IP Protection for Plant Innovation 2024

Michael is founder of his own IP and strategy consulting firm. From 2007 to October 2017 Michael was Head Intellectual Property for Syngenta Crop Protection AG based in Basel, Switzerland. He studied chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology in Hamburg, Germany, and Nanjing, China, and graduated with a Diploma in chemistry and has a Ph.D. in molecular biology. Michael Kock is also a qualified Swiss and European Patent Attorney.

Philippe specialises in intellectual property law, with a particular focus on patents, plant variety rights and parallel import issues. Philippe also has extensive experience in regulatory matters concerning the life sciences and agri-food industries. Other areas of practice include medical law, media law and fair trade practices in a variety of sectors. Philippe regularly lectures at conferences and seminars. He has also published articles in various leading legal journals relating to his area of expertise. Philippe worked as a consultant for the EU Plant Variety Office and is also an active member of the European Seed Association (ESA); the European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW); the Licensing Executives Society (LES) and the International Association of Breeders of Asexually Reproducing Fruit and Ornamental Varieties (CIOPORA).

Michael Keller is Secretary General of the International Seed Federation since 2014. Prior to taking up the position, he was with DuPont where he has acquired extensive experience in crop protection, food and feed issues and renewable resources. Michael started his career working for the French Senate and then had a leading role in the Mayors Association. He represented constituents' interests at the European level and regularly interacted with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank. Michael holds a bachelor degree in law from the University of Mannheim, a Post-graduate diploma in political science, a master in European law and has done a cycle of post-graduate European studies.
More information please click here.

Ms. Yolanda Huerta, a national of Spain, is Vice Secretary-General of UPOV since 23 October 2023. Since 2001, she has worked at UPOV, where she became Legal Counsel and Director of Training and Assistance in 2017. Ms. Huerta holds a Licencia en Derecho (LL.B.) from the University of Barcelona, and holds a LL.M., International Law, from the University of Montreal. Ms. Huerta has experience as an intellectual property lawyer and has worked as a Legal Officer at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Mr Kent Nnadozie is the Secretary of the International Treaty. Prior to his appointment as Secretary, he was the Senior Officer of the International Treaty, overseeing various technical areas of the Programme of Work of the Secretariat. Over the last decade, Mr Nnadozie has worked on legal and policy matters and intergovernmental processes, with both the International Treaty and FAO’s Commission for Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Before joining FAO, Mr Nnadozie was in private legal practice and academic research He has extensive practical experience in related international processes and legal instruments. A lawyer by training, Mr Nnadozie holds a Doctorate in Law (PhD) from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, with a focus on international relations and international legal systemic issues regarding genetic resources. Mr Nnadozie also has a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor’s in Law.

In 2014 Dr Chakravarty joined Technical Board of Appeal 3304, which deals mainly with appeals in the field of biopharmaceuticals, especially antibodies and their medical uses, as well as plants. Before joining the BoA, he worked as an examiner for 23 years in diverse areas of Biotechnology. He holds a degree in chemistry and biochemistry and a doctorate in plant molecular biology.
More information please click here.

Since June 2020 Anna Borràs is legal officer in the Biotechnology Unit of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety. She is responsible for matters relating to the preparation, interpretation and implementation of the EU GMO legislation, including the drafting of the Commission's legislative proposal on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed.

Nuria Urquía took up her duties as Vice President of the CPVO in January 2024. Before joining the CPVO, Ms. Urquía served as the Head of the Registry for Commercial and Protected Plant Varieties at the Spanish Plant Variety Office from 2015 on. Prior to that, she represented FAO at Mexico after having been posted at the FAO Headquarters in Rome in the seeds and plant genetic resources area where she was involved in the negotiations of the International Treaty on PGRFA, technical and legal cooperation on seed legislation in developing countries and internal coordination of FAO activities in biotechnology. Before FAO, Ms. Urquía worked at UPOV as senior officer for three years. She started her professional career as patent examiner on biotechnology inventions at the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office where she stayed for almost 5 years. Ms. Urquía holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and a Master of Science in Law and Policies of the European Union and has an extensive expertise in biotechnology and intellectual property rights.

Szonja is Hungarian and holds a degree in Law from ELTE Budapest University, an MA in French and European Law from Panthéon-Assas University (Paris), and an LL.M. in Intellectual Property and Competition Law from the University of Liège in Belgium. Before joining ISF, Szonja worked for nearly 15 years in Euroseeds first as the Legal and Policy Officer and then as the Director of Intellectual Property and Legal Affairs. Prior to that she worked at the Budapest office of the French law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel and at the European Commission.

Dr. Petra Jorasch holds a PhD in plant molecular biology from the University of Hamburg. She worked for the plant breeding association in Germany (BDP) in different positions dealing with IP, technology transfer as well as with regulatory issues concerning modern plant breeding methods. Petra joined Euroseeds in February 2017 as the spokesperson of the EU plant breeding sector on modern plant breeding methods and innovative technologies. Petra is also member of the ISF Coordination Group Plant Breeding Innovation.

Steffen has been with the German Federation for Plant Innovation for over eight years, focusing on plant innovation, IP, and contract management. Concurrently, he has been involved in research and result utilization. Steffen completed his doctorate in plant biochemistry at the University of Göttingen.

Claudia Hallebach is Head of Global Legal and Intellectual Property at the KWS Group. Besides her overall responsibilities for KWS Legal and IP strategy, commercial and RD transactions as well as corporate matters, she represents KWS in several industry associations such as ISF; Euroseeds and BDP for IP and Legal policy matters. Claudia is a lawyer by training and successfully completed a postgraduate LLM in European and International Laws at the University of London. She started her professional career at the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture followed by a position as Managing Director of the Working Group Agriculture in the Leading German Business Association (BDI).

Jasmina is Bayer Crop Science's Head of Genetic Resources since 2019. She is also a Bayer Science Fellow. Prior to Bayer, she worked as Genebank Lead for Monsanto and Genebank Curator for De Ruiter Seeds. Jasmina holds a Ph.D. in plant breeding and population genetics from the University of Hohenheim. As subject matter expert on access and benefit sharing (ABS), she serves on biodiversity and ABS committees of ISF and CropLife International, and chairs the ABS Task Force of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Sander is Heineken's in-house patent attorney, based in Amsterdam. He holds a PhD in bio-inorganic chemistry (Wageningen, NL and the Synchrotron Radiation in Daresbury, UK) and is a qualified European and Dutch patent attorney. Previously Sander worked at DSM (now DSM-Firmenich), first as a research scientist, then R&D manager, and finally as patent attorney.

Hazel is the Patent Counsel for Tropic Biosciences. Prior to joining Tropic Biosciences, she worked as European Patent Attorney in in private practice.

Brian Suh is the Director of Technology Commercialization at University of California, Riverside (UCR), Office of Technology Partnerships. He oversees and manages all aspects of Technology Commercialization (TC) and its staff, which includes: the development, protection, marketing, and commercialization of UCR’s campus research and intellectual property (IP); outreach to the UCR campus community on IP and technology commercialization; and corporate engagement and outreach to the external community on UCR’s research capabilities, technologies available for licensing and commercialization and to promote economic development. TC activities include the management of resultant plant IP from UCR’s breeding programs (citrus, avocado, turfgrass, cowpea, asparagus), including the commercialization of the ‘Tango’ mandarin and Luna UCR (tm) avocado, which was recently named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2023 in the Food & Drink category. Brian joined UCR in November 2015 after 13 years at a U.S. Navy laboratory, SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific in San Diego, California, where he last served as the Director of the Technology Transfer Office. He is a former Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Far West Regional Coordinator and recipient of 2013 FLC National Laboratory Representative of the Year award. Brian holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University and received his MBA from the Rady School of Management at University of California, San Diego. He also holds the Certified Licensing Professional (CLP) certification and Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP) credential.

Gert Würtenberger is a specialist in the fields of trademark registration and infringement litigation, plant variety protection (prosecution and litigation), negotiating licenses in relation to all kinds of IPR and EU Law, as well antitrust law issues related to these fields. He is author of the leading German commentary on national and European plant variety protection and is the initiator and co-author of the book European Union Plant Variety Protection. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Süddeutsche Schiedsgericht für Saatgut- und Sortenschutzstreitigkeit [Southern German Arbitration Court for Seed and Plant Variety Protection], as President of GRUR [German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property] and as Chairman of the GRUR-Fachausschusses für den Schutz von Pflanzenzüchtungen [GRUR Special Committee for the Protection of Plants Varieties].

Dan has a PhD in microbiology and cancer biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has a JD, with distinction, from Stanford Law School. Before attending law school, Dan was director of intellectual property at Third Wave Technologies, where he managed a large international patent portfolio and licensing and litigation matters. Dan’s practice focuses on life sciences intellectual property litigation. He counsels clients regarding disputes in a wide variety of technology areas, including agricultural technology. He publishes regularly on plant-related patents.

Recognized as 'one of the world’s foremost plant and agriculture IP lawyers,' Dr. Ward manages a wide range of IP. As founder and head of the Plant IP Group, Dr. Ward leads a team with a unique combination of legal expertise regarding patent, licensing, trademark, and litigation related to plants. The group has extensive experience in preparing and obtaining plant and utility patents for plants, PVP Certificates, and PBR. The Plant IP Group also advises and counsels clients regarding trademarks and plant variety names, drafts and negotiates licensing agreements related to plant IP, counsels clients regarding litigating plant IP cases in state court, federal court, and the ITC, and guides clients through the regulatory approval processes of the USDA, FDA and the EPA for gene edited and genetically engineered plants. Dr. Ward has managed numerous IP diligences for venture capitalists seeking to invest in early and mid-stage companies, underwriters involved in IPOs, and companies seeking to acquire or merge with other companies. Dr. Ward’s IP diligence work includes assessment of the strength and weakness of patent portfolios, evaluation of freedom to operate issues, and strategic recommendations for maximizing value of patent portfolios going forward. In the plant IP arena, Dr. Ward was recognized as one of the Top 50 IP Trailblazers & Pioneers by the National Law Journal in 2014 and as an Innovator by The Recorder in its inaugural Innovators awards. Dr. Ward holds a Ph.D. in plant physiology (biochemistry) and an M.S. in agronomy from the University of California, Davis, a B.S. in biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. He was a post-doctoral fellow in plant molecular biology at the Harvard Medical School and the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he worked on the Arabidopsis genome project.

A partner of Dannemann Siemens Advogados, Gustav is an attorney at law licensed in Brazil and has a degree in Electronic Engineering. His practice areas include amongst other litigation, patents and plant varieties. He is also IP law professor at the São Paulo Law School.

At van Rooy is Chair of the Board and a Director in the firm’s Patent Department. He was admitted as an attorney to the High Court of South Africa in 1995 and registered as a patent attorney in 1998. At has more than 30 years’ experience in specialist intellectual property law litigation and has successfully represented a wide range of international clients in patent and copyright litigation up to the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He has extensive experience, i.a. in patent, plant breeders’ rights and GMO litigation, patent filing and prosecution in a broad variety of jurisdictions and fields of technology. His technical expertise includes i.a. plant breeders' rights and genetically modified organisms. He has a BSc Chemistry and Biochemistry from North-West University and B Proc from UNISA.

Elliot has been advising Global companies on IP strategies for almost 26 years, the last 16 of these from Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, where he currently lives and works. He specialises in China patent and trade secret litigation. He represents Europe's leading companies in enforcing their patents and utility models and over the last 7 years or so has developed a reputation for defending them against patent infringement lawsuits brought by Chinese competitors.

Kerstin has been with Maiwald since 2015, from 2019 on as a European Patent Attorney. Her practice areas are pharma and biotech, including Crispr/Cas technologies, where she focuses on patent prosecution and portfolio management, filing strategies, drafting patent applications, and opposition proceedings. Kerstin studied molecular biology and microbiology with a focus on antibiotic resistance and redox regulation in mycobacteria and obtained a Ph.D. in molecular biology and microbiology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. As a post-doctoral scholar, she worked first on redox homeostasis and redox-stress response in mycobacteria and later - as associate scientist/postdoctoral fellow at Merck Research Laboratories - on the development of antibiotics against Staphylococcus, in particular on biofilms and wall teichoic acids.