Do Recent Changes to U.S. Patent Law and Practice Weaken or Strengthen the Patent System?
Santa Clara Law's High Tech Law Institute (HTLI), The Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT) and the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA) are proud to present a distinguished panel including Colleen Chien, Robert Freitas, Paul Stone, Ronald Whyte, and moderated by Robert Barr - TechLaw Forum
Bio
Robert Barr
Robert Barr is the executive director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. Formerly, he was vice president for intellectual property and worldwide patent counsel for Cisco Systems in San Jose, California, where he was responsible for all patent prosecution, licensing and litigation.
Barr has taught at University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) and at Hastings College of the Law, where he was an adjunct professor of patent law from 1994 to 1999.
A frequent speaker on patent reform, Barr has testified twice at the Federal Trade Commission hearings on Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy. He was named by the Daily Journal as one of the top 25 intellectual property lawyers in California in 2003, and as one of the top 10 in-house intellectual property lawyers in 2004.
Colleen Chien
Professor Chien joined the faculty at Santa Clara University Law School in the Fall of 2007. Her research focuses on patent law and international intellectual property law, with an emphasis on empirical research. She has published law review articles in the Hastings Law Journal and the Berkeley Technology Law Journal on various national and international patent law topics, as well as in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Prior to her appointment, Professor Chien was a patent prosecutor and counselor at Fenwick & West in San Francisco, California, where she now serves as Special Counsel. In 2006, she was a Fellow at Stanford Law School in the Center for Law and the Biosciences.
Robert Freitas
Bob Freitas focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation, representation of policyholders in insurance coverage claims and litigation, antitrust law, and complex litigation. From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Freitas was co-national coordinating counsel for bid protest litigation for the Land Mobile Products Sector of Motorola, Inc. He was national coordinating counsel for International Insurance Company's environmental impairment liability insurance coverage litigation from 1991 to 1994.
Paul Stone
Paul Stone is General Counsel at Ilypsa, a wholly subsidiary of Amgen, Inc.
Ronald M. Whyte
The Honorable Ronald M. Whyte was appointed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California by President George Bush and took his oath of office on March 2, 1992. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench, Judge Whyte served as Judge of the Superior Court of the State of California for Santa Clara County, appointed by Governor George Deukmejian in 1989.
From 1977-1989 he was a member of the law firm of Hoge, Fenton, Jones and Appel, Inc., in San Jose, California, with extensive trial experience. From 1971-1977 he was an associate with the same firm handling civil litigation matters in the state and federal courts. Judge Whyte served as Lieutenant, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Naval Reserve from 1968-1971 where he prosecuted and defended Naval and Marine personnel at Special and General Courts-Martial. He also served as a Military Judge at Special Courts-Martial and presided at many jury and non-jury trials.
In addition, Judge Whyte has lectured for the Federal Bar Association, California Continuing Education of the Bar, The Rutter Group, the Santa Clara County Bar Association, the Orange County Bar Association, the State Bar of California and other organizations on various subjects including patent law, trial practice, civil procedure, law and motion, judicial arbitration and governmental tort liability.
Judge Whyte is also the recipient of the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association's Judge of the Year Award (1992). He is a member of the State Bar of California; U.S. District Court, Northern District of California; U.S. District Court, Central District of California; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Santa Clara County Bar Association; and Federal Judges Association.
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