2020 PILT Seminar Speakers and Materials
Retired Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit & Principal of the Rader Group, Alexandria, VA
For over 25 years, Judge Rader has been a thought leader in the field of intellectual property law and jurisprudence. His work as Chief Judge, his publications and his work teaching patent law globally to students, judges and government officials has left an indelible mark on the field of IP law and the protection of IP rights throughout the world. Judge Rader was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President George H. W. Bush in 1990 and assumed the duties of Chief Judge on June 1, 2010.
He was appointed to the United States Claims Court (now the U. S. Court of Federal Claims) by President Ronald W. Reagan in 1988. Before appointment to the Court of Federal Claims, former Chief Judge Rader served as Minority and Majority Chief Counsel to Subcommittees of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. From 1975 to 1980, he served as Counsel in the House of Representatives for representatives serving on the Interior, Appropriations, and Ways and Means Committees.
Since leaving the bench in 2014, Judge Rader has founded the Rader Group, initially focusing on arbitration, mediation, and legal consulting and legal education services.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Professor of Law, Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit College of Law, Ada, OH
Deidré Keller joined the Ohio Northern University (ONU) Claude W. Pettit College of Law faculty in 2010 as an assistant professor. She has taught Property I and II, Trusts & Estates, the Intellectual Property survey course and seminar, a Law and Literature seminar, Internet Law, Legal Problem Solving and Analysis, The Legal History of Montgomery, Alabama, and in the LSAC DiscoverLaw.org PLUS program. Professor Keller writes at the intersection of intellectual property, personhood theory, critical race theory, and the Constitution. She is currently serving as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Prior to teaching, Prof. Keller practiced law in Atlanta, Georgia, with the firms of Sutherland, Asbill and Brennan, LLP and Seyfarth Shaw, LLP. She specialized in intellectual property with an emphasis on trademarks and copyrights.
Senior Counsel, Wood Herron & Evans, LLP, Cincinnati, OH
Ken Germain has more than 45 years of varied experience in the trademark/unfair competition field and is a former full-time law professor. He focuses his practice on trademark counseling, consulting and litigation, including Early Neutral Evaluation. Ken is often retained as an expert witness on issues relating to trademarks and unfair competition, working on cases involving some of the nation’s largest companies in high-stakes, cutting-edge cases. He has testified in court over 15 times.
Partner, Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis, Cleveland, OH
As a former General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer, David Croft, a Partner with Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland, Ohio, offers a unique perspective on business law and understanding the needs of his clients. Chair of the Blockchain/Cryptocurrency practice group, David directs the firm’s multidisciplinary approach to representing clients in all aspects of cybersecurity, data privacy, blockchain technology, and cryptocurrency, including smart contracts, tokenized security offerings, government regulation, inventions, trademarks, brand protection, trade secrets, copyrights, commercialization, mining, energy procurement and licensing. David is a prolific speaker on emerging trends in cybersecurity, data privacy, blockchain/cryptocurrency, and medical cannabis.
Founder, 4iNNO Innovation and Growth Consultancy, Cincinnati, OH
Larry practiced IP law almost 31 years for Procter & Gamble. His practice included important aspects of U.S. and international patent preparation, prosecution, appeals, freedom to practice, portfolio management, licensing, infringement opinions, validity opinions, M&A due diligence, counseling, trade secret and trademark/trade dress matters. Larry’s experience includes litigation and ADR. Larry has a strong engineering background and worked in a broad range of technology areas including paper products, cleaning products, diapers, sanitary napkins, packaging, control systems, manufacturing processes and machinery.
Julie has been a practicing patent attorney for over 16 years and currently serves as Managing Associate in Frost Brown Todd’s Intellectual Property practice. Julie focuses her practice in the areas of patent preparation and prosecution in the both the United States and globally, development and management of IP strategies, preparing freedom to practice and patentability opinions as well as reviewing and negotiating a variety of IP-related agreements. Prior to joining the firm, Julie served as in-house counsel for the intellectual property practice at The Procter & Gamble Company where she crafted and implemented IP Strategies in support of P&G’s Billion Dollar Brands. She also spent time at the University of Cincinnati where she engaged in biomedical research for the Department of Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine.
Solicitor, Origin, Ltd., London, England
Robert Carolina is a Senior Visiting Fellow with the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway University of London, where he has taught legal and regulatory aspects of cyber security since 1999. He is the author of the “law and regulation” chapter of CyBOK: the Cybersecurity Body of Knowledge. Robert maintains a legal practice with Origin Ltd in London. He has extensive experience advising on ICT-related commercial transactions and related legal and regulatory risks, including data protection, interception of communications, and online banking and payment systems. Robert is a graduate of the University of Dayton, Georgetown University Law Center, and the London School of Economics.
