Moderator: Elia Sugrañes - Sugrañes (ES)

Elia Sugrañes is FICPI Secretary General. She is a Lawyer, Registered IP attorney in Spain before the SPTO, Trademarks and Designs Agent before the EUIPO, and Director of SUGRAÑES.

She studied Law in Barcelona (1992-1996), and completed her specialisation in IP with a Master's Degree in Alicante in 1996.

She now has 25 years of experience in IP law behind her, mainly in consultancy for clients in the field of decision-making in the field of IP, strategies, trade mark and domain procedures and consultation, and related legal matters.

Elia has spoken at conferences worldwide about trade mark issues and is a professor on the IP Masters Degree at the Institute of Lawyers in Barcelona.

She is also a Mediator recognised by the WIPO and the Spanish Ministry. She has taught on educational mediation programmes in Barcelona (for the INTA), at the Institute of Lawyers in Valencia and the Institute of Lawyers in Barcelona with Thelma Butts.

Elia enjoys her family, literature and all of her friendships.

Doug Deeth, DWW (CA)

Douglas Deeth is a President of Honour of FICPI and one of the founding Partners of Deeth Williams Wall LLP, in Toronto. In addition, he is a Past President of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, and is and has been an active member of several other Canadian, American and international organizations.

Throughout his career Doug has practiced exclusively in the areas of intellectual property and technology law, concentrating on litigation and licensing, as well as many other aspects of advising on the protection and enforcement of all forms of technology and intellectual property rights. 

Doug graduated with a B.A.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and received an LL.B. from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. He became a member of the Ontario Bar, and a registered patent and trade-mark agent.

Doug has taught, written and spoken extensively on intellectual property law to both domestic and international audiences. He has taught courses and delivered lectures at McMaster, McGill, the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall law schools, and is the author of papers on a variety of litigation and intellectual property subjects.

He has been on the Boards of Directors of four publicly traded companies and has extensive experience in corporate governance and executive compensation. 

Sergio Rizzo - EUIPO (IT)

Sergio Rizzo is a Member of the 3rd (Designs) and 5th (Trade Marks) Boards of Appeal and accredited mediator at the EUIPO. 
 
Prior to joining EUIPO, Sergio practiced for two decades as a lawyer and IP attorney, with a focus on trade mark and design prosecution and enforcement, collaborating closely with companies across various sectors and sizes.
 
He is a frequent speaker at conferences, seminars, and academic courses, and regularly contributes to publications on IP law. Sergio has authored two books on the protection of non-conventional trade marks in the European Union.
 
Sergio holds a law degree from the University of Bologna (Italy) and a postgraduate specialisation in EU law, politics, and economics. In addition to his native Italian, Sergio’s working languages are Spanish, English and French.
 

Sara Navarro - Elzaburu (ES)

Sara Navvaro is a specialist in designing strategies for the protection of trade marks and designs at national and international level and in proceedings at the SPTO, EUIPO and WIPO and in foreign jurisdictions.

She is also a specialist in furnishing advice in the field of IP for the food, banking, defence, sports, ecommerce, entertainment, pharmaceutical, textile and luxury goods sectors and has expertise in domain name recovery (UDRP) proceedings.