We hear about IP all the time. Patents, Trade Secrets, Trademarks, Copyrights, etc. What are they? Do we need them? How do we get them? What do they cost? How do we use them to create competitive advantages?
Join Kim McLean, founding partner of McLean Law, LLC, Barbara Petilli: partner with Inflection Point Law, Mike Antone , Registered US Patent Attorney, and Jeff Agnor, founding partner of Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, LLC, as we explore the maze of national and international Intellectual Property (IP) and what you need to know to prevent a horror story from happening to you.
Our panel will identify, define, and explain the processes and inner workings of each form of IP. Most importantly, we will explore real-world "horror stories" about serious mistakes entrepreneurs make, their consequences, and how to avoid them. Finally, we will look at strategies to successfully navigate the maze and turn IP into tremendous opportunities.
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Barbara Petilli is a business attorney with Inflection Point Law. Barbara helps small and mid-sized companies through their inflections points of growth, from formation to acquisition. Her target clients are entrepreneurs, and early stage to mid-sized companies whose businesses are related to technology, software, engineering and professional services. She advises clients on protecting and commercializing their intellectual property rights, including copyrights, trademarks and patents. She has experience with commercial and federal government contracting, including advising clients on SBA programs, and drafting and negotiating various software licenses, hosted services, and maintenance & support agreements Barbara holds a BBA in International Business from The George Washington University, and an MBA and JD from Georgia State University, where she interned with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Kimberly McLean, Founding Partner of McLean Law LLC, has over 20 years of experience in technology, business and intellectual property matters. Ms. McLean has extensive knowledge in the development of strategic plans that identify and implement business value by leveraging intellectual property. Ms. McLean has a record of success in developing effective intellectual property portfolios.
Ms. McLean’s practice involves drafting and reviewing contracts, assisting with technology transfer, licensing deals, and term sheet negotiations, reviewing government contracts and proposals for RFPs, assisting with regulatory compliance matters, start-up and entrepreneur services, incorporation and entity selection, preparing and prosecuting patent applications, registering trademarks, registering copyrights, protecting trade secrets, preparing and negotiating technology contracts, performing non-infringement opinion analysis, performing patentability and trademark searches and analysis, performing freedom to operate analysis, assisting with commercializing innovations, and counseling clients on various business and intellectual property issues.
In addition to being the founder of McLean Law LLC, Ms. McLean holds a Juris Doctor degree with a specialization in Intellectual Property, a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Ms. McLean’s previous experience includes working for various large, mid-size and small organizations to include: Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, P.C., The Chandler Law Firm, Texas Instruments, and The MITRE Corporation.
Ms. McLean is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She is also admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.
Jeff Agnor has dedicated his practice to representing emerging and established businesses, entrepreneurs, lenders, investors, and non-profit organizations. He enjoys working with clients in all phases of their business life, from start-up through acquisition, including assisting clients with contract negotiations, commercial transactions, business acquisitions, private stock offerings, employment matters, protection of intellectual property, real estate transactions, and disputes among business owners. Jeff also assists businesses in the government contracting space with contract and compliance matters, including issues concerning subcontracts, teaming agreements, and joint ventures.
Jeff encourages business clients to begin planning exit strategies early on so they are prepared when opportunities arise. Planning includes assisting family-owned businesses address the sensitive and often complex issues associated with business succession.
Jeff works with tax-exempt and charitable organizations to address legal issues that confront them, including corporate governance and compliance.
In addition to representing business and organizational clients, Jeff believes it is important to serve the various communities in which those clients grow and prosper. He contributes his time and expertise in support of various business associations and non-profit organizations, particularly in the areas of business advocacy, economic development, entrepreneurial education, sustainability, and support of the local arts. Among his other volunteer activities, Jeff serves on the Executive Committee, and is the immediate past Chair of the Board of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce.
Jeff enjoys living in the same community where he works with his wife and two children.
Michael C. Antone, a Registered US Patent Attorney, serves as Of Counsel at Davis Agnor Rapaport & Skalny and represents clients in the area of intellectual property and corporate law. His practice focuses on intellectual property strategy and portfolio acquisition and management, as well as opinions, transactions, and operations counseling. He brings to the firm over twenty years of experience in law firm, industry and venture capital environments.
Prior to his association with Davis Agnor Rapaport & Skalny, Michael was a partner at Grande Ventures, LLC, a private venture capital fund investing in hardware and software technology companies. He also served as the fund’s intellectual property counsel. Michael served on the board of directors and technical advisory boards for several portfolio companies, as well as the CEO for one of those companies.
Michael was previously Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, overseeing all IP matters at Corvis Corporation, a telecommunications hardware and software company. During his time at Corvis he also assumed the roles of Senior VP of Research & Development and Manufacturing.
While working as an associate patent attorney with an international law firm he focused on patent preparation, prosecution and opinions. As a senior engineer at Westinghouse Electric Corporation (now Bechtel Bettis), he developed mathematical models and software to perform power system analysis and predictive modeling.
Michael is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in the US Western District of Pennsylvania.
