28th Annual IP Summit Speakers

​Aashish Chawla

Aashish Chawla is a corporate intellectual property counsel with extensive global experience advising major enterprises on IP strategy, digital innovation, and complex cross border legal risk. He has and continues to manage corporate, intellectual property, and commercial matters for SLB’s digital businesses, with a current focus on the production domain, supporting advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, autonomous operations, clean energy systems, cybersecurity, and robotics.
 
With a background that combines in house IP expertise, substantial experience in global patent practice, and hands on involvement in merger and acquisition strategy, Aashish brings a pragmatic and business driven perspective to how intellectual property enables innovation at scale.  Positioned at the crossroads of technology and regulation, Aashish helps complex, technology intensive organizations convert intellectual property into measurable value while mitigating risk and strengthening their long-term competitive position.

Catherine Parrish Lake

​Catherine offers strategic and pragmatic advice to help businesses and individuals develop, protect, and utilize intellectual property rights. She advises clients on acquiring, registering, maintaining, and enforcing trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets in the United States and internationally. In addition, her practice includes drafting and negotiating complex intellectual property and technology agreements. Catherine has extensive experience in handling the IP aspects of corporate transactions. She also counsels clients on branding strategies, ecommerce, and internet issues as well as intellectual property infringement problems. For many years, Catherine has led a team that serves as the designated agent for a mid-sized ecommerce platform, handling all of its takedown requests. Catherine is a regular contributor to Dorsey’s IP Blog, TheTMCA.com, which focuses on legal developments in the world of Trademarks, Copyrights, and Advertising.
 

Chris Parsonson 

Chris Parsonson is the Founder and CEO at Solve Intelligence, leading a team of patent attorneys, AI researchers, and software engineers to build the go-to AI-powered platform for patent professionals. Chris obtained his master’s degree at the University of Cambridge and PhD at UCL, during which he published 10+ publications and won awards in top AI conferences and journals. He has worked in leading tech organizations, including Dyson, The Alan Turing Institute, and InstaDeep, before its acquisition by BioNTech. Solve Intelligence has $55M+ in backing from Thomson Reuters, Microsoft, Y Combinator, 20VC, and Visionaries Club, and is being used by 400+ leading IP teams across 6 continents.

Chul-Woo Lee

Chul-Woo Lee is a shareholder and registered patent attorney at Workman Nydegger, where he advises clients on strategic patent procurement and portfolio development in the United States and abroad. His practice encompasses all phases of patent practice, including patentability analyses, U.S. and international application drafting and prosecution, due diligence, freedom-to-operate investigations, and related legal opinions. He routinely conducts interviews with patent examiners, leads client conferences, and supervises junior attorneys to ensure effective and efficient representation. He has substantial experience across a broad range of technologies, including mechanical, electromechanical, and ultrasonic medical devices, consumer electronics, wireless communications, autonomous and semiconductor systems, and complex software technologies such as blockchain- and finance-related applications. With academic training in electrical engineering and mathematics, he brings a rigorous technical perspective to protecting sophisticated innovations and aligning patent strategies with clients’ business objectives.

Dan Morath​

Dr. Morath is a seasoned biotech and chemical patent attorney with over 20 years of experience advising clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to individual inventors. He tailors his services to client needs while using creativity and insight to enhance the value and protection of patent portfolios.​
His practice focuses on patent preparation, prosecution, and strategic portfolio development across technologies including biotechnology, biologics, immunotherapy, next-generation sequencing, gene therapy, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, and a broad range of chemical innovations such as explosives, plastics, printing, and cosmetics. A registered U.S. patent attorney with a Ph.D. in molecular biology, he quickly understands complex technologies and translates them into strong patent positions worldwide, including managing global portfolios and leveraging practical shortcuts to obtain protection efficiently.​
He also provides freedom-to-operate, noninfringement, and invalidity opinions, conducts due diligence and IP analytics, and handles post-grant matters such as reissue, reexamination, Inter Partes Reviews, and foreign oppositions and third-party observations.​

Dennis Crouch

Dennis Crouch is the Judge Leedy Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law, where he teaches classes on technology law (including IP and AI), along with other traditional courses such as property and civil procedures. He is best known for writing Patently-O for the past 22 years. The site is read by most U.S. patent attorneys. 

John A. Squires

John A. Squires is the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As chief executive, he leads one of the largest intellectual property (IP) offices in the world—almost a $5 billion operation with over 14,000 employees located across the 50 states and Puerto Rico. He is also the principal IP advisor to the President and Administration, through the Secretary of Commerce.  
Prior to joining the USPTO, Mr. Squires served as Partner and Chair of the IP and Emerging Companies Practice at Dilworth Paxson LLP and an adjunct law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law. He has extensive experience in all aspects of IP and emerging companies, across a vast array of scientific and technology disciplines, including patent and trademark asset creation, procurement and acquisition, transactions, licensing, corporate formation, governance and structuring, high-stakes litigation and regulatory, and risk management matters.  
Mr. Squires led the creation of the United States’ first patent asset-backed finance platform for one of the world’s leading funds. He also led the founding, launch, and was a board member of numerous IP and risk-related businesses, including iQ4, the Risk Assistance Network + Exchange (RANE), and FinClusive.  
In response to the September 11 attacks, Mr. Squires and 20 of the world’s leading financial institutions established the nation’s first anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing consortia, founded upon patents expedited as inventions to combat terrorism. His previous fintech/regtech engagements include groundbreaking efforts focused on financial inclusion and empowerment, impact investing, and global standards-setting and compliance. Mr. Squires began his IP/fintech career as Chief IP Counsel for Goldman Sachs from 2000-2009.  
Mr. Squires received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Bucknell University and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law (magna cum laude). Mr. Squires has served as an Adjunct Professor, Legal Writing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and as a faculty member and lecturer with the Cybersecurity Workforce Alliance (a partnership with the New York Federal Reserve Bank, its Member Banks, and the CUNY and SUNY systems). 

Emil J. Ali

Emil J. Ali is a partner at McCabe & Ali, LLP where he focuses his practice on helping lawyers understand their obligations under state and federal law.  As a registered patent attorney, a significant focus of his practice involves advising lawyers and law firms on all aspects of the intersection of IP and ethics matters.  Emil’s work includes counseling clients on lateral transitions, malpractice avoidance, expert opinion and testimony, and respondent’s defense work before various bars and courts.  You can view his musings on IP ethics issues at www.ipethicslaw.com.

Eric Maschoff

Eric Maschoff is a registered patent attorney and partner at Maschoff Brennan, where he focuses on building and managing large, strategic intellectual property portfolios that support his clients’ business objectives and competitive positioning. With a background in computer hardware and software engineering, Eric is known as a practical problem-solver who delivers clear, business-savvy advice tailored to each client’s goals. His practice spans the full spectrum of patent portfolio strategy, including prosecution and drafting, global portfolio management, freedom-to-operate and validity analyses, design-around strategies, due diligence, and complex IP transactions such as licensing and joint development agreements. He also advises on trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Eric co-founded Maschoff Brennan in 2011 and helped grow it into a multi-office firm with more than 50 attorneys. He has also taught patent law and drafting at the University of Utah for over 20 years.

Erik OliveR

Mr. Oliver is COO at Richardson Oliver Insights with many years of experience of providing customers with data-driven insights to support decision making with regards to IP and patent strategies. He is also a Partner at ROL Group, where he counsels clients on a variety of patent and business matters, including licensing, buying, selling, valuation, prosecution and business processes. He has patent portfolio licensing and marketing experience resulting in millions worth of patent license bookings.
Prior to founding the Richardson Oliver Insights and ROL Group, Mr. Oliver was a Vice President at ThinkFire Services USA, Ltd’s Silicon Valley office. He has held various senior positions with a range of responsibilities at Rambus Inc., Synopsys, Inc., and a number of Silicon Valley startups. He was also previously an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati.
Mr. Oliver has over 40 published articles and lectures on patent strategy, intellectual property, and related business issues at Stanford, Santa Clara, and the Center for Intellectual Property at Chalmers.
Mr. Oliver is a member of the California and District of Columbia Bar and a United States Patent and Trademark Office registered patent attorney.
Mr. Oliver has a B.S. in Computer Science/Mathematics from Haverford College, an M.S.E. in Computer Information Science from University of Pennsylvania, and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Hannah Follender

Hannah Follender is a Partner at Loza & Loza LLP. Her practice focuses on brand protection, including domestic and international trademark matters, unfair competition, and copyright, with experience in trademark selection, clearance, and enforcement. She also advises on intellectual property licensing, including sponsorship and advertising agreements. Hannah is a registered patent attorney before the USPTO and has experience with due diligence and opinion work, as well as utility and design patent prosecution in the mechanical field. Her clients span industries including food and beverage, fashion, retail, beauty, professional sports, entertainment, and cannabis.

James Bullough

James Bullough is a Shareholder at Ray Quinney & Nebeker whose practice focuses on the preparation and prosecution of domestic and foreign patent applications across a wide range of technologies. He has drafted and prosecuted hundreds of patent applications and emphasizes efficient navigation of USPTO procedures to obtain high-quality patents with broad scope and enforceability while minimizing prosecution costs.
His technical experience includes artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud computing, wireless communications, and electrical and optical hardware, as well as fintech, digital marketing, UAVs, gaming, image and video processing, semiconductor technologies, and related innovations. James has extensive experience addressing 35 U.S.C. §101 eligibility issues, including overcoming challenging rejections before examiners and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
James represents clients ranging from large international companies to early-stage startups and advises on patent portfolio strategy, including rapidly building portfolios in preparation for investment, IPOs, or future enforcement considerations.

Jonathan Stroud

Jonathan Stroud is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer of Unified Patents, where he oversees both the company’s legal strategy and its day-to-day operations. In this dual role, Jonathan leads Unified’s efforts to deter abusive patent litigation, improve patent quality, and advance a more balanced and efficient patent system globally.
Jonathan brings deep experience in patent litigation, post-grant proceedings, and patent policy, with particular expertise in standards-essential patents (SEPs), FRAND issues, and the intersection of patents and competition law. Prior to joining Unified Patents, he practiced patent litigation at AmLaw 100 firms and has remained highly engaged in IP policy discussions at the USPTO, PTAB, and Federal Circuit levels.
A frequent speaker, writer, and commentator on intellectual property law, Jonathan is known for his practical, candid insights into patent reform, PTAB practice, and emerging trends affecting innovators and operating companies. He is also an adjunct professor and an active contributor to the broader IP community.