The first-ever Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada), Inc., Mid-Year Meeting, March 25-27 in New York, will feature an innovative multi-track program delivered by top industry leaders who will address up-to-the-minute issues, trends and developments in each of six industry sectors - Consumer Products, Chemicals/Energy/Environment/Materials, High Tech, Industry/University/Government, Life Sciences and Legal. In addition, for the first time, LES is expanding the meeting's mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks to allow attendees to congregate by sector for enhanced networking opportunities.

"This is a pivotal time for our industry as we seek to navigate significant and ongoing change in the IP marketplace," said LES (USA & Canada), Inc. President Russell E. Levine. "The Mid-Year Meeting program has been specially designed by our industry sector leaders and will allow IP, licensing, business development, and technology professionals to increase their effectiveness and competitive advantage by immersing themselves in the expert-driven program, sector-specific workshops and roundtable discussions, dynamic information sharing and sector-based networking in a welcoming environment that is prime for dealmaking."

Themed 'Advancing and Enhancing Business Development, Deals & Innovation,' the meeting will draw top IP business executives, licensing leaders, VCs, and entrepreneurs, as well as representatives from government, federal and national labs, universities and others organizations for programming that is customized to deliver timely and compelling information, best practices, perspective and usable tools specifically suited to each attendee's industry sector and professional needs. The meeting will also offer rare opportunities for collaboration and information exchange among industry leaders, as well as extensive networking across industries.

Among the featured presenters will be executives from Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Bose, Cornell, Deere & Company, GE, GlaxoSmithKline, the Government Accountability Office, Harvard, Hong Kong Trade Development Council, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Microsoft, National Institutes of Health, Qualcomm, Verizon and others.

Interactive workshops and roundtables will cover a myriad of topics, including:

  • Expediting green energy patents;
  • Initiatives to accelerate early-stage technologies from lab to market;
  • Academic licensing as a regional development catalyst;
  • Models for monetizing patents;
  • Valuation at the early stage and beyond;
  • Prior use and licensing post America Invents Act (AIA);
  • Risk-benefit issues associated with proposals to address patent assertion entities (PAEs);
  • Portfolio management and valuation in the post-Prometheus, Myriad and Bilski world; and more.

Click here to view the complete meeting program.

Additional meeting highlights include:

  • David Kappos, Partner, Cravath, Swaine and Moore LLP and Former Undersecretary of Commerce for IP & Director of the United States Patent & Trademark Office, who will share insights and perspective on emerging issues impacting IP.
  • Mock Mediation organized and presented by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), with LES President Russell E. Levine (who is on the WIPO's list of mediators and arbitrators) as the mock mediator.
  • District Court Judges Panel: Judicial Insight into Patent Infringement Litigation will featuring Judge Holderman (N.D. Illinois) and Judge McMahon (S.D. New York). The panel will be moderated by New York Intellectual Property Law Association (NYIPLA) President Charles Hoffman.

"We're pleased to have the participation of the NYIPLA, which will sponsor and co-host some partner programming in advance of their 92nd Annual Dinner honoring the Federal Judiciary on March 28. The dinner is one of the pre-eminent IP events in the country with over 2,500 federal judges, government officials, corporate counsels and representatives of other IP associations in attendance, and I strongly encourage our LES membership to come to our Mid-Year Meeting and stay for the NYIPLA dinner," said Mr. Levine.

The meeting will also feature the LES Foundation's 2014 International Graduate Student Business Plan Competition Finals, March 24th from 1-5 p.m. This open forum will showcase IP-based start-ups presented by top student entrepreneurs from across the globe who will compete for valuable cash and in-kind prizes. More information on competing teams can be found at www.lesfoundation.org.

Register at www.LES2014meetings.org by March 10, 2014 and receive a $100 registration discount. CLE, CLP and CPE credits are available for this meeting.

for Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada), Inc.
Lydia Steck, (847) 323.3893
TheCommunicator@comcast.net