Developments in Global Intellectual Property: The 2025 Special 301 Report (RECORDING)

Steve Bauer spent most of his career at Medtronic and 3M, representing medical device business units and in several legal management roles. In his last role before retirement, Steve handled International IP and IP Policy for Medtronic. Steve has served in several roles in IPO including Co-Chair of the IPO International Patent Law and Trade Committee, Vice Chair of the Asian Practice Committee, and on the IPO Board in 2016. In his retirement, he has continued to volunteer for IPO including on the IPO Special 301 Comment team.

Santosh Chari is a founding partner of CPST Intellectual Property Inc. and is recognized domestically and internationally as a leading advisor on IP prosecution issues. With over 30 years of experience in the patent profession, Santosh provides clients with guidance and business-focused advice on the protection of intellectual property, with a particular focus on the preparation and prosecution of patent and industrial design applications. He also advises on infringement and validity issues relating to intellectual property and on licensing and patent portfolio management issues.

Dean Harts is Vice President and Associate Chief IP Counsel at 3M, where he leads key intellectual property initiatives, including 3M’s Global Trade Secret Protection Program, which he has managed for about 14 years. He previously served as interim Chief Privacy Officer for 3M and later supported the company’s Data Protection, Privacy, and Cybersecurity legal function before fully returning to the IP group in 2025. He also led 3M’s International IP Operations, overseeing more than 50 IP professionals across 15 countries, after serving as Managing IP Counsel for several business groups. His IP experience spans patent, trade secret, and trademark strategy, agreements, enforcement, and counseling across multiple areas of the business.  Dean is Co-Chair of the IPO International Patent Law & Trade Committee and a member of The Sedona Conference Working Group on Trade Secrets. He holds a J.D. from Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota; a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; and is CIPP/US certified.

Mauricio Samano is a senior associate at the patent department of the Mexican based law firm OLIVARES. His work in OLIVARES mainly focuses in prosecuting Chemical, Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical patent applications, as well as in providing technical opinions regarding patent infringement. He has experience in conducting state of the art searches and drafting patent applications. Additionally, he is a member of the International Patent Law and Trade Committee, as well as of the Latin American Practice Committee of Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) organization.

John C. Todaro is an Executive Director and Managing Counsel in the Intellectual Property Group of Merck & Co., Inc.  John and his team support patent prosecution, due diligence studies and intellectual property counseling worldwide for Merck products, product candidates and development programs in various therapeutic areas, including immunology, neuroscience, oncology and infectious diseases.   John has been a member of the Merck IP group since 2003.  He previously was a senior counsel in the law firm of Darby & Darby P.C., in New York. John is a member of IPO’s International Patent Law and Trade Committee.  He is also a member of AIPLA and AIPPI, and serves as Chair of the AIPPI Pharma Committee.