WELCOME STATEMENT

KEYNOTE SPEAKER SPEECH I 

INNOVATORS PERSPECTIVES

Strategic overview : 

o   Huge endorsement of the work by innovators. Innovators at large should receive a fair reward for the use of their innovations, confirmed by recent findings (Mannheim Regional Court).  

o   Further validation of the licensing program and the quality of a leading patent portfolio.

o   Results of 1 year and 1-month tenure at the helm of Nokia Technologies and oversight of Nokia's vast licensing arm.

o   Background: 5G battleground and wireless patents in the automotive/connected car's space

KEYNOTE SPEAKER SPEECH II 

FIRESIDE CHAT: INNOVATION FRAMEWORK FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Companies across industries are making the move from providers of "things" to services enabled by digital ecosystems, where new value pools are built on connectivity, big data and advanced analytics or AI. However, this also means a radically different scope of technology and innovation, new business models and complex partnerships. In this chat with executives from Audi, SKF, Microsoft and Sandvik we get their views on topics such as:

1.      How will you make money in the new digital context?

2.      What are the keys to successful ecosystems and partnering?

3.      What are the main sources of competitiveness?

4.      What role does IP play in making it all work?

10 KEY QUESTIONS CEOs SHOULD ASK THEMSELVES ABOUT IP

I.    How to help enhance M&A and drive deals around a business asset like any others?

II. How to enhance and support your brand  

III.  How to induce partnerships that I don t have the ability to do today?

IV. How to create standards that protect your IP?

V.   How to create oligopolies in a monopoly market?

VI. How to speak the language of the boardroom?

VII. Where my R&D is going? 

VIII.  How to keep, close, secure primary, secondary and tertiary patents? 

IX. How do you develop a real IP strategy? 

X. And what should we do to communicate our patent strategy to the Street?

THE NEW IP STRATEGIES FOR THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

Fundamental shifts in the supply and demand for intellectual property have dramatically altered the way leading companies are thinking about IP strategy. Patent owners still assert claims, demand royalties, and seek restraining orders. But today's playbook is increasingly oriented by the belief that companies stand to benefit the most by working with other companies to ensure that they have the freedom to operate specific technology domains. Today, the best IP strategy is often to collaborate rather than confront.

 On the supply side, a combination of new legislation (.e.g. pending IP German reform) and critical court decisions in the US has made it harder to get, keep, and weaponize patents. On the demand side, digital disruption is creating a much broader market for IP. With every company becoming a technology company, patents in domains such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) are the new coin of the realm. And with the number of potential infringers exploding, many IP owners are starting to see those companies less as adversaries and more as potential markets.

• Collaboration with others rather than confronting: using IP to exclude rivals from a domain or to generate royalties?
• Friend or foe: the need to balance collaboration and differentiation for a successful innovation strategy
• Every company is a software company: is it time to rethink traditional sectors?

 

> Is the German the current legislation adapted to complex products in the digital economy?

WHICH LEGAL INSTRUMENTS FOR INNOVATION AND ETHICS?

. context: how to deal with external challenges (trade wars) and internal (massive digitization and digital transformation, time-pressure, etc...)

. shaping the legal process. raising interest in the company and achieving results. tools at stake: BI, TAP, e-discovery, e-billing...

. deliveries models, metrics, KPIs

. long-term strategic approach and tactical decisions as C.O.O. with legal functions

Patent law, Employment law, Competition law, contracts, knowledge and records management, AI, BI and TAP tools (automation workflow technologies), electronic signatures and e-discovery, e-billing for a changing IP service and delivery model, metrics and data driven). 

The case of hybrid cloud data services for management of applications and data across cloud and on-premises environments.

OPEN SOURCE: HOW TO FOSTER A CULTURE OF INNOVATION SHARING?

• Why large and powerful companies embrace open innovation?
• Which levers / OSS models for fostering the adoption of technology? 
• Joint Product Development, "Cobranding", Joint IP, and Collaborative IP: to which extent? 
• How Do You Value and Assess the Chief Procurements Officer's Buying and Worth Choices?
• Buyers / Suppliers New Relationships
• Integrating Open Source Into De Jure Standardization: beyond a call for the appropriate License.   

BEYOND ROYALTIES: CREATING BUSINESS VALUE THROUGH PATENT LICENSING

HOW TO RIGHT SIZE YOUR PATENT PORTFOLIO

Adoption of data-driven analytics appears to happen quicker in environments of direct competition like athletics, while until recently the application of data-driven analytics by in-house IP departments seemed slow. However, some very large, highly innovative and well-resourced companies are either growing their portfolios at slower rates or actively working to reduce their overall portfolio size, using tools such as AI to monetize derelict parts of their IP landscape, while retargeting their patent applications through leveraging existing tools to use novelty searches and prior art in a smarter way. Lastly, could we do something about "IP Waste"? 

Strategic overview: 

BUDGET CONSTRAINTS VERSUS VOLUME TARGETS: HOW TO MAINTAIN YOUR PATENT FILINGS / KPIs WITH A EXPENSES REDUCED BY 30%, WITHOUT HINDERING QUALITY.

Highlight how the Supreme Court ruling had had a clear impact on Amadeus IP activities. Notably, how this decision had acted as a sting to look much more closely at other non-patent, forms of protection for its intangible assets. As budget constraints are becoming more pressing on corporate IP departments, what CIPOs are able to justify as spend to C-suite other than patents such as design rights for interfaces, trade secrets, open-source and defensive publications.

STANDARD ESSENTIAL PATENTS: WHICH FRAMEWORK FOR 5G? 

"Increasing Transparency and Reducing Transaction Costs in 5G SEP Licensing"

CONCLUSION

PATENT ASSERTION ENTITIES (PAEs): FUNDAMENTAL RISK, 

MANAGEABLE NUISANCE OR DECISIVE PLAYER FOR THE FUTURE OF TRADEABLE IP?

How to deal with whose companies' main purpose is to monetize and assert patents. The question of the cumulative number of IoT patents litigated in the United States since 2010 (400% increase from 2013 to 2018 with a sharp spike from 2017 to 2018) and the status of operating companies as plaintiffs? The issue of trade and massive acquisition of IoT and 5G patents, and skyrocketing figures through reassignments. 

 Strategic overview : 

Most recent figures from IoT and 5G litigation and trade (monetization and assertion) of IP assets.

WHICH IP RIGHTS FOR TEXT, DATA MINING, AND AI

Copyright, trade secrets, and data, IP rights for AI models, IP contracts & IP counseling for M&A-transactions including Text, data, and AI.

THE CASE FOR DATA "COLLABORATION" AND DATA LICENSING

1. Data governance models for data collaboration.

2. Data licensing, proof of concept, co-development and build collaborative processes to provide solutions to new-to-the-industry problems

3. What open source can teach us about data innovation and collaboration

PRESENT AND FUTURE KEY CHALLENGES FACED BY 3 MAJOR BRAND-PORTFOLIO OWNERS AND HOW THE CRISIS AMPLIFIED THEIR RELEVANCE.

 

The need for brand protection and the threat of online counterfeiting have been exacerbated by the pandemic: how to balance budget pressures with decisive legal technology and team orchestration to drive the road to success.

               

·      The framework of our digital transformation journey and the "legaltech" implications

·      How to define a strategy from the global legal affairs / legal innovation around the technologies consumers need?

·      How to use advanced tools (worldwide monitoring, artificial intelligence, image recognition...) to survey - in real-time, from the headquarters - an entire, up-to-dated portfolio of trademarks (TM from operating companies, online reputation, etc...), domain names and patents and to perform and achieve that transformation with speed, accuracy, intelligence and comprehensiveness.

·      Using the latest available technology to track online counterfeits. 

·      Q&A session (online)

KEY CASES IN PATENTING AI AND CII UNDER THE EPC.

This session explores invention-spotting strategies for AI innovations. The aftermath of the US Supreme Court's Alice decision can lead to some AI innovations being categorized as patent-ineligible "abstract ideas". However, the European Patent Office (EPO) has a stable and long-established body of case law in the assessment of computer-implemented inventions via the problem-solution approach. Review of useful practical examples from EPO case law of attempts to protect AI inventions. 

• What is "AI"? 
• Is "AI" a new phenomenon? 
• How is "AI" different, if at all, from CII in general?
• AI as the inventor; the DABUS cases
• AI as a tool; the level of inventive step
• AI as a "black box"; the disclosure requirement
• Patenting inventions "made by AI" (e.g. generative design): Issues in patent drafting
• AI and the "technicality" requirement
• Patentability of simulation methods: the G1/19 case. 

OPEN SOURCE COMPLIANCE - RISKS AND REMEDIES

 How to overhaul internal process for request, review, and approval for contributing to and creating open-source projects with close collaboration with patents/software teams
. Best advice on open source licenses, compliance, contributions, project creation, governance, and community aspects
. Best advice for emerging IoT businesses on various aspects of open source business model, including outbound licensing, inbound contributions, and open source community perspectives
. The Linux kernel enforcement statement and the GPL Cooperation Commitment: key issues
. How to support the developers/sales teams on contractual issues around open source software
. Recommended improvements to standard clauses related to open source, software grants, and other third-party IP, and drafted low-friction software licenses and suggested ameliorations on contractual issues around open source software and open-source hardware.

COPYRIGHT AND INNOVATION: THE NEW EU LEGAL LANDSCAPE

its impact on the creative ecosystem (both positive and negative, on stakeholders and on companies)

" How the Copyright Directive can foster content creation in Europe "

QUANTUM TECHOLOGY: WHERE TO EXTRACT IP VALUE ALONG THE SUPPLY CHAIN?

Deep-learning and image recognition capabilities to identify clients IP assets based analytics online actionable intelligence data on assets, type of infringements, regions, sellers and cases : a business-case. The example of Q-ID® - a unique and unbreakable identities are reimagining global product security. Authenticate any product in real-time using a standard smartphone. Quantum computing applied to IP and anti-counterfeiting.

CONCLUSIVE REMARKS: EUROPE NEEDS AN IP CZAR? THE AMERICAN RESPONSE...

FAREWELL

        Open data, data-sharing, and data sovereignty: the playing ground, limits, obstacles, and solutions of critical infrastructures in key sectors.

        The status of hyper scalers : responsibility, accountability, room for maneuvers within the Eurozone, and the necessity for a common ground.