Andras Kupecz
Honourable JudgeUPC Munich Central DivisionAndreas Robinson
Senior Counsel Intellectual Property & LitigationAmgenBrian O'Moore
Honourable JudgeIrish High CourtConrad Eckhardt
Vice President IPBiotronikConrad practices in the IP field for more than 20 years and gained experience across various industries. Having started with Consumer Products at Procter & Gamble he moved on to Pharmaceuticals at Boehringer Ingelheim and is now active in the medical device field, first as Chief IP Counsel at Leica Biosystems and currently as Chief IP Counsel at Biotronik. Conrad is a European Patent Attorney and a European Patent Litigator and has patent litigation experience in Germany, the USA and China.
Edgar Brinkman
Honourable JudgeUPC Local Division HagueMr. Brinkman finished a chemistry degree in 1993, specialising in biochemistry, and law degree in 1995 at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. After joining the bar that same year as a solicitor/barrister in Amsterdam focusing on patents and regulatory affairs, he was appointed judge at the Court of The Hague, IP department in 2002. He became a senior judge in 2007. He has been involved in many patent and other IP cases and speaks regularly on international conferences. He is co-editor of a leading Dutch IP magazine (BIE).
Eun-Joo Min
DirectorWIPO Judicial InstituteEwan Nettleton
Principal IP Counsel, Oncology LitigationNovartis Pharma AGFilipe Pedro
Director of IPBIALFilip De Corte
Head of IPSyngentaFilip De Corte is Head of Intellectual Property at Syngenta Crop Protection, leading patent attorneys based in Switzerland, the UK, the US, The Netherlands and China. Filip joined Syngenta on October 1, 2013. Until then, he held the position of Chief IP Counsel Europe at Cargill (2008 – 2013). Before joining Cargill in 2008, he worked in the Johnson & Johnson patent department, working in Beerse with Janssen Pharmaceutica (1991-2004), New Brunswick (2004-2007), and Brussels (2007-2008). Filip has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, he is a qualified European Patent Attorney and passed the US patent bar exam. He has the qualification of European Patent Litigation from the University of Strasbourg. He also has an MBA of the Vlerick School of Management. Filip taught patent law in Antwerp under the auspices of CEIPI (Université de Strasbourg) as well as at the University of Leuven in the IPR management course and is a lecturer in the CEIPI patent litigation course.
Frank Landolt
Chief Counsel IP & LegalConfo TherapeuticsFrank 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 biotechological 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).Guido Pontremoli
Coporate IP Patent DirectorChiesiCurrently employed as global Head of the IP department-Patent at Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA, managing and coaching a team of experienced patent attorneys, patent searchers and administrators, working on the protection, enforcement, litigation and/or opposition of the Chiesi IP, aligned with business decisions.
Before joining Chiesi, I worked in IP groups of big pharma companies (GSK Vaccine, and Bracco Imaging) as senior patent attorney responsible for all the IP aspects concerning some key R&D projects. I also had experience as patent counsel in private practices, dealing with pharma, chemical and bio entities.
Graduated in chemistry from the Univ of Milan, with a PhD in medicinal chemistry and a post-doc experience in USA, I am qualified EPA and chartered Italian patent attorney.
Karin Pramberger
Intellectual Property DirectorPolpharma GroupKarin has been Intellectual Property Director at the Polpharma Group since April 2018. She is responsible for all patent and trade mark related activities. Prior to joining the Polpharma Group, Karin was Head of IP of Medichem, Spain, and worked in various positions within the patent department of Teva, Barr and Pliva. She spent 7 years in a law firm in Vienna, Austria, where she became European and Austrian patent and trade mark attorney. She studied Biotechnology in Vienna, Austria, and at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chemie de Paris, France. In 2017 she graduated with an LLB from the University of London. Since 2005 she has been a tutor at CEIPI, University of Strasbourg, for the pre-exam and the C-part of the European Qualifying Exam.
Jiri Slavik
Director of IPAdalvoKit Carter
Head of IP LitigationSandozKristin Cooklin
Head of IPZentivaLaetitia Szaller
General CounselAM PharmaLaetitia 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.
Marc Holtorf
PartnerPinsent MasonsMathilde Rauline
Head of Greater Europe Patent LitigationSanofiMathilde 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.
Maximilian Haedicke
Honourable JudgeUPC Court of AppealsPatricia Rombach
Honourable JudgeUPC Court of AppealsPaul Inman
PartnerGowlingWith more than 25 years' experience of litigating intellectual property (IP) 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 includes acting on high-profile pharmaceutical patent infringement cases in the UK Patents Court.
Paul provides life science businesses with commercial advice from an international outlook. His specialist experience ideally places him to provide this expertise and client care, with the ultimate aim of delivering well-rounded advice and guidance to ensure the best possible outcome.
As well as litigating in the English courts, he has co-ordinated and advised on IP and regulatory litigation matters across the globe; from all over Europe and the US, to as far afield as Asia, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Successfully guiding clients through the maze of litigation is where Paul's strength lies, having now been involved over 25 years of litigation in cases leading to more than 40 reported judgments. These range from the tribunals of the UK Patent Office up to the House of Lords, European Patent Office and European Court of Justice.
Paul also has a degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and during his professional career has established an outstanding reputation in the market. He is distinguished in the 2023 edition of IAM Patent 1000: The World's Leading Patent Professionals, ranked individually for both IP law and life sciences law in the peer review publication 'Best Lawyers® in the UK' and recognised in several categories within Chambers & Partners UK 2023.
Stefan Luginbuehl
Head of Department European Legal AffairsEuropean Patent Office (EPO)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.
Stefan Schilling
Honourable JudgeUPC Local Division HamburgStefanie Kies
Senior Director Intellectual PropertyPolpharma BiologicsSufiyah Sulaiman
Senior Patent Manager Patent LitigationSTADASufiyah Sulaiman is an attorney-at-law with a master’s degree in science. As an in-house patent litigation counsel of generic pharma giants, she has been managing their patent litigation and product launch-at-risk globally. At the moment, she is a senior manager (patent litigation) at STADA (Arzneimittel) AG, before that she was the Global IP litigation counsel for Sandoz (International GmbH) and, IP and regulatory litigation counsel for Mylan (now Viatris).
Clemens Heusch
Head of Global Disputes and ResolutionNokiaToni Santamaria
Vice President Intellectual PropertyAdalvoToni 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.
Diane Adair
Senior IP CounselNovartisPetri Rinkenen
Honourable JudgeUPC Helsinki Local DivisionMr. Petri Rinkinen works as a legally qualified judge in the Unified Patent Court (UPC). He is the presiding judge in the Helsinki local division. He has worked as a judge from September 2013 in the exclusive Finnish IP-court, the Market Court in Helsinki, Finland focusing on IPR-matters, especially to patent cases. Prior to joining the court he has worked as an attorney-at-law since mid 1990’s focusing on IPR-matters. He is a frequent lecturer in IPR-matters.