David Kline was a Pulitzer-Prize-nominated journalist and author who covered some of the world’s most important stories over the last 30 years for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Rolling Stone, the Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, CBS and NBC TV, and other national media. He was also a contributing writer for Wired magazine for many years. In more recent years, Kline wrote on a variety of business and technology topics, with a special focus on intellectual property issues. His bestselling book Rembrandts in the Attic from Harvard Business Press is considered the seminal work on patent strategy within corporate America, and it has helped to shape the direction of corporate and policy-maker thinking on patent issues. In 2016, Kline was named one of the “World’s Top 300 Intellectual Property Strategists” by Intellectual Asset Management magazine.
David Kappos is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost leaders in the field of intellectual property, including intellectual property management and strategy, the development of global intellectual property norms, laws and practices as well as commercialization and enforcement of innovation based assets. From August 2009 to January 2013, Mr. Kappos served as Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In that role, he advised the President, Secretary of Commerce and the Administration on intellectual property policy matters. As Director of the USPTO, he led the Agency in dramatically reengineering its entire management and operational systems as well as its engagement with the global innovation community. He was instrumental in achieving the greatest legislative reform of the U.S. patent system in generations through passage and implementation of the Leahy Smith America Invents Act, signed into law by the President in September 2011.