Moderator: Brett J. Slaney - CPST IP (CA)

Brett Slaney is a founding partner of CPST Intellectual Property Inc. He is a patent agent practicing primarily in the high-tech, software and mechanical fields.

Brett’s expertise includes patent drafting and prosecution, patent portfolio management, and opinion work regarding patentability, infringement, validity, and standards essential patents (SEPs). His practice focuses on patent-related issues in the software, electrical, and mechanical fields, with particular emphasis on multidisciplinary systems. His professional experience includes servicing clients in a wide range of industries, such as emerging technologies (including AI, IoT, Fintech, quantum computing, and blockchain), software (including apps, cloud, databases, SaaS models), data analytics, wireless telecommunications, oil and gas, data security, automotive electronics, process automation, and consumer products. He provides strategic patent advice for clients ranging from large multi-national corporations to individual inventors and is responsible for managing patent portfolios of all sizes.

He also has an active practice in industrial designs and design patents, as well as litigation support and has experience in advising on patent issues arising during corporate transactions.

Brett has been a member of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) since 2004, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) since 2006, and the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI) since 2006.

Brett currently holds the position of chair, Group 6 – Software, High Tech, and Computer- Related Issues of the Study & Work Committee (CET) of FICPI International. He is also active as an instructor for IPIC in the patent agent's training course (PATC) modules, has served as a guest lecturer at the engineering and computer science undergraduate level regarding patent issues, and has been actively involved in educating and training engineering students in the field of patent law through a co-operative programme with the University of Waterloo.

Dina Blikshteyn - Haynes & Boone (US)

Dina Blikshteyn is a partner in the intellectual property practice group in the New York office of Haynes Boone. Dina’s practice focuses on post grant proceedings before the US Patent and Trademark Office, AI counselling, and preparing and prosecuting domestic and international patent applications.

Dina is a co-chair of the artificial intelligence practice at Haynes Boone, and regularly speaks and writes on various AI topics.

Dr. Sébastien Ragot - E. Blum & Co (CH)

Dr. Sébastien Ragot is a partner with E. Blum & Co in Zurich. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials sciences and is registered as a European Patent Attorney, a Swiss Patent Attorney, and a representative before the Unified Patent Court. He began his career in intellectual property as a patent professional at Hirsch & Partners in Paris, then served as in-house counsel at IBM Research Europe in Zurich, before joining E. Blum & Co.

His legal practice focuses on drafting and prosecuting patent applications, with core technical skills in information technology and physics. He works to protect inventions across a fairly diverse spectrum of technological fields, this including materials science, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, particularly hardware accelerators for AI, as well as new implementations or applications of machine learning algorithms. As a machine learning hobbyist, he further develops machine learning solutions for intellectual property and regularly publishes articles in this area.

Lionel Vial - Cabinet Lionel Vial (FR)

Lionel Vial entered the patent attorney profession in 2002. He practiced in several Paris-based IP law firms before founding his firm in 2014.

Qualified as a French and European patent attorney, as well as a UPC representative, Lionel holds a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology. 

Lionel is involved in several IP associations and has a keen interest in the application of AI tools to patent drafting“.

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