Fight the Patent Trolls in 2014: Tactical & Practical Issues

Gary Rinkerman began his practice as in-house counsel for Dupont in its Petrochemicals & Engineering Division, co-founded Computer Law Reporter in the early eighties, and served as the chief government litigator in a number of groundbreaking actions at the US International Trade Commission, including the patent litigation now referred to in the media as the "first semiconductor chip wars" and the proceeding that recognized the applicability of copyright to object code embodied in ROM. He is a lecturer on intellectual property for Queen Mary University of London and for the Executive MBA Technology Management Program at George Mason University. He has also appeared as a guest lecturer across the US, in Canada and in the EU. In a noted patent litigation, Mr. Rinkerman successfully defended a client against infringement claims relating to a portfolio of patents, eventually obtaining a ruling of unenforceability and "exceptional case" status, which resulted in an award of legal fees to his client. His practice includes litigation, agreement negotiation and drafting, counseling and opinion services in the areas of patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trade marks, trade dress, rights of publicity, domain names and data protection.

James R. Batchelder is the Managing Partner of the firm's Silicon Valley office, a co-chair of the firm's Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group, and a trial lawyer in its Intellectual Property Litigation Group. Named one of The World's Leading Patent Practitioners and one of California's Top Intellectual Property Lawyers, he has 25 years of experience litigating high-stakes intellectual property cases in district courts and the ITC. He also has participated in a variety of post-grant review proceedings before the USPTO. 

Mr. Batchelder frequently speaks and publishes on intellectual property issues, and regularly lectures on intellectual property strategy at U.C. Berkeley School of Law.

Greg specializes in the practice of corporate law with an emphasis on intellectual property (i.e., patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets) and technology-related matters. As General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business Development, of Franklin Electronic Publishers Inc., Greg served in many roles for a multinational consumer electronics company based in New Jersey, including heading up business development and directing research and development (R&D) in creating one of the world's first handheld e-book readers. Greg focuses his practice today in a number of intellectual property areas, mainly the negotiation of patent, trademark and copyright licenses and of business transactions involving intellectual property. Greg's own inventions have been awarded four United States patents and are covered by a number of pending domestic and foreign patent applications. Greg continues to manage patent, copyright and trademark litigation as well as negotiating and providing business counseling services relating to mergers and acquisitions having intellectual property aspects. Having served as President of Proximity Technology Inc., a software licensing company, Greg has experience in managing the business affairs of high technology companies.

John T. Gutkoski has a national trial practice with a track record of successfully representing clients as lead trial counsel in patent and intellectual property matters spanning life sciences and high technology industries. He led the defense trial team in the only one of the infamous Data Treasury "patent troll" cases in East Texas to go to verdict.  John has been repeatedly named one of the World's Leading Patent Practitioners for Patent Litigation by IAM Patent 1000. He previously served as the department chairman of the Intellectual Property practice in Boston for Foley & Lardner, LLP.