Master Class 1

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Foundations for Success – Assessing the Quality of your Patents

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When you receive a draft patent application from outside counsel, how do you assess the draft’s quality? Or, put a different way, how can you review the draft in a way that adds value to the end product? In this session, we will help answer these questions.

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In particular, we will go through a concrete checklist of what to look for when assessing draft patent applications. We will go through each section of the patent application—claims, drawings, and description—and provide examples that are laudable and examples that we think need further editing. We will provide examples both in the tech and life sciences spaces. We will explain how our experience prosecuting high-value applications around the world informs our judgment. Where appropriate, we will also share data on rejections and how to avoid them. Finally, we will also address other aspects of the pre-filing process, such as how a prior art search can be helpful, avoiding pitfalls as to inventorship and foreign filing licenses, and how generative AI is starting to be used in application drafting.

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Faculty: Joseph E. Mutschelknaus, Director, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, and

Shoshana G. Marvin, Counsel, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox

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Master Class 2

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One Year Later: Don’t Be a Patent Caveperson – Embrace the GAI Revolution

in Your Patent Practice

A Practical Guide for Patent Attorneys (In-house and Outside Counsel)

 

Topics Include:

• Supercharge Your Patent Toolkit: Discover the Latest GAI Tools for 2025

• Seamless Integration: Lessons on Merging GAI Intelligence into Your Patent Practice

• GAI's Impact: Rethinking Billable Hours and the GAI Pricing Dilemma

• Transforming Your Patent Practice: GAI's Role in IDS Practice, POSITA, Enablement, Written Descriptions, and Prior Art

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Faculty: Barry Schindler, Co-Chair Global Patent Prosecution Group and

Mark Ruberto, Patent Attorney, Greenberg Traurig

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Master Class 3

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Advanced Patent Prosecution - Maximizing Value

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This master class equips patent professionals with strategies for building, managing, and leveraging a high-impact patent portfolio. Through practical insights and interactive discussions, attendees will learn to align and keep patent prosecution efforts with business goals, ensuring that innovation and value remain at the forefront. Taught by a team of Finnegan’s US and European patent experts, this class finishes with a custom game of IP Jeopardy! that offers a fun and interactive way to reinforce key learned concepts.

Key Learning Points:
 

• Effective Invention Harvesting: Identify and secure protection for essential innovations, always keeping competitors in mind​​​​

• Alignment with Business Goals: Conduct regular audits with key business stakeholders to maintain focus on core inventions and technologies.

• International Considerations: Develop a global patent strategy that covers existing markets while planning for future expansion.

• Optimize Your Portfolio: Differentiate between core and non-core patents to direct resources where they deliver the most strategic value.

• Maintain, Abandon, or Monetize: Make well-informed decisions about your issued patent portfolio based on each patent’s overall value and business significance.

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​Faculty: Elliot Cook, Partner Finnegan; Darren Jiron, Partner, Finnegan

James Bell, Of Counsel, Finnegan and

Michael Young, Partner, Finnegan​

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Master Class 4

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Living with Secrets – An Interactive Workshop on Trade Secrets in IP Management

 

“Decided: let’s keep that as a trade secret.” Is that all there is to it? In fact, trade secrets have a non-trivial life cycle, but that is hidden because they have no equivalent to a patent office.

We follow an IP manager tasked with dealing with trade secrets through various decision points. At each point, we (yes, the audience) discuss options, considerations and informational needs

 

Key Topics Covered:

• Trade-secret lifecycles: how trade secrets needs and uses change over time

• Legal vs. practical trade secrets: it can be a secret even if it is not actually a secret

• Trade secrets, know-how & deception: an important synergy

• Classifying trade secrets: some ways to measure and consider secrets

 

Why trade secrets?

Trade secrets are often an unseen yet integral component of intellectual property management. Unlike patents, they have no centralized registry, making their lifecycle and strategic management both complex and concealed.

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This workshop places you in the shoes of an IP manager navigating critical trade-secret decisions, with audience participation to explore real-world scenarios.

Join this session to uncover practical strategies and deep insights into the dynamic world of trade secrets.

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Faculty: Maier Fenster, Head of Medical Device Group, Ehrlich Group

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Master Class 5

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Patent Strategy in 2025:  Comparing and Contrasting US and European Perspectives

This Master Class is geared toward in-house IP Directors and in-house counsel, who need to cover both the US and Europe with respect to patent strategies and execution. Even the most experienced patent/IP practitioners and IP professionals can sometimes have difficulty knowing how to bridge, which can create lasting damage to a patent portfolio and result in spending more money than is necessary.  The Master Class will provide practical tips that you can immediately employ to help you negotiate today’s challenging economic climate.

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Topics

• Freedom-to-Operate (FTO)

  • When does it make sense in each jurisdiction?

  • When is it a waste of time?

  • Key laws, rules, and case law in the US and Europe, including recent changes

  • Balancing benefits with cost

• Patent prosecution strategies

  • “Prosecution estoppel” in the United States

  • Maintaining maximum range of equivalents in claims

  • Prosecution issues in Europe

  • Alternative approaches to prosecution

    • “broad to narrow” vs. “narrow to broad”

    • Avoiding prosecution “churn” and estoppel

  • USPTO and EPO cost considerations, with continuations and divisional

• Patents vs. Trade Secrets

  • Publication of patent applications at 18 months

    • Optional ability to avoid publication in US, until patent is granted

    • Optional early publication of patent applications in Europe

  • Using publication timing to your advantage

  • Ability to have “best of both worlds” – patents and trade secrets, based on publication timing

  • Planning in advance

• Patent Due Diligence

  • When does it make sense, and when doesn’t it make sense

  • Avoiding potentially catastrophic assumptions

  • Understanding perspectives (and potential misunderstandings of patent law) of investors, acquirers, and target companies

  • Unique issues in the US and Europe

    • Employment agreements

    • Inventor compensation

  • War stories

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Faculty: Micaela Modiano, Senior Partner Modiano & Partners

Gregory J. Kirsh, Head of IP Department, Smith Gambrell Russel 

 

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Master Class 6

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FoodTech Challenges from Invention to Impact

 
The FoodTech industry tackles global challenges by blending innovation with necessity, but this path is laden with unique obstacles from concept to commercialization. This Master Class unpacks the critical stages and strategies needed to drive impactful FoodTech innovations.

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Key Topics Covered:

1. Defining Your Invention: Identifying novel features within a crowded and evolving market.

2. IP Strategy for FoodTech: Tailoring patent approaches to address specific challenges of FoodTech innovations.

3. Meeting Patentability Standards: Addressing inventive steps in a field heavily influenced by known technological solutions.

4. Funding Amid Uncertainty: Strategies to balance long development cycles with financial and market challenges.

5. Global Impact: Bridging the gap between innovation and global food security, ensuring technological advancements feed a growing world.​

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Why FoodTech? The food industry is inherently conservative, with consumers and investors alike wary of novelty. Overcoming these barriers requires a deep understanding of market dynamics, robust IP strategies, and a focus on scalable solutions. Moreover, addressing the critical issue of feeding a growing, hungry world adds urgency to the work being done in FoodTech. Join this session to explore actionable insights and strategies for overcoming these challenges and transforming ideas into impactful innovations.

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Faculty: Dr. Hadassa Waterman, Head of Biotech Department, Ehrlich Group

Dr. Gitay Kryger, Patent Attorney, chemistry, FoodTech, Ehrlich Group

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Master Class 7

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Litigation and Trial Practice in the US

 

Litigation and Trial Practice in the United States: The Pursuit of Justice before Judges and Juries
 

Topics Include:

• Jurisdiction and Forum: U.S. District Courts, International Trade Commission, Patent Trial and Appeal Board

• General Expectations for Time, Resources & Expenses

• Discovery Scope & Obligations: Litigation Holds, Electronic Discovery, Broad & Intrusive Scope

• Confidentiality in Public Proceedings: Protective Orders & Public Access to Judicial Proceedings

• Alternative Dispute Resolution

• Special Patent Rules & Procedures: Contentions, ANDA Rules, Claim Construction, PTAB Stays

• Trade Secrets: Interplay with Federal Prosecution for Theft, Conspiracy and Conversion

• Trial Practice 101 - Telling Your Story Through Admissible Evidence

Faculty: Adam Samansky, Mintz, Member​​​​​​​​