Licensing Executives Society Annual Meeting in Chicago: Sept. 26-29

The LES is expecting over one thousand of the world’s leading intellectual property (IP), licensing and business development professionals a the upcoming Licensing Executives Society (USA & Canada), Inc., Annual Meeting at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel & Towers September 26-29. Themed ‘Deals, Deals and more Deals’ the meeting will focus on the critical role IP plays in today’s most successful business strategies and will explore ways to leverage IP to maximize deal-making and profitability.


Attendees will be able to tailor the meeting to suit their needs by attending interactive plenary discussions and selecting from over 50 workshops designed to focus not only on issues that are timely and relevant to individual industry sectors, but that also encourage cross-sector discussions.

Plenary Highlights

The SuperFreakonomics of IP Licensing – Do Patents Slow Innovation? - Steven Levitt, co-author of the New York Times best-seller Freakonomics and its recent follow-up SuperFreakonomics, will present a keynote address on the unintended impact of the patent system on innovation. He will also discuss his groundbreaking research on the effects of incentives on economics and market behavior as they relate to innovation. A book signing will follow Mr. Levitt’s presentation.

Is the U.S. Patent System Under Siege: Congress, the PTO, the FTC and the Supreme Court -The Honorable Judge Paul Michel, retired Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will look at the many challenges facing the U.S. patent system including the reform legislation currently pending in Congress, the USPTO’s efforts to reduce backlogs and improve the quality of issued patents, and increased scrutiny by the Supreme Court and FTC.

IP as a National Responsibility: A Global Outlook for Strategies, Policies and Laws -- Economist and Former Vice Presidential Candidate Pat Choate, will join John Whealan, Associate Dean of Intellectual Property Law at George Washington University Law School and Suzanne Michel, Deputy Director of FTC’s Office of Policy Planning to discuss how the United States, Europe, Asia and developing countries might leverage IP to secure future wealth and what this could mean for commercial collaboration across national boundaries.

IP100 Recap: IP Hot Topics 2010 -- Over the course of 2010, LES has hosted innovative IP100 forums comprised of high-level IP leaders who have analyzed several hot IP topics. This panel will revisit the topics, review previous findings and discuss what we’ve learned from the world-class IP100 panels about best practices in licensing. Key ‘take-aways’ will be included in a white paper available after the meeting for attendees.

Highly Anticipated Announcements

Groundbreaking Royalty Rate Survey Results -- LES will release two highly anticipated survey reports that address elusive gaps in industry-specific data on deal terms:

• Global BioPharma Royalty Rates and Deal Terms Survey
• CEEM Royalty Rate and Deal Terms Survey.

The new data will provide valuable benchmarks for all aspects of deal-making across the life sciences, chemicals, energy and related industries.

IP Deals of Distinction Award -- LES will present its annual Deals of Distinction™ Awards to the best IP deals of the year in five industry sectors.

Frank Barnes Mentoring Award -- The LES Foundation will present the Frank Barnes Mentor Award to recognize an LES member who has made significant contributions to the field of licensing through their professional mentorship.


For more information, visit the LES website.

[Blogger Note - I will be attending the meeting and look forward to seeing you there!]