Early-stage companies will have to obtain funding or go through an exit process at some point in time. Since intellectual property (IP) often represents the bulk of an early stage company’s assets, investors will typically conduct due diligence on the IP during their evaluation process. Key areas that are evaluated include ownership of the IP, strength of the company’s IP, and freedom-to-operate. Join us May 30 to get a primer on how to prepare for IP due diligence from Douglas Portnow and Piers Blewett from the IP law firm Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
Where & When
Room 212, Byers Hall, UCSF Mission Bay (1700 4th St., San Francisco)
5:30 to 6:30 PM, Thursday, May 30, 2019
About the Speakers
Piers Blewett is a patent attorney and principal at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner. He is a former Chief Patent Counsel (International), Vice President and associate General Counsel at Kimberly Clark Corporation. His practice includes strategic IP counseling, patent prosecution (US and foreign), patent validity, infringement and clearance analysis and opinions, global patent litigation, and IP due diligence work.
Doug Portnow is a registered patent attorney and a Principal of Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner. His practice focuses on patent preparation and prosecution, IP due diligence and strategic counseling in the medical device and mechanical technologies. Prior to joining Schwegman, Doug was a Member at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and an associate at Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP (now Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton). Before entering the legal profession, Doug worked for over a decade in the medical device industry holding engineering and management positions at start-ups and publicly traded companies commercializing critical care products, vascular grafts, surgical instruments, stents, stent delivery systems, RF ablation catheters, embolic protection devices, and heart failure implants. Doug has been recognized as a Rising Star by Northern California Super Lawyers.