IP Protection and Open Source Licensing for Innovation:
What You Should Know and Do - Before Inking the Deal

IP is one of the most valuable assets a firm may possess, but it is often not well understood or protected. Although IP laws are subject to change, there is enough conceptual stability to implement an IP protection plan before inking a deal or acquiring a technology – and even before the first meeting with a potential partner.

If you would like to know what you can and should do to protect your firm’s patents, know-how and ideas, plan on attending MRT’s exclusive new audio-session “IP Protection and Open Source Licensing: What You Should Know and Do Before Inking the Deal,” led by Microsoft’s Jim Markwith, Microsoft’s Open Source Software (OSS) Licensing Counsel, on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 from 1-2:30 pm ET.

Jim handles OSS due diligence efforts for Microsoft’s M&A activities, counsels product teams on the use and development of OSS-related products, and formulates Microsoft’s OSS strategies and policies. He has a wealth of experience in co-innovation as well as licensing and acquisition efforts.

This 90-minute presentation (60 minute presentation with 30 minutes Q&A woven throughout) will provide an overview of available IP protections, strategies for IP protection during the invention process, and suggestions for Open Source Licensing in acquisitions.

Jim will offer both the legal and R&D/innovation perspective on:

• How to protect IP before inking the deal

• About Open Source licensing issues in acquisitions

• How to balance the openness required for co-innovation with the need to withhold “trade secrets”

In addition, Jim will answer your specific questions and share many best practices relating to particular challenges. This session is recommended for CTOs and managers of technology development, product development, R&D and project teams, Chief IP Officers and corporate counsel. It will be especially valuable for those working on Open Innovation projects.

(For additional insights from Jim, please take a look at “Encouraging Innovation Through Accurate IP Valuation”  - brief registration required)

IP Protection and Open Source Licensing: What You Should Know and Do Before Inking the Deal is a 90-minute presentation with frequent opportunities for questions & answers and includes:

• Hardcopy of presentation slides sent to your office prior to session

• Your questions answered by an expert

Invite your whole team to join you - the fee is the same as long as you are on one line, just put it on speakerphone!

Can't make the time and date of the call? Join FastTrack and receive the transcript and download the mp3 of this and other audio sessions.

Jim Markwith
Attorney, IP&L
Microsoft Corporation

Jim is Microsoft’s Open Source Software (OSS) Licensing Counsel. His duties include handling OSS due diligence efforts for Microsoft’s M & A activities, counseling product teams on the use and development of OSS related products, and formulating Microsoft’s OSS strategies and policies. Prior to his current role, he was on Microsoft’s Corporate Standards Legal Team, where he negotiated and drafted complex multi-party interoperability related technology development agreements supporting the Windows Server and Tools, and the High Performance Computing product teams. He is a recent speaker at the Harvard Law School, where he spoke on OSS development, patents, and the proposed GPL3 license (Feb. 2007).

Before Microsoft, Jim was the Associate General Counsel for Extreme Networks, and Corporate Counsel, World-Wide Products and Marketing, for Adobe Systems, where he was the primary legal counsel for the Acrobat product line and the Corporate Marketing Department. Prior to Adobe, Jim was at a private law firm in the Silicon Valley, where he emphasized litigation and transactions. Jim is a Lecturer of Law at the Santa Clara University School of Law and an Adjunct at Santa Clara’s Leavey School of Business and Administration, where he has taught: The Protection of Intellectual Property; The Legal Aspects of Managing Technology; Legal Analysis of Intellectual Property Law; Law and Economics; The Social, Legal and Political Aspects of the Firm, and; Macroeconomics. Prior to his legal career, Jim was a U.S. Navy Pilot, and was appointed as an Instructor of Economics at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis MD. Jim is a member of the California Bar Association. He received his J.D. from The Santa Clara University School of Law, has a M.B.A degree, and received his B.S. in Finance from The California State University, Long Beach.