Expanding the Eligibility Requirements to Foster Inclusion and Innovation in the U.S. Patent System (RECORDING)

Michelle Bugbee is a Senior Counsel in the Intellectual Property group of Eastman Chemical Company in the Springfield, MA office supporting the Advanced Interlayers business.  Michelle has over 20 years of patent experience in the chemical industry and with sporting goods.  Prior to attending law school, Michelle worked for over ten years in various engineering and supervisory roles.  Michelle is currently a co-chair of the IPO Women in IP committee as well as a co-chair of the Women Inventors subcommittee of the Women in IP committee and assisted in the development of IPO’s Gender Diversity in Innovation Toolkit (launched in September 2019).  

Andrea Evensen is Lead IP Counsel for Siemens Digital Industries Software (DI SW).  She is passionate about technology and being a trusted business partner and leader who helps companies develop, identify, and protect their intellectual property. Her focus is global strategic intellectual property management for digitalization-focused software and hardware companies located throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. As a registered U.S. patent attorney, Ms. Evensen provides strategic IP counseling in a wide range of emerging and digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, product lifecycle management, computer aided design and manufacturing, electronic design automation, simulation, and cloud topics.  She counsels clients on every aspect of IP, including, inter alia, strategy, patent prosecution, freedom-to-operate/invalidity/risk/clearance analyses, licensing, IP-related commercial transactions, R&D agreements, mergers & acquisitions, due diligence, acquired company integration, IP-focused training, invention brainstorming/harvesting, pending/threatened litigations, copyright, and trademark protection.  Her litigation experience includes district and appellate court practice, mediation, and arbitrations involving allegations of patent infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, false advertising, fraud, and breach of contract.  Ms. Evensen was named an Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2009, 2011, and 2012.

Gracie Mills is an associate with Finnegan where she focuses her practice on patent litigation before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), federal district courts, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Before the PTAB, she has experience representing both petitioners and patent owners, and she regularly navigates issues specific to the interplay between PTAB and federal district court litigation.

Margaret O’Boyle is Counsel at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers. She focuses on complex intellectual property litigation with a particular emphasis on representing clients in the technology, pharmaceutical, biological, biotechnology, and chemical arts industries. She regularly assists clients with patent validity opinions and pre-suit investigations as well as patent litigation in federal district courts, before the Federal Circuit, and inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Jenna Saunders is an associate at Faegre Drinker where she supports client goals as they navigate intellectual property matters. Jenna is a recent law school graduate and joined the Minnesota Bar and Patent Bar in 2020. Prior to law school, Jenna was an engineer for a medical device manufacturer, where she designed and validated new manufacturing processes and test methods to be used in the commercial production of medical devices.

Kristine M. Yates is a patent attorney at Setter Roche Smith & Shellenberger, LLC.  Her practice includes patent preparation and prosecution in various fields of technology including Factory Automation Technologies, Virtual Machine Environments, Technologies for Enhancing Internet Security, Satellite Technologies, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, and Computer Systems and Application Software.