The IP Litigation North America Summit

IP Litigation North America 2026 takes place September 14-16 at The Royal Sonesta Boston, Cambridge, bringing together three co-located, concurrent events under one roof: Trade Secret Legal Protection (Sept 14-15), Pharma and Biotech Patent Litigation (Sept 15-16), and Tech and Innovation Patent Litigation (Sept 15-16). Together they form the most comprehensive IP litigation summit in the US, built for senior in-house counsel, litigators, judges, and institutional decision-makers across the sectors facing the highest patent and trade secret litigation risk.

The agenda is built in collaboration with sector-specific in-house advisory boards and reflects the priorities of North America's most litigation-heavy industries, from pharma, biotech, and medical devices to AI, software, semiconductors, automotive, and advanced manufacturing. Sessions cover the convergence of patents and trade secrets, SEP and FRAND licensing disputes, trade secret misappropriation and protection frameworks, AI, data and evidentiary challenges, PTAB, Federal Circuit and district court developments, and judicial insight from key US courts and the Unified Patent Court. New for 2026, the Tech and Innovation track hosts a dedicated MedTech IP Litigation Strategy and Exchange programme, featuring MedTech-specific roundtables and a leadership panel built around the challenges of patenting at the intersection of technology and healthcare.

Confirmed speakers include Klaus Grabinski, President of the Court of Appeals at the Unified Patent Court; William Young, US District Judge for the District of Massachusetts; Martin McGee, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge, North Carolina; and senior in-house counsel from Abbott, Genentech, Dell Technologies, Olympus, Matthews International, Intuitive, and ZOLL, among others.

Who should attend:

In-house IP, patent, and litigation counsel from technology, pharma, biotech, medical device, and manufacturing companies form the core audience, making up roughly half of all attendees, and go complimentary as Tier 1 delegates. If you hold in-house responsibility for patent strategy, trade secret protection, litigation management, or IP risk, this is where your peers, opposing counsel, and the judges shaping the case law will be in the room.

Private practice litigators and partners specialising in patent or trade secret disputes attend to meet in-house counsel directly, build relationships ahead of instructions, and benchmark strategy against peers and the bench. A pre-scheduled 1-2-1 meeting programme is built into the agenda specifically to facilitate these conversations. Solution providers, including litigation funders, forensic and damages experts, e-discovery and data forensics firms, patent search and translation providers, and legal technology vendors, attend to reach both in-house and law firm buyers actively managing live disputes.

Why attend:

Complimentary passes for in-house counsel remove the usual barrier to attendance, and with roughly 50% of the room made up of senior in-house IP leaders, the concentration of genuine decision-makers is the defining feature of the event. A structured 1-2-1 meeting programme means attendees can arrange targeted conversations ahead of arrival rather than relying on chance encounters. CLE credits are available across all three tracks. And because the three events run concurrently at the same venue, delegates registered for one track can cross into sessions on the others, giving a genuinely cross-sector view of how patent and trade secret disputes are converging.

Venue:

The Royal Sonesta Boston sits on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge, minutes from downtown Boston and Logan International Airport, in the heart of the region's biotech, pharma, and technology corridor. The venue offers dedicated plenary and breakout space built to run three concurrent event streams, along with riverside networking areas, on-site accommodation, and full AV and hybrid event infrastructure.

Format:

Trade Secret Legal Protection runs September 14-15 and is unique among the three tracks in covering both protection strategy and litigation, from employee mobility risk and trade secret identification frameworks to injunction strategy and misappropriation damages. Pharma and Biotech Patent Litigation and Tech and Innovation Patent Litigation both run September 15-16, covering Hatch-Waxman, BPCIA and biosimilar disputes, and SEP licensing, PTAB, ITC Section 337, and patent damages reform, respectively.

Registration, agenda details, and speaker information are available on request. For registration queries, contact the events team at [email protected] or +44 (0)20 3696 2920.

URLs:

Brochure: https://go.evvnt.com/3735033-0?pid=5248

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3735033-1?pid=5248

Prices:

In-House Counsel: USD 0.00,

Law Firms: USD 3499.00,

Solution Providers: USD 4499.00

Speakers: Kevin Yurkerwich, Senior IP Counsel, Novartis, Chuck Sholtz, Head of IP, Verdiva Bio, Joshua Mack, Executive Director, Patent Litigation Counsel, Halozyme, Inc, Aaron Clay, Director - IP Litigation, Merck, David Schramm, Head of IP Litigation, Bayer, Shana Cyr, Head of Patent Litigation, Bristol Myers Squibb, Gael Tisack, Divisional VP and Associate GC, Abbott, Don Huddler, Assistant GC, GSK, Kristin Cooklin, Vice President IP, Recordati, Daniel Weinger, Director, Fortress Investment Group, Kyle Vallecillo, Senior IP Counsel, LG Energy Solution, Peter Flora, Chief of IP, AngioDynamics, Denise Lane, Senior VP and Global IP, Olympus, Ksenia Thakistova, Chief Legal Officer, LCM Biosensor Technologies, Noel Egnatios, CEO and Chief Legal Officer, DivX, Reed Willis, Litigation Director, Align Technology, Tom Brown, Head of IP Litigation, Dell Technologies, Philip Soo, Assistant Chief IP Counsel, 3M, Damon Gupta, Senior Patent Counsel, Genentech, Julie Lappin, Senior IP Counsel, Nestle, Carole Boelitz, VP, Global IP, Schneider Electric, Jason Penninger, Senior Corporate Counsel, Premier Inc, Andrea Merin, Senior Patent Counsel, Johnson and Johnson MedTech, Greg Penoyer, Assistant General Counsel, Hyper

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