Wednesday, 9/16 @ 8:30am PT
A Different NPE Problem and Emerging Trends

NPE activity is  on the rise in the US and foreign jurisdictions, but today's NPE is unlike the one from a decade ago.  Intel just sued Fortress Investments, a company that is aggregating patents from operating companies that would otherwise not be asserted. A web of patent trolls are being created, so that the defendants must engage in individual transactions, which is more costly. Litigation funding has changed the NPE landscape, yet there is little to no publicly available data. This is especially problematic in China and Germany where the bifurcated systems allow injunctions to be more easily obtained. The infringement piece can move very quickly while invalidation is a slow process. We will share recent experiences, how various issues were handled, and strategies for moving forward.

- How has NPE activity changed?
- What is the impact of litigation funding?
- How to deal with NPEs that assert SEP rights? What are the requirements for triggering FRAND obligations?
- How to cost-effectively and efficiently verify that asserted SEPs do in fact cover the standard? 
- How to deal with large portfolio assertions? What is time frame for responding to demand letter? 
- How are companies uniting to address the problem?

Speakers:

- Suvashis Bhattacharya, Senior Product Counsel, Pure Storage
- Marc Breverman, Senior Litigation Counsel, Apple
- Elena DiMuzio, Senior Legal Counsel, Litigation & Regulatory, Dropbox
- Sarah Guske, Partner, Baker Botts
- Kenneth Korea, SVP & Head of Silicon Valley IP Office, US IP Center, Samsung Electronics
- Peter Lam, Director of IP, Extreme Networks
- Sanjeev Mehta, Associate General Counsel, Verizon