Licensing Intellectual Property
Thursday, March 25, 2010
6 to 8 pm; reception to follow
Rhode Island Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
One Davol Square, Second Floor
Providence, RI  02903
Online registration for this event is closed.
On-site registrations will be taken on a first-come,
first-served basis.  Cash or checks only, please.

Panelists' Biographies

Patricia Davis,
Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Palomar Medical Technologies
Patricia joined Palomar Medical Technologies in August 2001. She is a Registered Patent Attorney and has over 10 years of legal experience with high tech companies. As General Counsel to Palomar, Patricia is responsible for legal functions, including intellectual property protection and licensing, corporate issues, FDA regulatory issues, contract negotiation, litigation and employment issues. Prior to joining Palomar, she served as Corporate and IP Counsel to telecommunication start-up, Equipe Communications Corporation. Prior to joining Equipe, she served as Senior Patent Counsel to Boston Scientific Corporation. Prior to that, she was an Associate with the law firm of Fish & Richardson. Before becoming an attorney and after receiving a BSEE from Northeastern University, Patricia held various engineering positions at Digital Equipment Corporation, including Design Engineer and Senior Design Engineer. She left engineering to work in Digital's Legal Department as a patent agent while she attended night law school and received her Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude from Suffolk University Law School.

Thomas Engellenner
Partner, Nutter McClennen & Fish
Tom is a Partner and Chair of Nutter's Life Sciences practice group, as well as co-chair of the firm's Patent practice group. His practice includes patents, licensing, trademarks, copyrights and litigation. He has particular expertise in the patenting and licensing of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.  He began his career as a trial attorney for the US Environmental Protection Agency.  Prior to entering the private practice of law, he worked for MIT as a patent and licensing attorney in their Office of Technology Licensing.  Since entering private practice, Tom has obtained over one hundred patents for MIT.  Other notable clients include Alcon Laboratories (laser vision correction), Abiomed (the artificial heart project) and Children's Hospital Boston (stem cells and tissue engineering).  He has over 25 years of experience in prosecuting and litigating patents and advising clients generally on intellectual property strategies. His litigation experience includes patent infringement cases in the US federal courts, Canada, the Tokyo District Court in Japan and the Dusseldorf Federal Court in Germany, as well as opposition and validity challenges hearings before the Japanese, European and German Patent Offices.  Active in the bar, Tom served as President of the Boston Patent Law Association in 2000-2001.  He is a member of the American, Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association.  Tom is a member of the Licensing Executives Society and the Association of University Technology Managers and has served on the Editorial Advisory Board of the AUTM Journal. In the community, Tom is a trustee of the All Newton Music School.

Katherine Gordon
Managing Director, Technology Ventures Office, Brown University
Katie joined Brown University as Managing Director of the Technology Ventures Office in the fall of 2009.  She was previously at Harvard University where, for the last five years, she was Director of Business Development in the Office of Technology Development.  She oversaw development and commercialization of new technologies from a number of areas at Harvard Medical School and Dental School and had responsibility for establishing and negotiating licensing relationships, comprehensive research alliances and start-up companies.  Earlier in her career, Katie consulted at early stage biomedical companies on strategic planning, operations/management and fundraising.  She founded and ran Apollo BioPharmaceutics, a biotechnology company that developed neuroprotective compounds for Alzheimer's Disease and ophthalmic indications.  She began her career at Genzyme Corporation.

James Runstadler
Vice President, Licensing, Textron Innovations Inc.
James directs Textron Innovations Inc., Textron's intellectual property management company. Textron Innovations manages Textron’s brand, copyright and patent licensing programs, as well as oversees company intellectual property processes, strategies, policies and procedures.  James has overseen completion of over 150 license agreements for Textron patents, trademarks, copyrights and know-how. In his 20-year career with Textron he has held numerous positions in engineering, marketing and product development. James is on the Board of the University of Rhode Island Research Foundation, URI’s intellectual property licensing foundation.  He has an MBA from Boston University, an MS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and BE and AB degrees from Dartmouth College.

Jasbir Sagoo
Patent Attorney, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research
Jasbir joined Novartis in August 2005. She is a Registered Patent Attorney and has over 10 years of legal experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical area. As Patent Counsel at Novartis, Jasbir is responsible for  intellectual property protection, transactions and due diligences. Prior to joining Novartis, she was an associate at the law firms of Nutter McClennen and Fish, LLP and Lahive and Cockfield, LLP. Jasbir earned her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Nottingham, England and her Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School.