Navigating intellectual property disputes requires strategic decisions on the most effective resolution paths. This session explores the full range of options available to tech companies—from mediation and arbitration to licensing, opposition, and litigation. Gain insight into when each tool is best suited, how to manage IP portfolios proactively, support innovation teams, and balance the operational and financial impact of disputes on your business.
• Explore the expanding role of mediation and arbitration as faster, cost-effective alternatives to traditional litigation in various IP disputes.
• Understand the potential impact of the new UPC Mediation and Arbitration Centre in Ljubljana, and how it may change dispute resolution for European patent holders and implementers.
• Understand how strategic licensing and portfolio management can help avoid costly conflicts and support innovation.
• Discuss when to escalate matters through opposition proceedings or litigation and how to prepare for large-scale enforcement campaigns globally.
Bas Van Buul
Director of IP
Inalfa Roof Systems
Jako Eleveld
Head of IP Licensing
Philips
Mitsuaki Masumura
Head of Licensing AP & EMEA
IBM
Bas Van Buul
Director of IP
Inalfa Roof Systems
The Great GLP-1 Debate: Strategic Playbook for Gyms
Winning in Corporate Wellness: Trends, ROI & Strategy
Yann Dietrichh
Group Head of IP
Atos
Is there a technology emerging more conspicuously than AI? Probably not. This session explores how AI is impacting patenting and patent litigation considerations worldwide. Understand the evolving challenges these technologies present, how patent enforcement strategies are adapting, and the legal frameworks, including the EU AI Act and DSM Directive, influencing IP management today.
- Discuss the intersection of AI development, patent creation, and prosecution, including implications of the EU AI Act and DSM Directive on IP strategy
- Understand why patent litigation remains the IP function’s primary focus amid AI’s rise, and the evolving landscape of trade secrets, copyright, and trademarks
- Discuss the impact of AI upon drug discovery and the inventorship considerations that companies must understand to make sure their products are litigation-proof
Peter Finnie
Partner
Potter Clarkson
Yann Dietrichh
Group Head of IP
Atos
Supplementary Protection Certificates remain a critical and complex aspect of pharmaceutical patent strategy. This session offers a comprehensive review of recent landmark rulings and evolving practices across Europe, providing life sciences patent holders with key insights to refine their SPC approaches in 2025.
• Explore pivotal cases such as Teva/MSD and Halozyme, and their impact on Articles 3(a), 3(c), and 1(b) concerning combination products and active ingredient interpretation.
• Understand how recent UK decisions, including Merck v Comptroller (2025), reflect divergence from broader European SPC practice, and examine emerging trends in antibody SPCs and unitary SPC legal status.
• Examine the expanded SPC Manufacturing Waiver regime since 2022, including conflicting rulings from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands on storage, export, and notification requirements.
• Gain practical guidance on managing waiver-related risks, protecting exclusivity, and navigating cross-jurisdictional challenges in SPC enforcement and litigation.
Karin Pramberger
Head of IP
Polpharma Group
Karin has been Intellectual Property Director at the Polpharma Group since April 2018. She is responsible for all patent and trade mark related activities. Prior to joining the Polpharma Group, Karin was Head of IP of Medichem, Spain, and worked in various positions within the patent department of Teva, Barr and Pliva. She spent 7 years in a law firm in Vienna, Austria, where she became European and Austrian patent and trade mark attorney. She studied Biotechnology in Vienna, Austria, and at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chemie de Paris, France. In 2017 she graduated with an LLB from the University of London. Since 2005 she has been a tutor at CEIPI, University of Strasbourg, for the pre-exam and the C-part of the European Qualifying Exam.
Sebastian Moore
Partner
HSF Kramer
Filip De Corte
Head of IP
Syngenta
Filip De Corte is Head of Intellectual Property at Syngenta Crop Protection, leading patent attorneys based in Switzerland, the UK, the US, The Netherlands and China. Filip joined Syngenta on October 1, 2013. Until then, he held the position of Chief IP Counsel Europe at Cargill (2008 – 2013). Before joining Cargill in 2008, he worked in the Johnson & Johnson patent department, working in Beerse with Janssen Pharmaceutica (1991-2004), New Brunswick (2004-2007), and Brussels (2007-2008). Filip has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, he is a qualified European Patent Attorney and passed the US patent bar exam. He has the qualification of European Patent Litigation from the University of Strasbourg. He also has an MBA of the Vlerick School of Management. Filip taught patent law in Antwerp under the auspices of CEIPI (Université de Strasbourg) as well as at the University of Leuven in the IPR management course and is a lecturer in the CEIPI patent litigation course.