Mathias Karlhuber completed his studies in mechanical engineering, specializing in design technology, at the Technical University in Munich, the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg and the Rush Presbyterian Saint Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, IL, graduating in 1995 as a Dipl.-Ing. His training in intellectual property law took place at patent law firms in Hamburg and Berlin, the German Patent and Trademark Office, the Federal Patent Court and the District Court in Munich. In 1999 he was admitted as a patent attorney and accredited for representation before the European Patent Office and the European Office for Harmonization of the Internal Market. Mathias Karlhuber joined COHAUSZ & FLORACK in 2001. He became a partner in 2005. Mathias Karlhuber is mainly involved in obtaining and defending technical intellectual property rights in the area of railway technology, especially in running gear engineering, crash safety technology and aerodynamics. He also specializes in semiconductor lithography systems, micro-mechanics, medical technology, printing technology, data security technology as well as general mechanical engineering. Mathias Karlhuber speaks German, English and French.

Allon Stabinsky is the Director of Patent Litigation for Intel Corporation, the world's leading designer and manufacturer of advanced integrated digital technology platforms. Allon is responsible for Intel's worldwide patent litigation activities. Allon considers it a privilege to work with some of the world's finest lawyers on high stakes litigationinvolving cutting edge technology and legal issues. Allon earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Prior to joining Intel in 2005, Allon was in private practice with Latham & Watkins LLP, focusing on intellectual property litigation.

Mr. Yoshinori Kobayashi, co-founder and partner of the firm, worked as a chemical engineer at the Daio Paper Company after he graduated from Kobe University (Japan) with an MSc degree. His involvement in the improvement of paper-making facilities and technologies gave him ample experience in R&D. He started his career in an intellectual property law firm in 1981, and became a patent attorney. In 1998, he and Dr. Yoshitaka Sonoda co-founded Sonoda & Kobayashi. In the past 30 or so years, Mr. Kobayashi has accumulated a wealth of technical knowledge and expertise in the technical and legal areas relating to chemical and biochemical inventions. With his experience of working with domestic and foreign clients, Mr. Kobayashi is well aware of the importance of smooth communication, especially with Japan Patent Office examiners, which is a key factor in successful prosecution. His frequent visits in Europe throughout his career have given him a very good command of the English language.

Originally from Beijing, Dr. Zhu arrived in Japan in 1999 after graduation from a university in Beijing, China and obtained her PhD from one of the only two national women's universities, Ochanomizu University (Tokyo, Japan). She went on to do postdoctoral research in computational chemistry at Tokai University. In April 2011, she returned to Beijing and joined the IP department of a major Chinese law firm. During her stay in Beijing, she attended various training sessions hosted by the Chinese Intellectual Property Training Center, gaining familiarity with the Chinese patent system. She passed the Chinese patent bar exam in 2012. Dr. Zhu joined Sonoda & Kobayashi in April 2012, and has been applying her expertise in technical translation and the Chinese patent system. She is in charge of Chinese clients and business development in China.

Helen Cheng has practised Chinese intellectual property law since 2000. Her practice encompasses all aspects of intellectual property, including patent and trademark litigation and prosecution, licensing and technology transfer, IP due diligence, and client counselling in the pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology, telecommunication, diagnostics and medical devices industries. Helen has extensive experience in assisting multinational companies in structuring and negotiating cross-border IP and technology-related transactions. Helen also has many years of first-hand Chinese litigation experience including litigation risk assessment, defensive or offensive preparations, strategic planning, pre-suit investigation and evidence collection, preparation of pleadings and arguments, infringement analysis, trial strategy development, preparation of expert witnesses, PR strategies, and all other aspects of such proceedings. Her practice also encompasses licensing, patent and trademark prosecution, and client counselling in the pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology, telecommunication, diagnostics, and medical device industries. Besides the New York bar, Helen has both Chinese bar and Chinese patent bar qualifications. She holds a masters degree in bioengineering and an LL.M. from Stanford Law School. She has a strong technical background in life sciences. Helen is a frequent speaker at international IP conferences. She is proficient in Chinese and English.

Ir.Frédéric LEQUEUX is the Head of the Section "Management of external resources" in Directorate Classification Services at the European Patent Office (EPO). In this function, he coordinates the planning and provision of external reclassification and deep-indexing resources to the Directorate-General Operations of the EPO. He is also a member of the EPO's internal CPC project management team and more particularly for the aspects related to Quality Assurance. Before joining Directorate Classification Services in 2009, he had been working at the EPO since 2001 as a patent examiner in the field of rotary/oscillating pistons positive displacement pumps, compressors or engines. He graduated as a mechanical "ingénieur civil" in 1990 and also holds an engineering degree in the applications of petroleum products from the Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP) School.

Stefan Luginbuehl, a native of Bern, Switzerland, completed his law degree at the University of Bern, then worked at a well-established law firm specializing in business law, with offices in Zurich and Bern, and was admitted to the bar in 1999. In 2009 he received a PhD degree from Utrecht University (NL). Between 1999 and 2004 he worked for the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Berne where he has represented Switzerland in different bodies of the European Patent Organisation. Since 2004 he is employed in Directorate International Legal Affairs of the European Patent Office where he is inter alia responsible for the developments of the patent systems in China and Europe, with emphasis on the uniform patent litigation system and the EU patent (unitary patent). He participated in several Diplomatic and Intergovernmental Conferences on the reform of the European patent system and the international litigation system and is the author and editor of several books and articles on patent procedure and patent litigation.

Working languages: Chinese, German, English, French Yiming Sun has been in Germany since his graduation from Tsinghua University, and has the EU permanent residence permission. He is the first German Patent Attorney with Chinese nationality. He founded in Munich the firm HUASUN, the first firm of patent attorneys and attorneys-at-law in Germany founded by Chinese. HUASUN can provide all legal services in the area of German and European intellectual property rights protection using the Chinese language. Yiming Sun represents clients in procedures before the German Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office, the Office of Harmonization in the Internal Market (trademarks and designs) and the Federal Patent Court etc., including procedures relating to the grant, maintenance, and revocation of patents, trademarks, utility models and designs. He is also involved frequently in infringement cases and provides consultancy relating to IPR protection at German exhibitions, Freedom-to-operate analyses, etc.

Benjamin is a partner and the head of the China IP Practice for Allen & Overy. He has over 15 years of experience in protecting IP in China, U.S. and Europe. He concentrates on representing multinational companies in protecting, licensing, and enforcing IP rights in China and Chinese companies in resolving IP disputes outside China. With the unique combination of a Ph.D. in chemistry and strong expertise in international IP disputes, he is a trusted advisor to world's top companies on IP issues. His representative matters include: acting as lead counsel for multinational companies in patent infringement suits in China, including defense of Nokia in patent infringement suits brought by Qualcomm in China and handling of infringement suits against Chinese generic companies on behalf of global pharmaceutical companies; and resolving patent infringement disputes for Chinese companies outside China. He has Ph.D., Chemistry and qualifies for processing international intellectual property disputes.

Professional Qualifications:

Admitted to the State Bar of Texas, USA

Registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office

Academic Qualifications:

J.D., University of Texas School of Law, 1997

Ph.D., Chemistry, Rice University, 1992

M.A., Chemistry, Rice University, 1990

B.S., Polymer Chemistry, University of Science & Technology of China, 1987

Wei Wei graduated from Communication University of China. She joined in Patent Office of SIPO in 2000 and held a temporary post in Communication Appeal Division 2, Patent Reexamination Board of SIPO in 2012. Ms Wei currently serves as director for Image Division 1, Communication Invention Examination Department of SIPO. She has participated in comparative research on searching and procedural business rules in SIPO, USPO, JPO, EPO, and KIPO.

LLB of Southwest University of Political Science & Law; Vice researcher of Guangdong Intellectual Property Associates; Member of Guangdong Intellectual Property Experts; Over 10 years' experience in Intellectual Property management; Senior manager of Skyworth Holdings Limited, a listing company in Hong Kong, in charge of intellectual property management; Intellectual Property Manager of Shenzhen Coship Electronics Co., Ltd, a listing company in Shenzhen; Having created the Intellectual Property Department for Skyworth Group and Shenzhen Coship Electronics Co., Ltd; Being involved in setting up intellectual property management systems, patent and trade mark applications, managing of Copyrights, trade secrets, domain names, advising on intellectual property rights protection and enforcement, licensing and campaign, participating in patent licenses negotiations, advising on the import and export plans and strategies; Specialized in corporate intellectual property management systems, managing of patent, trade mark industrial design applications, intellectual property rights protection and enforcement and licensing negotiations; Researcher of Intellectual Property Research Center of Southwest Political Science & Law, Zhongnan University of Economic and Law, Shenzhen University, Jiangshu Province Intellectual Property Center; Lecturer of over 100 forums including but not limited to China & USA Intellectual Property Corporation Forum, China & UK Intellectual Property Corporation Forum, China & Japan Intellectual Property Corporation Forum and China & Europe Corporation Forum.

Before Samsung, Mr. Kim worked at law firms including DLA Piper, focusing on patent litigation in the US district courts and the International Trade Commission. His patent cases covered a wide range of technologies including telecommunications, semiconductors, displays and software. He also significantly contributed to Samsung Electronic's rise to No.2 in the U.S patent rankings. Recently, he received an IP Leader Award. Mr. Kim has a Bachelor of Science degree from Seoul National University, Master's degree from University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor from the University of Southern California.

In December 1969, Nippon Technical Service Co., Ltd. (NTS) was established and Mr. Akira Muto assumed the post of president. NTS is a patent information service company with a team of over 50 investigation researchers and specializes in providing international intellectual property solution. In April 2005, Akira Muto ran a patent investigation company in Seoul, Korea and acted as the president of the company. Business Area of the company covers various East Asian countries in the past six years. Mr. Akira Muto heads the team on patent investigation business and acts as the consultant of the company. In 2011, in terms of the rapid development of business internationalization, NTS was merged by Thomson Reuters, and now is named as NTS Business Division of Thomson Reuters. Mr. Akira Muto resigned as president and acted as consultant in NTS Business Division. Currently, he is responsible for international intellectual property activities. In 2012, Mr. Akira Muto established Techno-Commons and held the post of president up to now. The company specializes in solving IP issues of industrialization and patent licensing to support cutting-edge technology company.

In 1984 Dr. Bischof graduated in Surface-Physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. From 1984 until 1986 he worked as a postdoc at Fudan University in Shanghai. He entered in 1992 the Swiss Federal Office of Intellectual Property as a patent examiner and search expert. Due to the new public management system the office was in 1996 renamed "Institute of Intellectual Property" (IPI). The IPI became financially independent from the government and began to develop commercial products in the field of patent search and IP-training. Besides being head of the patent experts Dr. Bischof 's job now encompasses IP-training at schools and universities, for laymen and IP-specialists with a special focus on China. Dr. Bischof is also a delegate of the Chinese Swiss Working Group on Intellectual Property. In 2007 he spent 3 months in China for improving his Chinese language skills, attending and giving lectures at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. In 2012 he studied for 3 Months at the WenHua University in Taipei and gave lectures on IP p.e. in the TIPO (Taiwanese Intellectual Property Office).

Areas of Practice:

Strategic Planning for Enterprise Intellectual Property;Patent Valuation and Strength Assessment;Intellectual Property Business Operation, Licensing, Transfer and Trading;Patent Investigation for National Research Projects;Intellectual Property Risk Control for Corporate R & D Projects;Patent Mining;Patent Application and Portfolio;Patent Search and Patent Map Analysis;Patent Infringement Analysis and Patent Circumvention;Overseas Patent Early-warning;TRIZ Method.

Honorary Title and Experience:

Member of American Chemical Society, senior individual member of China Intellectual Property Society, distinguished expert in Yinhe National Training Project organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, honorary member of Honor Society Phi Beta Kappa, patent portfolio expert advisor at the Technology Division of (Taiwan) Ministry of Economic Affairs, managing director at (Taiwan) RIGHThere Cloud Technologies, Inc., assistant professor of technology management at Chung Hua University and of mechanical engineering at Yuan Ze University, member of the Committee on the Rights of R & D Achievements for National Nano Device Laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, life member of (Taiwan) Mechanical Engineering Society/China TRIZ Association/China Institute of Systematic Innovation, and project manager at the Technology Transfer Center under (Taiwan) Industrial Technology Research Institute. Che Huizhong is named to Who's Who 2011, and nominated as one of the 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century.