IP Center Event to Examine Intellectual Property Issues Caused by Pandemic
09/10/2020
An associate general patent counsel at Roche, a senior vice president for IU Commercialization, and legal counsel at Whirlpool Corporation will gather with Professor Xuan-Thao Nguyen to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their practices. The event, “Intellectual Property Issues during the Pandemic,” will take place October 2.
Mona Gupta, Associate General Patent Counsel and Head of Global IP Management at Roche Diabetes Care, Inc.; Pervin Taleyarkhan, ’13, IP Legal Counsel at Whirlpool Corporation; and Simran Trana, Senior Vice President for the Indiana University Innovation and Commercialization Office will delve into the challenges and opportunities their practices are facing because of the pandemic. Professor Nguyen, IU McKinney’s IP Center Director, will moderate the discussion. The panelists will identify emerging intellectual property issues in their areas of practice to explain new challenges caused by the pandemic and highlight new opportunities in addressing the challenges. In addition, the panelists will provide their insights as in-house attorneys and managers of intellectual property assets on how their companies and others continue to strive for innovations during the pandemic.
Gupta leads the global function of Roche Diabetes Care IP Management, where she is responsible for elaborating and implementing patent strategies, aligning patent activities, analyzing third-party competitor activities, patent clearance activities, patent acquisitions and licensing activities, and managing a global team of senior IP principals. She is responsible for managing patent litigations globally, post-grant patent proceedings, and other third-party conflicts. Prior to joining Roche, Gupta was in private practice in IP and patent law, and served as Senior Patent Litigation Attorney at BlackBerry.
In her role as IP Legal Counsel at Whirlpool Corporation, Taleyarkhan is responsible for ensuring proper legal mechanisms are in place to drive value for innovations and educating her colleagues on IP to help optimize the company’s IP protection strategies. Prior to joining Whirlpool, she was an IP attorney at the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization, where she provided strategies for the university’s IP portfolios, evaluated technology-based innovations for IP protection, drafted and prosecuted patent and trademark applications, and educated staff, faculty on the importance of IP in entrepreneurship and innovation, in addition to other duties.
Trana has 15 years of experience in product and business development, licensing, and venture creation. Prior to joining IU, she spent the past 10 years with Dow AgroSciences, now called Corteva Agriscience, the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont. Trana's responsibilities at IU’s ICO include enhancing strategic alliances with private- and public-sector partners and expanding the commercialization of IU discoveries and inventions, ensuring a service-oriented gateway for all members of the IU community seeking assistance with innovation and entrepreneurship.
Professor Nguyen is an internationally known legal scholar renowned for her expertise in the intersections of Intellectual Property, Contracts, Secured Transactions, Bankruptcy, Licensing and Taxation. She is the Gerald L. Bepko Endowed Chair in Law at IU McKinney. During the 2018-2019 academic year, she was the Garvey Schubert Barer Visiting Professor of Law at University of Washington School of Law. Professor Nguyen received Indiana University’s Trustees Teaching Award in 2020. She is the recipient of the 2016 Grant Gilmore Award from the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers for her outstanding publications: "In the Name of Patent Stewardship: The Federal Circuit’s Overreach in Commercial Law," 67 Florida L. Rev. 127 (2015) and "Financing Innovation: Legal Development of Intellectual Property as Security in Financing,1845-2014," 48 Indiana Law Review 509 (2015).
The event will take place online October 2 from noon to 1:15 p.m., and 1.0 hour of distance education continuing legal education credit will be available. To learn more, visit the law school’s website.
