2026 Electronic and Computer Patent Law Summit
The 2026 Electronic and Computer Patent Law Summit is a one-day program organized by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). This event brings together leading practitioners, in-house counsel, and academics to discuss pressing issues shaping patent practice today.
Key topics include evolving USPTO priorities, recent case law developments, challenges in semiconductor innovation, and the intersection of privacy, data security, and patent strategy. The summit concludes with an AI panel addressing inventorship, responsible use, and practical implications for both private practice and in-house teams.
Attendees will have opportunities to network with peers and speakers during the closing reception. Notable speakers include Dunstan H. Barnes, Sylvia Chen, Joshua Davenport, Michelle Falkoff, and Andrew Fano.
This summit is ideal for patent attorneys, in-house counsel, and academics seeking to stay ahead in a rapidly changing legal and technological landscape.
Speakers(10)
Andrew Fano
Clinical Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering
Andrew Fano is a Clinical Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Director of the Northwestern MBAi program, a joint AI-focused MBA offered with the Kellogg School of Management.
Andrew Thompson
Partner at EIP
Andrew Thompson is a UK and European Patent Attorney with 25 years of experience in the patent profession, focusing on electronics, semiconductors, and software. He has worked for various semiconductor and technology companies worldwide, from multinationals to start-ups. His practice covers patent drafting and prosecution, litigation support, and strategic IP advice, especially to start-ups and scale-ups. He heads up EIP’s Ampliphy service, offering strategic IP advice to companies in the electronics, semiconductor, and photonics sectors.
Christopher Johns
Partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
Christopher Johns manages drafting, prosecuting, and appealing patent applications related to multiple fields, including electronics, software, telecommunications, manufacturing, business methods, and other areas. He works with domestic and international clients on patent strategy and has litigated patents in multiple fields before the USPTO, district courts, and the International Trade Commission. He previously served as a USPTO patent examiner for nearly five years.
Dunstan H. Barnes
Partner at McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP
Dunstan H. Barnes practices in all areas of intellectual property law with an emphasis on protecting and analyzing design rights. His work includes drafting and prosecuting design patent applications and conducting opinion work and due diligence investigations. He also has considerable experience drafting and prosecuting utility patent applications across a range of technological fields and industries.
Joel Merkin
Managing Director at GLS Capital
Joel Merkin serves as a Managing Director at GLS Capital, one of the world’s largest private investment firms focused on litigation finance, where he is responsible for due diligence and monitoring of patent investments.
Joshua Davenport
Principal Shareholder at Banner Witcoff
Joshua Davenport is a Principal Shareholder at Banner Witcoff and a leader in generative AI. He has delivered numerous talks on generative AI issues, given interviews for multiple publications, and serves on the Customer Advisory Board of Solve Intelligence. He represents clients in all aspects of intellectual property matters, including patent prosecution, litigation, and counseling, and is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
Michelle Falkoff
Associate Dean and Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Michelle Falkoff is the Associate Dean of Legal Writing and Instruction and William M. Trumbull Clinical Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. She received her law degree from Columbia Law School and practiced intellectual property litigation in Silicon Valley before earning her Master of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Ryan N. Phelan
Partner at Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
Ryan N. Phelan is a registered U.S. patent attorney who counsels and works with clients in all areas of intellectual property, with a focus on patents. With a background in computer science and engineering, he has extensive experience in computer system, hardware, and software design, engineering, development, and related technologies. He represents numerous startup and Fortune 500 clients with patent matters in technical areas including artificial intelligence and machine learning, autonomous vehicles, and robotics.
Sylvia Chen
Senior Counsel at Google
As Google Senior Counsel, Sylvia works with firms and vendors worldwide to shepherd Google's patent portfolio. Prior to joining Google in 2014, she was a patent attorney at Motorola and an associate attorney at Fulbright & Jaworski LLP. She holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana and began her legal career at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Usha Parker
Partner at Perilla Knox & Hildebrandt
Usha Parker is a Partner at Perilla Knox & Hildebrandt, focusing on patent application drafting and all aspects of prosecution. She has drafted applications directed to wireless communication systems, electronic circuits, optical systems, automotive sensor and processing systems, medical and consumer devices, mechanical designs, and software. She has also written numerous articles on different aspects of patent procurement, including strategies for addressing patentability-based (§ 101) rejections.
Event Details
- Date
- June 10, 2026
- Location
- 🇺🇸 Chicago, United States
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Chicago - Magnificent Mile
- Pricing
- $55 - $795
- Audience
- Patent attorneys, in-house counsel, academics
- CLE Credits
- CLE accreditation pending
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