patent Office.
Our Life Science team is also regularly involved in oppositions, appeals and oral proceedings before the EPO, management of Supplementary Protection Certificates, as well as due diligence, precontentious opinions and national or pan-European litigations.
With a view to maximize the position of our clients and meet their specific needs, our Life Science Team also monitors the latest developments of the European Union’s law which could potentially affect our client’s businesses, in particular in respect of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, agrochemicals and medical devices.
Carpmaels & Ransford
Website: https://www.carpmaels.com/
Carpmaels & Ransford LLP is a leader in the European IP market, having driven innovation in the industry for over 200 years. The firm advises clients on all aspects of intellectual property, including drafting, filing and prosecuting patent and trademark applications; drafting and negotiating licence agreements and other commercial IP agreements; advising on the transfer of property rights; assisting clients with patent restoration matters; and conducting enforcement and revocation litigation.
The firm has one of Europe’s largest IP teams serving blue-chip clients across the globe, including Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Mars, Gilead, Raytheon, Regeneron, Takeda, Allergan and Xeros. The firm’s attorneys have considerable technical knowledge, bringing together experience from industry-leading companies, academic research at leading universities and extensive patent expertise in the areas of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, engineering, tech, chemistry, materials, supplementary protection certificates and information and communication technologies and standards.
Through its fully integrated dispute resolution and transactions teams, the firm is able to provide a holistic service to clients which supports their IP needs from inception to commercialisation. The dispute resolution team, made up of experienced solicitors, barristers and patent attorney litigators, represents clients at all levels of the European Patent Office. The team is also adept at conducting enforcement litigation and revocation actions before the UK Intellectual Property Office and patent, copyright, trademark and other IP litigation in the English courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union, often advising in cases where parallel or related litigation is ongoing in courts across Europe or in the United States.
As a European IP firm with litigators and patent attorneys under one roof, Carpmaels & Ransford is looking forward to offering clients the chance to both obtain UPs using the existing EPO procedure and enforce their patents across Europe in the UPC.
Dannemann Siemsen
Website: https://www.dannemann.com.br/
Please visit our website for more information.Taylor Wessing LLP
Website: https://www.taylorwessing.com/en/about-us
Please visit our website for more information.King & Wood Mallesons
Website: https://www.kwm.com/uk/en/home.html
Please visit our website for more information.Pavia e Ansaldo
Website: https://www.pavia-ansaldo.it/
Please visit our website for more information.2023 Virtual Partner
2023 Media Partners
Women's IP World
Website: https://www.womensipworld.com/
The Women's IP World Annual was launched in 2019 to highlight and celebrate the work and achievements of women working in IP, IP Law & innovation globally. Women play significant roles in IP & Innovation that should be recognised and discussed at the highest level.
We endeavour to give women from all over the world (that work in IP Law and innovation) a voice and a platform to showcase their expertise and experiences of working in the industry and receive recognition for their outstanding work and achievements with other like-minded professionals working in these fields.
Our publication has received much attention from international IP organisations like INTA and AIPPI, who have contributed the opening letters to our last two annual editions. Our yearly publication has attracted a cocktail of awe-inspiring women from all over the world who are happy to share their profiles and experience working in the industry with our global audience.
The Women's IP World annual publication is produced only once per year. It is distributed monthly for one year at IP and innovation conferences and exhibitions all over the world. Our magazine is published in a few different formats, including print, digital and now in audio format via iTunes, PodOmatic, Spotify, Audible and Amazon Music for a more unintrusive listening experience.
Women's IP World 2022 presentation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SgpYU2uWto
The Global IP Matrix
Website: https://www.gipmatrix.com/
The Global IP Matrix is the only print and digital IP industry-specific publication authored by legal professionals in the intellectual property sector. Our content is 100% contributed by IP industry legal professionals for professionals in the IP field.
Industry thought leaders provide comprehensive, detailed analysis reports on innovation, IP trends, new legislation, and IP strategy, amongst other topics in the IP spectrum internationally.
We have an unbiased approach, and we welcome thought leaders at all levels to share their knowledge and experience through sharing thought-provoking content.
For more info contact us at - [email protected] or call +44 (0)203 813 045
CEE Legal Matters
Website: https://ceelegalmatters.com/
CEE Legal Matters is a print and online publication for and about lawyers interested and working in Europe's emerging legal markets. CEE Legal Matters features news, interviews, analysis, opinion, and more. We also host conferences and round-tables and produce special reports on fees, salaries, and other subjects of interest to lawyers in the region. Our mission is, simply, to be the go-to source of information about lawyers and legal markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
Global Legal Group
Website: https://iclg.com/
ICLG.com is a global resource for legal reference, analysis, and news, hosting an array of comprehensive comparative legal guides and research tools that cover law in more than 150 jurisdictions across 50 practice areas.
ICLG.com also provides daily legal news and event directories. At the heart of ICLG.com is an international network of legal experts, whose knowledge and experience are highly valued by legal and business professionals around the world.
JUVE
Website: https://www.juve-patent.com
JUVE has been reporting on the UPC, the European Patent Office and developments at law firms and in-house departments for twenty years – and in English since 2018.
JUVE Patent provides daily news coverage, in-depth reports and annual rankings on the four most important European patent markets.
Patent Lawyer Magazine
Website: https://patentlawyermagazine.com/
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Website: http://www.ilntoday.com
The ILN is a non-exclusive network of high-quality mid-size law firms, which operates to create a global platform in the provision of legal services, particularly for clients with international needs. With a presence in 67 countries, it is exceptionally well placed to offer seamless legal services, often of a cross-border nature from like-minded and quality legal practices. Since 2011, the ILN has been listed as a Chambers & Partners Leading Law Firm Network, recently increasing this ranking to Band 1. placing them in the top two percent of global networks. Today, the ILN remains at the very forefront of legal networks in its reach, capability, and depth of expertise.
World Pharma Today
Website: https://www.worldpharmatoday.com/
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Speakers

Takanori Abe
Mr. ABE is an Attorney-at-Law, admitted in both Japan and New York. He is currently a Guest Professor of Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine and formerly a lecturer of The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine. He is an arbitrator in Japan and sit on various positions in Japanese medical/pharmaceutical societies.
Mr. ABE works in wide areas of international and corporate matters with a focus on intellectual property law and international commerce. The patent litigations that he has participated covers the fields of pharmaceuticals, chemistry, electronics and machinery, which involve advanced technology such as biotechnology, semiconductors, etc., and which are cross-border matters. He has extensive experience on representing and advising multinational and domestic clients in pharmaceutical industry and is currently involved in the drastic battle between brands and also the one between brands and generics. He also has experience in trademark, copyright and unfair competition litigation.
For Mr. ABE’s detail information and activities, please visit www.abe-law.com or email to: [email protected]

Heidi Adler

Sean Alexander
Sean Alexander is a qualified European Patent Attorney as well as a Canadian and U.S. Patent Agent. He has worked in the IP field for many years and is currently the Head of IP Strategy (H&N) for Chr. Hansen in Denmark. Prior to joining Chr. Hansen, Sean headed the IP team at Elanco Inc. based in the Netherlands and was a Partner with Gowling WLG in Canada. Sean has been recognized as one of the world's leading IP strategists by IAM Magazine and is regularly praised for his pragmatic and commercially aware approach to IP.

Fiona Bor

Agathe Michel-De Cazotte
Agathe is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution practice group. She represents clients in major cross-border patent litigations and in innovation-heavy transactions. She has successfully litigated in France, the UK, and Germany, and has represented clients in EPO oppositions for over ten years. As a result, Agathe understands the practicalities of a successful litigation strategy when it involves multiple countries and has coordinated parallel cases in more than 25 countries.
With her very rich and diverse experience in European courts, Agathe has a particular interest in the UPC and has been advising clients on unitary patent related questions for several years. She also advises, notably tech clients, on the best way to implement the most appropriate IP strategy.
Her practice has a strong focus on pharma, chemistry, telecom, and high-tech matters where she makes the most of her physics degrees. She has extensive experience defending telecom innovators in SEP (including FRAND issues) and NEP litigation, as well as pharma clients in blockbuster formulation, method of treatment and second medical use patents against launches of biosimilars and generic products.
She has defended major multinational companies as well as highly innovative SMEs including crafting the litigation strategy, drafting submissions and doing the oral advocacy in patent infringement suits, and in opposition and revocation proceedings before the various infringement courts in Germany (including Mannheim, Düsseldorf, Munich and Karlsruhe), the German Federal Patent Court, the German Federal Court of Justice (all instances), the French Civil Courts, the UK High Court and the IPEC, the European Patent Office and both the French and German Patent and Trademark Offices.
Agathe advises global companies on critical agreements involving their technology and develops creative strategies to protect their innovations across Europe. Her time spent in-house with major blue-chip companies has given her a sound understanding of the technological and business drivers behind agreements and litigation related decisions.
Working on a continuous basis with the pharma and energy sectors, she knows the importance of the interactions with the regulator and the impact they can have on litigation/commercial negotiation timing. She particularly enjoys working in a fast-paced multi-cultural environment. Agathe also teaches Innovation Management to business students at City, University of London, which allows her to think about IP from a different perspective and remain as creative as possible.

Robert Cerwinski
Rob Cerwinski, managing partner, is a seasoned patent litigator and IP strategist with 20+ years of experience at premier U.S. law firms helping international clients launch biopharma products into the highly-competitive U.S. market. Mr. Cerwinski specializes in helping companies devise cost-effective strategies to navigate the complex and intertwined legal, regulatory and financial hurdles that can delay or prevent product launch. His successes in pre-litigation strategy and in the courtroom have driven the launch of 20+ biopharma products in the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Cerwinski holds a Master of Science Degree in molecular biology and has a deep understanding of the science, business and regulation of biopharma product development, manufacture and marketing. Mr. Cerwinski co-founded the industry-leading biosimilars practice at Goodwin Procter LLP and is a recognized global authority on biosimilars. He is Senior Editor of the leading legal treatise in the field, Guide to Biosimilars Litigation and Regulation in the U.S. (published by Thomson-Reuters) and founded Goodwin’s award-winning biosimilars blog, Big Molecule Watch and its companion blog, Big Molecule Watch China. Mr. Cerwinski was named an IAM Global Leader in Intellectual Property Law in 2021 and is ranked in the Gold Tier of the IAM Patent 1000.

Mike Cottler

Jenny Davies

Robin Ellis

Christopher Freeth

Paolo Gerli
With a degree in Pharmaceutical Technology, Paolo joined the IP field in 1987, as patent examiner at the European Patent Office in The Hague. Since 1997 to present, he works in Milan as qualified EP patent attorney in the Italian private practice, defending the patent portfolio of important chemical/pharmaceutical companies and research institutions. He gathered considerable experience in patent litigation, EPO oppositions/appeal proceedings and working for over 10 years as registered technical expert for the Italian Court of Milan. Holder of the European Patent Litigation Certificate, qualifying for representation before the UPC. Recently nominated as Technical Judge at the UPC.

Stefan Luginbuehl
Stefan Luginbuehl, PhD, lawyer, is Head of the Department European Legal Affairs (Dep 5222) at the European Patent Office where he is dealing with a wide range of patent law and patent litigation related subjects, with emphasis on the implementation of the EU unitary patent package into the existing European patent system.
He participated in several Diplomatic and Intergovernmental Conferences on the reform of the European patent system and the international litigation system. He is a lecturer in different universities and is the author and editor of several books and articles on patent procedure and patent litigation in Europe and China.

Gerben Hartman
Gerben Hartman is a lawyer in the Research and Documentation directorate of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) since 2021, where he carries out preliminary analyses of references for a preliminary ruling and other case-related research. His work mainly focuses on all areas of Intellectual Property law. Previously (2010-2016), he worked as a lawyer at a top-tier law firm in the Netherlands. He completed his law studies at the university of Nijmegen (2009) and Stanford Law School (2017), followed by a four-year EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship at Queen Mary University of London, with secondments in the Legal Service of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and in the cabinet of Judge Niilo Jääskinen at the CJEU.

Katherine Helm

James Horgan

Willem Hoyng
Professor Dr. Willem Albert Hoyng, LLM (Leiden University, King‘s College, PhD (Tilburg University).
Professor Hoyng is a partner at HOYNG ROKH MONEGIER
Professor Hoyng’s practice primarily consists of litigating in the field of intellectual property law. Professor Hoyng is member of a select group of lawyers admitted to appear before the Dutch Supreme Court.
Professor Hoyng is also known for advising on and coordinating pan-European patent strategies. He is the adviser of many innovative Dutch and foreign multinationals, including pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies.
He Chairs the Advisory Board of the UPC (Unified Patent Court), participated in drafting the Rules of Proceedings for the UPC and advises the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs on UPC matters.
Professor Hoyng teaches Intellectual Property Law at the University of Tilburg since 1988.

Martina Tyreus Hufnal
Martina is a principal in Fish & Richardson’s Delaware office. Her practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and covers a wide range of technologies. Martina has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical field, including Hatch-Waxman litigation, as well as chemical and software cases. Martina’s experience covers all aspects of pre-litigation diligence and litigation, including case assessment, electronic document collection and production, managing teams handling fact and expert discovery, settlement strategy, and trial work. She offers a diverse perspective to clients on litigation impact on business as well as implications of post-grant proceedings. Clients describe her as “outstanding lead counsel” who is “known for her prowess in post-grant proceedings and great in Hatch-Waxman actions.”

Paul Inman
With 20 years' experience of litigating intellectual property disputes both within the UK and internationally, Paul Inman works with companies ranging from small start-ups to major multi-national corporations. He specialises in the life sciences sector, which has included acting on high-profile pharmaceutical patent infringement and revocation actions in the UK Patents Court.
As a global industry, life science businesses expect commercial advice from lawyers with an international outlook. Paul's specialist experience and skill set make him perfectly placed to provide this expertise and client care.
His role has extended to litigating across industries as diverse as fashion, oil drilling and consumer products both here, and overseas.
Whether "success" is measured by getting the right court order at the end of the dispute, or evaluating and reaching the right commercial settlement between the parties beforehand, a thorough and balanced assessment on each case is critical. The ultimate aim for Paul is to provide his clients with well-rounded advice and guidance to ensure the best possible outcome.
His interest and expertise in the life sciences sector has also seen him advising on regulatory work concerning European pharmaceutical bodies.
Paul's role gives him the unique opportunity to act for a wide range of patent and design proprietors, which he relishes.
Paul's first degree is in molecular biology and biochemistry, which means he can take on highly complex pharmaceutical or biotechnology inventions, as easily as less technical (but equally important) mechanical patents and designs.
Successfully guiding clients through the maze of litigation is where Paul's strength lies, having now been involved over 20 years of litigation in cases leading to more than 40 reported judgments, ranging from the tribunals of the UK Patent Office (UKIPO) up to the House of Lords (UK Supreme Court), European Patent Office (EPO) and European Court of Justice (CJ EU).
As well as litigating in the English courts, Paul has co-ordinated and advised on IP and regulatory litigation matters across the globe, as far afield as the US, South Africa, Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, and closer to home, in Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.
It is this great variety of work and clients that, for Paul, really makes the job dynamic and exciting, week-in and week-out.

Stephan Kutik

Peter Meier-Beck
Peter Meier-Beck is a retired Presiding Judge of the Bundesgerichtshof, the German Federal Supreme Court.
After serving as a judge at the Regional Court and the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf from 1985 to 2000, Peter Meier-Beck was appointed as a Federal Judge. From 2010 to 2019, he chaired the 10th Civil Senate, i.e. the Patent Division, as Presiding Judge, and from 2019 until his retirement from office at the end of September 2021, he headed the Cartel (Antitrust) Senate.
Peter Meier-Beck has taught patent law since 1995. In 2005, he was appointed honorary professor by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and in 2022 by University College London.

Ewan Nettleton

Julia Pike
Since March 2020, Julia has been the Global Head of IP for Sandoz. In her previous roles with Sandoz, she has had a leading role in the first wave of US biosimilars litigation, including the first litigations on critical aspects of the governing legislation (the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act or BPCIA), culminating in the landmark US Supreme Court decision, Sandoz v Amgen.
Since leaving private practice at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Julia has been in-house counsel for many years including at Mayne Pharma and Hospira Inc before joining Sandoz in 2008. While there, she has taken on roles in European public affairs and led Sandoz’s global IP litigation function as Global Head of IP Litigation. Through those roles, she has maintained a keen interest in IP strategy and litigation worldwide, including cases arising under the Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA legislation in the US, PM(NOC) regulations in Canada and litigation arising from patent linkage systems around the world.

Jon Singer
Jon is a principal in the firm’s San Diego office and heads the life sciences litigation practice. He appears regularly as lead counsel in his matters and handles all aspects of litigation, including leading jury and bench trials, trying cases to administrative and arbitration panels and conducting briefing and arguments before the U.S. Courts of Appeals and the PTAB. Jon is annually named one of the nation’s finest life sciences trial attorneys and is an expert in proceedings under the Hatch-Waxman Act. His clients consistently praise his innovative and ground-breaking work and over the past two decades, he has successfully handled dozens of cases covering all aspects of the life sciences.

Adrian Spillmann
Adrian Spillmann is Director of Corporate Intellectual Property for the Valneva group (a European biotech company focusing on vaccines) in Vienna, Austria, and specializes in patent and trademark prosecution, patent and trademark enforcement, patent drafting, patent portfolio management, in house patent counseling, patent monetization and intellectual property transactions in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals and other life science projects.
His areas of expertise include protection of prophylactics, therapeutics, and diagnostics for infectious diseases, immunological disorders, cancerous diseases, neurodegenerative disorders and metabolic disorders, vaccine technologies, antibody technologies, production of biological and chemical compounds, new medical uses, and formulations of known compounds.
After earning his Ph.D. at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, Adrian was a Consultant at Deloitte, followed by a 7-year stay in various positions in the patent department at Novartis. Furthermore, Adrian was Senior Patent Attorney at Ablynx, an antibody company in Belgium, for three years.
Adrian is a European and Swiss-registered patent attorney and received his LLM from the University of Law in London.

Corinna Sundermann
Corinna Sundermann has been heading the IP department of the Pharma Division at Fresenius Kabi. She joined Fresenius Kabi in 2008 as a Manager and built the IP department from 1 to 30 FTE since then. She has been the Senior Vice President since 2012. Her focus is on generics, branded products, clinical nutrition and medical devices. Before joining Fresenius Kabi, she worked 10 years for an originator company, 5 years as a Head of Combinatorial Chemistry, 5 years in the IP department and has been a European Patent Attorney since 2006. She holds a Dr. rer. nat. from the University of Jena and a diploma in chemistry from the University of Frankfurt.

Dean Thomas
An experienced life sciences IP lawyer with more than 20 years of experience in house and private practice, throughout Europe.

Beatriz Díaz de Escauriaza
Beatriz is currently Head of the IP Legal Practice at Insud Pharma Group, a diversified biopharmaceutical business based in Madrid, Spain, that she joined in 2017. Beatriz holds a degree in Law and a Master Degree in Intellectual Property by the University of Alicante (Magister Lvcentinvs). Before joining Insud Pharma, Beatriz worked in private practice as a patent litigator in Madrid with Bird & Bird where she specialized on pharma patent litigation. During her years at Bird&Bird she also intervened before the European authorities, having also acted before the European Court of Justice at Strasbourg.

Sara Burghart

Margot Kokke
Margot has been appointed UPC judge in The Hague division. She is (senior) patent judge and (bio)chemist (MSc) with more than eight years’ experience as a (patent) judge at the District Court the Hague, The Netherlands (2014-now) and over ten years’ experience as an (IP) lawyer in private practice (at law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, The Hague and Amsterdam). She also has worked in international environments on four continents in the private sector and with (supra)national organizations for many years. She is a Dutch national, born en raised in The Netherlands and Athens, Greece.

Peter Blok
Peter Blok is professor in the Center for Intellectual Property Law of Utrecht University. He holds the Patent law chair. He is a judge in the Commercial Law Chamber of the Court of Appeal in The Hague. He is specialized in intellectual property law and in particular patent law.
Peter Blok was a judge in the Intellectual Property chamber of the District Court of The Hague over eight years, the last years as coordinator of that chamber. Before that he was an attorney-at-law in Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
In 2002 Peter Blok finished and defended a PhD-thesis on privacy and data protection law at Tilburg University. Part of his research was done at Georgetown University Law Center, Washington D.C. Peter Blok studied law and philosophy at Leiden University.

Toni Santamaria
Toni has been leading the Intellectual Property team at Adalvo since 2021. He has more than 20 years of experience in different pharmaceutical companies where he has been involved in developing and implementing complex patent and data exclusivity litigation strategies for several generics and added value products, including leading parallel litigation cases in multiple European countries. He also has experience in patent and trademark prosecution.
Toni qualified as European Patent Attorney in 2010 and holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry.

Brian Coggio

Andras Kupecz

Paolo Catollozzi

Gabriel Cuonzo
Gabriel Cuonzo is a co-founder of Trevisan & Cuonzo. With over 30 years courtroom experience, Gabriel has represented many multinational companies before the Italian courts in a broad range of high profile cases with an international dimension. With an excellent understanding of international law and as a skilled linguist, Gabriel takes a pragmatic, solution oriented approach to commercial matters and is often involved in complex, mostly IP driven, transactions. Gabriel is widely regarded as a leading figure in pharmaceutical litigation and regulatory work

Charlotte Weekes
Charlotte specialises in contentious intellectual property work, in particular, patents. In life sciences patent litigation, she has a strong and successful track record in many recent and precedent setting cases in the UK, including the CJEU and the House of Lords (now the Supreme Court). Having over 10 years’ experience acting for clients in the life sciences sector and advising on pan-European patent actions, Charlotte’s understanding of her clients’ commercial goals is reflected in her approach to patent litigation, and undertaking work of an advisory and strategic nature in the context of product management and market access. Charlotte is recognised for “continually exceeding expectations” being “very proactive”, “providing us with a service that we do not get anywhere else” as well as going above and beyond clients’ expectations by providing them with a service that makes them feel that they “are getting more than what we have just instructed them on” (Associate Director at a multi-national pharmaceutical).

Judith Krens
Judith Krens leads the Life Sciences practice of Pinsent Masons in the Netherlands. She has two decades of experience with cross-border patent and SPC litigation in the field of pharmaceuticals, biotech and medical devices. Clients describe her as a highly skilled and stand-out partner for such matters in the region. As a life sciences specialist Judith assists clients with complicated matters in pharmaceutical and medical device regulatory law. Judith further has worked in the M&A and private equity team of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, which gave her top-class experience in negotiating IP licenses and transfer agreements. She is Dutch (Amsterdam bar) and US (NY bar) qualified. Judith is one of the co-founders of the Female IP Experts (FIPE) network in the Netherlands. She frequently speaks at international and national conferences on pharmaceutical and biotech patent litigation.

Shohta Ueno
Dr Shohta Ueno is a Director, Dispute Resolution at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company where he advises the company on a broad range of complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes. While Shohta deals with all matters relating to disputes, he focuses mostly on non-US IP matters and helps the company navigate through increasingly complex IP landscape. Shohta joined Regeneron in October 2018 from a leading IP litigation practice based in the UK. Shohta is also a trained scientist – he obtained a PhD in Virology as well as an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Gustavo de Freitas Morais
Partner at Dannemann Siemsen since 1999 and member of the executive committee of the firm. He is an electrical engineer and attorney, with specialisation in Intellectual Property at the Franklin Pierce Law Center (USA) and on Artificial Intelligence: Implication for Business Strategy at MIIT Sloan School of Management. He is a professor on the Lato Sensu Postgraduate Program at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and at the Superior School of Law (ESA) at Brazilian Bar Association (OAB/SP). He has extensive experience in litigation, intellectual property negotiations, patents, industrial designs, technology transfer, trademarks, access to genetic resources, regulatory and life sciences issues in general. He has a diversified international practice, representing a number of global companies. He serves clients from diverse industries including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, automotive, biotechnology, chemical and petrochemical, electronics and technology, food, beverage and tobacco, among others. He constantly participates in events on life sciences and technology industries, either as a speaker or moderator and is co-author of the books: - Industrial Secrets versus Access to Information Law: a Contradiction? (2014) - Intellectual Property and the Internet: a Global Guide to Protecting Intellectual Property Online (2014) - ANDA Litigation: Strategies and Tactics for Pharmaceutical Patent Litigators - Chapter 18 - Pharmaceutical Regulation and Litigation in Foreign Countries (2012).

Arjan Reijns

Agathe Michel-De Cazotte
Agathe is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution practice group. She represents clients in major cross-border patent litigations and in innovation-heavy transactions. She has successfully litigated in France, the UK, and Germany, and has represented clients in EPO oppositions for over ten years. As a result, Agathe understands the practicalities of a successful litigation strategy when it involves multiple countries and has coordinated parallel cases in more than 25 countries.
With her very rich and diverse experience in European courts, Agathe has a particular interest in the UPC and has been advising clients on unitary patent related questions for several years. She also advises, notably tech clients, on the best way to implement the most appropriate IP strategy.
Her practice has a strong focus on pharma, chemistry, telecom, and high-tech matters where she makes the most of her physics degrees. She has extensive experience defending telecom innovators in SEP (including FRAND issues) and NEP litigation, as well as pharma clients in blockbuster formulation, method of treatment and second medical use patents against launches of biosimilars and generic products.
She has defended major multinational companies as well as highly innovative SMEs including crafting the litigation strategy, drafting submissions and doing the oral advocacy in patent infringement suits, and in opposition and revocation proceedings before the various infringement courts in Germany (including Mannheim, Düsseldorf, Munich and Karlsruhe), the German Federal Patent Court, the German Federal Court of Justice (all instances), the French Civil Courts, the UK High Court and the IPEC, the European Patent Office and both the French and German Patent and Trademark Offices.
Agathe advises global companies on critical agreements involving their technology and develops creative strategies to protect their innovations across Europe. Her time spent in-house with major blue-chip companies has given her a sound understanding of the technological and business drivers behind agreements and litigation related decisions.
Working on a continuous basis with the pharma and energy sectors, she knows the importance of the interactions with the regulator and the impact they can have on litigation/commercial negotiation timing. She particularly enjoys working in a fast-paced multi-cultural environment. Agathe also teaches Innovation Management to business students at City, University of London, which allows her to think about IP from a different perspective and remain as creative as possible.

Arvid van Oorschot

Ricardo Dijkstra

Laetitia Szaller
Laetitia has over 20 years’ experience in multiple sectors, including 15 in the pharmaceuticals and medical device industry, leading and managing complex multi-jurisdiction operations including global multi-million M&A deals. Prior to joining AM-Pharma in April 2020 as General Counsel, VP Business Development and Corporate Secretary, she was at UCB as global Associate General Counsel BD, M&A and Antitrust. Prior to UCB, Laetitia was Legal Director, Emerging Markets EMEA, Central European Region and Benelux at Zoetis (Pfizer former animal health division), and has also led the EMEA legal department for the Abbott Vascular division at Abbott. She also held global positions at the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group and at the automotive division (Wabco) at American Standard. Laetitia is a qualified lawyer in both the UK and Belgium, with extensive international experience, regularly speaking at various legal conferences.

Denis Schertenleib

Sergio Napolitano

Rieke Kaup

Guido Pontremoli

Frank Landolt
Frank Landolt is Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property and Legal at Confo Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical start-up based in Ghent, Belgium specializing in GPCR-targeted therapeutics.
After studying chemistry and law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, Frank worked for almost ten years on pharmaceutical and biotechnological patents and licensing in private practice in the Netherlands, where his clients included major pharmaceutical companies as well as some of the top biotech firms and research institutions in the Netherlands.
Prior to joining Confo in 2018, Frank worked for fifteen years in Ablynx N.V. (now a wholly owned Sanofi company), where he was a member of the management team and headed an integrated IP and legal group of four lawyers and five patent professionals. At Ablynx, Frank was involved in negotiating Ablynx’s strategic partnerships and licensing deals with AbbVie, Boehringer-Ingelheim, MSD, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Wyeth.
From 2000 to 2004, Frank was director of IP and legal counsel at Devgen N.V. (now part of Syngenta), another Ghent-based biotechnology company, where he was involved in negotiating Devgen’s strategic collaborations with Sumitomo, Monsanto, and DuPont Pioneer.
Frank is a Dutch and European patent attorney and also holds a degree in business law from the University of Antwerp. He is a member of the Dutch association of patent attorneys (where he is a tutor for the professional qualification course), EPI, and LES Benelux (where he is involved in the LES Licensing Course). He is a regular speaker on a range of topics relating to IP and licensing in the (bio)pharmaceutical sector. Frank was named as one of Managing IP’s ‘Corporate IP stars’ for four years in a row (2015-2018).

Kristin Cooklin

Claudia Milbradt
Claudia heads the German IP practice and the German Tech Group of Clifford Chance. She is also a member of the leadership team of Clifford Chance's Global Tech Group. Claudia has advised clients in the field of intellectual property since 1999. She specializes in patent and trademark litigation and strategic advice for cross-border IP litigations. Claudia has significant experience in technology transfer, patent license agreements as well as research and development projects.

Eleanor Root
Eleanor is a partner in the Intellectual Property Group based in London specialising in contentious patent matters with a particular focus and keen interest in the life sciences and healthcare sector.
Over the years, her particular expertise and focus has been developed through her involvement in and management of numerous commercially important, multi-jurisdictional and technically complex cases mainly in the field of pharmaceutical/biological patents for both innovator and generic clients up to the Supreme Court.
Eleanor has also built up complementary experience in advising and supporting clients in a range of sectors in relation to their multi-jurisdictional patent portfolio management and strategy (including associated proceedings/enforcement and commercialisation), freedom to operate/validity and infringement analyses, specific regulatory considerations and IP due diligence and disclosure in corporate transactions.
Eleanor enjoys working in a team to develop strategy as well as getting into the detail of both technical and legal aspects, and has extensive experience collaborating with colleagues across our network as well as with other external advisors, technical experts and client personnel.
To assist in the effective collaboration, implementation and management of various projects, Bird & Bird work closely with clients in the development of e-tools and Eleanor has particular experience in tailoring their Access portal tool in the patent commercialisation context.
In recent years, Eleanor has also supported two multinational pharma clients on secondment in-house managing a heavy and diverse multi-jurisdictional workload spanning commercial, regulatory and IP litigation matters. This valuable experience has enabled her to gain a deeper understanding of the different business functions, the pharmaceutical regulatory regime and the varying public policy and health system issues which have become increasingly relevant to European patent/SPC litigation and strategy. As a result, she is better placed to understand the pressures faced by our clients, the pragmatism needed to align legal and commercial objectives and what is most needed from an external adviser.

Tjibbe Douma
Tjibbe is a partner in the Intellectual Property Group based in Amsterdam, with a focus on technology-related matters, in particular patents and trade secrets.
He advises and litigates for clients in the life sciences, tech & comms, energy & utilities and retail and consumer sectors. Tjibbe has extensive experience in both European and US litigation, including high-end multi-jurisdictional patent disputes.
Tjibbe has acted for both opponents and patentees as co-counsel in EPO opposition proceedings. He has also represented clients in contractual disputes, including contractual litigation involving milestone claims in the life sciences sector and in arbitration proceedings regarding IP warranties.
Tjibbe regularly advises clients on IP strategy and on technology-driven M&A deals including in the venture technology field.
His work has been recognised by rankings over the past years in Chambers Global & Europe, Who's Who Legal Patents & Life Sciences, IAM Patent 1000, MIP and in 2020 by receiving the Client Choice Award for Intellectual Property - Patents in the Netherlands.

Kathleen Fox Murphy
Kathleen is a UK solicitor highly experienced in multi-jurisdictional patent litigation, and has acted in some of the most high-profile patent disputes of the last 20 odd years, across the full gamut of industries.
Kathleen has advised pharma, biotech and medical device companies on patent litigation throughout her career, in relation to large and small molecule drugs, including SPC aspects, product launches, regulatory issues and European Commission sector enquiries. She has particularly notable expertise in respect of interim injunctions.

Tobias J. Hessel
Tobias J. Hessel has worked as an attorney since 2009 and advises and represents clients in national as well as multi-jurisdictional litigation cases. He mainly represents clients in patent and utility model infringement cases and in parallel opposition and nullity proceedings at the European Patent Office and the German Federal Patent Court. He also represents clients in damages proceedings. Tobias’ clients are predominantly in the fields of information technology, medical devices, telecommunications, and semiconductors.
Tobias studied law at the University of Osnabrück with a strong focus on intellectual property law and U.S. law. Tobias is a visiting lecturer in patent law at the law faculty of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, and visiting lecturer at the law faculty of the University of Osnabrück for Patent Law.

Stefan Richter
Stefan Richter has worked as an attorney since 2010. He advises and represents national and international clients in all fields of intellectual property law. The focus of his work is on national and multi-jurisdictional patent infringement litigation and parallel opposition and nullity proceedings before the European Patent Office and the German Federal Patent Court. Stefan further advises and represents clients in the fields of digital copyright and data protection law.
Stefan advises clients in various technical areas, in particular in telecommunications and information technology, electronics, software, mechanical engineering, material science and medical devices.
Stefan studied law at the University of Osnabrück. Following his graduation, he continued his studies and earned a postgraduate law degree (LL.M.) at the University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, focusing mainly on US patent, copyright and trademark law as well as on tort law.
Stefan is a visiting lecturer for patent law at the University of Osnabrück.

Koen Verhoef
Koen Verhoef is a molecular virologist by training, having obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam in 1999. In 2001 he started as a technology transfer manager with MRC Technology (now: LifeArc), the commercialization company of the Medical Research Council in London, UK. In 2003 he moved back to the Netherlands where he founded the Technology Transfer Office at VU University Medical Centre (Medical Faculty) in Amsterdam, which soon expanded its activities to the other Faculties of VU University Amsterdam.
In April 2009 he was recruited to become the head of the Technology Transfer Office of the Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital (NKI-AVL).
Koen is an active member of ASTP-Proton, the European professional association for Knowledge Transfer, and served on its Board between 2010 and 2014.

Gordon Gao
Gordon Gao specialises in intellectual property disputes involving patents, trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, abuse of intellectual property rights, royalty rates for standard-essential patents and end-of-patent-life litigation for pharmaceutical products.
Dr. Gao serves clients across a wide range of sectors including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, semiconductors and communications. With profound expertise and experience in handling litigation cases, he assists clients in developing the most appropriate strategies and plans to protect their rights and interests. Dr. Gao has advised major multinational enterprises on intellectual property strategies in many high-profile cases. Knowing well the court practices and procedures of all the major courts and arbitral institutions, he provides clients with constructive and practical advice throughout the life cycle of a project.

Camille Pecnard
Admitted to the Paris bar, Camille provides our clients with all of his knowledge of French intellectual property law. He regularly advises on multi-jurisdictional matters, relating to patent law and trade secrets/know-how, trademark law, copyright/designs law, new technology law and unfair competition/parasitism law.
Camille is thus able to protect and enforce intellectual property rights, in particular through infringement seizures (“saisies-contrefaçon”) and all types of litigation related action before the French courts, and to negotiate any type of contract pertaining to intellectual property rights (assignment or license agreements, co-development agreements, research agreements, consortium agreements, pledges, etc.).

Pierre-Emmanuel Meynard
Admitted to the Paris Bar, Pierre-Emmanuel received dual training in intellectual property law and management, and handles contentious and non-contentious matters in all areas of intellectual property law. In particular, he supports and advises LAVOIX’s clients on all patent, trade secret, trademark, copyright and unfair competition disputes.
Pierre-Emmanuel MEYNARD also has considerable experience in pharmaceutical law, which he provides to LAVOIX’s clients in their disputes relative to the launch and marketing of medicinal products and medical devices.
Aside from disputes, Pierre-Emmanuel supports and advises LAVOIX’s clients in contractual matters, in particular to draft and negotiate research and partnership agreement as well as intellectual property rights transfer or licensing agreements. Pierre-Emmanuel MEYNARD also advises LAVOIX’s clients on issues related to new technologies, domain names and personal data. He also works on business acquisitions or transfers, in particular to audit intellectual property rights and agreements.

Sherry Yao

Lasse Weinmann

Wim Maas
Wim leads the Dutch & Belgium patents group and as an experienced trial lawyer he specialises in global patent infringement and invalidity proceedings in complex technical areas.
Wim has two decades of experience in patent law. He is a great strategic thinker and knows how to support and accelerate the growth of the businesses of his clients, ranging from pharmaceutical and biotech companies to large electronics manufacturers.
IAM Patent 1000: “Wim provides commercial and pragmatic advice and delivers to tight deadlines. He understands the pharmaceutical industry well and appreciates the pressures and goals of those within it.”

Amanda Ebbutt
Amanda is a London based partner specialising in patent litigation in the life sciences and healthcare sectors.
Amanda represents leading pharmaceutical and medical device companies in patent proceedings in the UK. Over the last 15 years she has advised on products across a broad range of therapeutic areas and on developing legal issues such as public interest and compulsory licensing. Amanda provides strategic advice on market launches and the co-ordination of multi-jurisdictional patent litigation, informed by her work with local counsel and in-house secondment experience in the pharma sector.

Gabriele Girardello

Gian Paolo Di Santo
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