IIPI has both a Board of Directors and a Board of Advisers. The the primary role of the Board of Directors is to manage the governance issues related to operation of the Institute. The Board of Advisers’ role is to assist the Institute in developing and executing its activities.
Board of Directors
Honorable Bruce A. Lehman
Chairman and President, IIPI
Senior Counsel, Whiteford Taylor Preston
Bruce Lehman is the Chairman and President of the International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, based in Washington, D.C. The Institute promotes the creation of modern intellectual property systems and the use of intellectual property rights as a mechanism for investment, technology transfer and the creation of wealth in all countries of the world.
Lehman is a member of the Policy Advisory Commission to the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the specialized United Nations agency headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. He is president of the U.S. Committee for WIPO and is a member of several corporate boards, including PLX Systems, Inc.
From August 1993 through December 1998, Lehman served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks. As the Clinton Administration’s primary representative for intellectual property rights protection, he was a key player on these issues, both domestically and internationally. At the request of the President, he served concurrently in the fall of 1997 as acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which fosters and recognizes the work of America’s artistic and creative community.
In 1994, the National Law Journal, the largest-selling weekly publication for lawyers, named Lehman its “Lawyer of the Year.” In 1997, another publication, the National Journal, a Washington-based national magazine of public policy, named Lehman one of the 100 most influential men and women in Washington. The National Journal observed, “In today’s Information Age, the issue of intellectual property rights is no longer an arcane concern, but a vital part of U.S. trade policy. Since taking over his current posts in 1993, Lehman has been the Clinton Administration’s outspoken voice on such matters here and abroad.”
Serving as the leader of the U.S. delegation to WIPO’s December 1996 Diplomatic Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighboring Rights Questions, he successfully concluded negotiations which resulted in the adoption of two treaties: the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. These treaties, by updating international copyright law for the digital age, will greatly facilitate the growth of on-line digital commerce over the Internet. Likewise, Lehman’s guidance on the development of the intellectual property provisions of the Uruguay Round Agreement, now known as TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property), has enabled American creators and inventors to more easily protect their creations from piracy throughout the world.
Lehman engaged in streamlining the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to be more responsive and customer-focused. His efforts were recognized by Vice President Gore’s National Performance Review as a success story for government reinvention. As Commissioner, he held a series of public hearings throughout the country to solicit the views and concerns of PTO customers. Feedback led PTO to develop new guidelines for patents in the biotechnology field and establish partnership libraries in Sunnyvale, California and Detroit, Michigan, to provide better public access to PTO information and services. Lehman also chaired the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights of the National Information Infrastructure Task Force. In September of 1995, the Working Group released Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure, which examines the role of copyright law in cyberspace and makes recommendations to fortify copyright protection of intellectual property in the networked environment of the information superhighway.
For ten years prior to joining the Clinton administration, Lehman was a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Swidler & Berlin. There he represented individuals, companies, and trade associations in the areas of intellectual property rights. His clients were drawn from the motion picture, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, computer software and broadcasting industries.
Prior to entering private practice, Lehman worked for nine years in the U.S. House of Representatives as counsel to the Committee on the Judiciary and chief counsel to the Subcommittee on Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice. Lehman was the Committee’s principal legal adviser in the drafting of the 1976 Copyright Act, the 1980 Computer Software Amendments, and 1982 Amendments to the Patent Laws.
Early in his career, Lehman served as legal counsel to the Wisconsin State Legislature, as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, and as an officer in the U.S. Army. He was born on September 19, 1945, and attended the University of Wisconsin — earning a B.A. in 1967, and a J.D. in 1970. He is a member of the bar in the District of Columbia.
Honorable Ralph Oman
The former U.S. Register of Copyrights, 1985-1993
Ralph Oman is the Pravel Professorial Lecturer at the George Washington University Law School. Prior to his move to academia, Oman served as counsel for 15 years with Dechert LLP, an international law firm with more than 700 lawyers. He has more than 35 years of international experience in patent, copyright, and trademark law.
Before entering private practice in 1993, Oman served as the Register of Copyrights, the chief government official charged with administering the national copyright law. During his tenure as Register, he helped move the United States into the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the oldest and most prestigious international copyright convention, a goal sought by U.S. Registers for 100 years. Before becoming Register, he served in several other government positions, including chief counsel for the Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and staff director (and later chief counsel) for the Subcommittee on Criminal Law. Oman continues to participate in the global effort to increase the level of intellectual property protection. In 2002, he received the Jefferson Medal in recognition of his many contributions to intellectual property protection.
A former Foreign Service Officer and Naval Flight Officer, Oman is a graduate of Hamilton College (A.B., 1962) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 1973), where he served as executive editor of the Georgetown International Law Journal.
Lester S. Hyman
Of Counsel
Swidler, Berlin, Shereff, Friedman, LLP
Lester Hyman, a founding partner of the prominent Washington, D.C., law firm of Swidler & Berlin, specializes in creating and implementing legislative strategies and in resolving international disputes. His clients include Fortune 500 corporations as well as countries and major companies abroad.
As a protege of John F. Kennedy, he served with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and as Secretary of Commerce and later chairman of the Democratic Party of Massachusetts.
Hyman has been an advisor to eight U.S. presidential candidates. Following his participation in the Clinton-Gore campaign, he “vetted” candidates for Vice President, the Supreme Court, and the Cabinet and prepared the latter for Senatorial confirmation hearings.
He currently serves as a member of the board of the Center for National Policy, one of the country’s leading political think tanks, and is a member of the advisory board of the International Legal Studies Program of the Washington College of Law at American University. He has taught “Decision-making in Politics” at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University.
In 1990, he was a member of the International Observer Team, headed by former President Jimmy Carter, which monitored the first democratic election in the history of Haiti. Additionally, he has been deeply involved in peace resolution efforts in Liberia, as well as legal and governmental issues in Japan, Korea, France, Germany, England, Russia, Lebanon, and the Caribbean.
In 1994, the President of the United States, upon the personal recommendation of Hillary Rodham Clinton, appointed Hyman to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission. In 1995, he was elected to the board of trustees of the Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, California. President Clinton appointed Hyman to the eight-person United States Presidential Delegation that represented him at the historic December 29, 1996, Peace Accord signing in Guatemala, ending a 36-year civil war.
He lectures extensively throughout the country and has been described as an informative, entertaining and eloquent public speaker. Hyman has written extensively on U.S. and international issues, with his articles appearing in such publications as The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe. His biography appears in the current edition of Who’s Who in America.
Hyman is a member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbia bars. He is admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court. Hyman received his A.B. from Brown University in 1952 and his LL.B. from Columbia University in 1955 (Phi Alpha Delta).
Rick Reidy
Rick is an economist and public affairs advisor. Based in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, he has counseled companies, labor unions, and non-profit groups on financial and government funding issues.
Mr. Reidy was a founder and director of one of the first venture capital funds to invest exclusively in green environmentally-friendly companies. Mr. Reidy also founded a start-up venture that pioneered the concept of direct-to-consumer sales of recorded music.
He served previously as chief financial officer for a boutique property development group in Los Angeles, arranging the financial packages for the company’s residential and commercial building projects. Earlier, Mr. Reidy worked at a Washington, DC trade group representing employee-owned companies and firms financed by employee-leveraged buy-outs.
A graduate in economics of the University of Notre Dame, Mr. Reidy has also studied and worked in Mexico City, Boston and New York. He worked through his school years in radio broadcasting as an on-air announcer, talk show host, news writer and engineer.
John Weinfurter
John is President at KSCW, Inc., a consulting firm in Washington, DC. He joined KSCW, Inc. as a principal in June 2003 after spending six years as President and CEO of the Congressional Economic Leadership Institute (CELI), a bipartisan and bicameral educational foundation on Capitol Hill, founded and chaired by Members of Congress. Prior to his CELI position, Mr. Weinfurter spent 20 years as Chief of Staff to the late US Rep. John Joseph Moakley (D-Ma), who served in Congress from 1973-2001 and as Chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Rules from 1988-1994. John works on a wide range of issues, including defense, national intelligence, homeland security, appropriations and oversight, technology, intellectual property, education, small business, transportation, energy and the environment, financial services, banking, ways and means, and taxes. He is also the current President of the House Chiefs of Staff Alumni Association. John is a graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee and serves on a variety of boards at Marquette, as well as other charitable and professional associations.
Stetson Sanders
Stetson is a Foreign Service officer currently serving in Afghanistan. His past diplomatic posts include Tajikistan and India. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Stetson was the Executive Director of IIPI during its initial growth and development. Prior to working with IIPI, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Russia where he taught economics and marketing courses and developed several English and cultural programs. Following his Peace Corps service, Stetson worked in Saratov with the Eurasia Foundation, a USAID-funded non-profit development organization, to develop and implement rule-of-law and civil society programs.
Board of Advisors
Prof. Prabuddha Ganguli
CEO
VISION-IPR
Beginning his career as a Research Scientist in Basic and Industrial Research he has been involved in Technology Assessment, Forecasting and Transfer including Factory Management and Business Planning at Hindustan Lever Ltd for two decades. From 1991 to 1996 he was the Head of Information Services and Patents at the Hindustan Lever Research Centre. His last assignment at HLL involved Corporate Information Risk & Security Management and Knowledge Management. He is a qualified and a leading Patent Agent in India and an expert in IPR and Information Management.
His consulting group “VISION-IPR” offers services in management of IPR, information security and knowledge management. His clients include leading Pharmaceutical, Chemical and Engineering Industries, Educational institutions such as IIT Bombay, Public Sector Undertakings and several Entrepreneurs.
M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur) and Ph.D. from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai in Chemical Physics, he completed his Post Doctoral Research in Germany and Canada. He was a Visiting Scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 1981 before joining Hindustan Lever Ltd. as a Research Scientist.
An elected Fellow of the Maharastra Academy of Sciences, a recipient of the National Science Talent Scholarship (NSTS) and an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow (Germany) he has 45 publications in Chemical Physics, Chemical Processes, Specialty Materials. He also has over 50 publications, Books including researches papers in the field of IPR and is an invited contributor to international journals such as “The World Patent Information” & Business Briefings published from the UK.
Jack Granowitz
Senior Technical Advisor
Science and Technology Ventures
Columbia University
Jack Granowitz is Senior Technical Advisor to the Executive Director of STV, with special focus on STV Partnerships, an expanding technology transfer consortium of academic centers to enhance the impact and speed the use of university-generated discoveries. Mr. Granowitz joined Columbia University’s technology transfer office, Columbia Innovation Enterprise, in 1983, and served as Executive Director from 1988 through 2000. Under his leadership, the office was built and staffed with more than thirty people. Revenue from intellectual property and support for research and development grew to more than $167 million per year. As a result, Columbia University leads U.S. universities and research centers in revenues from the transformation of knowledge products to public use. Columbia University now has equity interest in over forty startup companies, several of which have gone public. As Executive Director, Mr. Granowitz directed several significant collaborative academic deals, most notably including a major research and licensing collaboration with Oxford University, Pasteur, and Eli Lilly corporation; formation of publicly-held Pharmacopeia, Inc. in conjunction with Cold Springs Harbor Laboratories; and establishment of MPEG LA, LLC., which pools MPEG II patents from Columbia and seven industrial partners. He led development of numerous major licensing and research collaborations, including the licensing of technologies for co-transformation, chimeric antibodies and diagnostic kits. Prior to joining Columbia University, Mr. Granowitz worked in the corporate health care industry. He was Vice-President and General Manager of the International Division of IPCO Corporation and before that was an executive with American Cyanamid Company and Pfizer, Inc. He was involved with the development and marketing of medical and pharmaceutical products including the first surgical scrub sponge and the first total hip prosthesis. He holds several patents related to medical and surgical devices. Mr. Granowitz received his BA and MS in Chemical Engineering from New York University and his MBA from Iona College.
Dr. GAO Lulin
Chairman
East IP
Dr. Gao is an uncommonly qualified expert in the field of intellectual property. He worked for more than 14 years in public office in the field of intellectual property protection in China and, although he has since retired from public duty, he is still active in the area as a consultant, panelist and professor in a number of private non-governmental organizations and universities. During the course of his career he has held the positions of Commissioner of the Chinese Patent Office and Commissioner of State Intellectual Property Office (China). He was a senior advisor to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for roughly two years and is currently the Honorary Chairman of the China Intellectual Property Society, Vice Chairman of the China Internet Society and a Member of the Steering Committee of the China Internet Network Information Center.
Dr. Gao has headed numerous delegations for the Chinese government at many international forums and diplomatic conferences on intellectual property. He has also held the Chair of the Paris Union Assembly and the WIPO General Assembly. In 1995, he was given the Grand Star Cross by the German government for his remarkable contributions to the field of IP protection and international cooperation and in that same year, the European Patent Office awarded him the International Cooperation Medal for his contributions to the field. He frequently gives lectures on intellectual property at the Peking University’s Law School and has published numerous works on patent prosecution and litigation, licensing, IPR protection, TRIPS Agreement and domain names. His publications include “How Do Foreigners Seek Patent Protection for Their Technology” in China Law; “Patent System and Market Economy” published in Reform and Its Theory, Tentative Ideas for Further Improvement of the Chinese Patent System (Chinese and English); “China and the TRIPS Agreement” (Chinese and English) which was presented at the APEC Industrial Property Symposium of The Development of Industrial Property Systems Towards the 21st Century in August 1996 in Tokyo, Japan; and “China’s Accession to the WTO and Protection of Intellectual Property” (Chinese and English), published in China Patents and Trademarks.
Dr. Gao is not only an intellectual property expert, but also has strong technology backgrounds. His first degree, a Bachelors of Science, was in prospecting technology and he earned a Ph.D in the area from one of the top schools in the former Soviet Union. For many years, he worked in research institutes, ministries, at the State Planning Commission and the State Economic Planning Commission as a technology specialist and although in later years the major thrust of his career shifted to intellectual property issues, he has remained active in the field. He is currently a Fellow at the Russian International Academy of Engineering. Dr. Gao speaks Chinese (native), English and Russian.
Mr. Ian Harvey
Founding Chairman
United Kingdom Intellectual Property Advisory Committee
Ian Harvey has an MA in Mechanical Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from Harvard University. He was with Vickers and Laporte Industries for ten years before seven years at the World Bank. He joined BTG in 1985 as Chief Executive Officer. Between 1988 and 1993 he served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology. He is a fellow of Nottingham University (1994), has been a member of the Advisory Panel for “SPRU” (Science and Technology Policy Research Unit of Sussex University) from 1989-2003; became a Director of the Intellectual Property Institute in 1998 and was appointed as Institute Chairman in July 1999. He is a director of Primaxis Technology Ventures Inc. and a member of the Appointments Committee of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. He is a Companion of the British Institute of Management and sits on the Companions’ Board, and is a member of Air Products & Chemicals Inc European Advisory Council. In 2001 he was appointed the founding Chairman of the UK Government’s Intellectual Property Advisory Committee.
Susan Mann
Federal Government Affairs Manager
Microsoft
Susan Mann serves as a Federal Government Affairs Manager at Microsoft. Prior to joining Microsoft, Susan worked for 9 years as a principal in the lobby firm of Griffin, Johnson, Dover, & Stewart, where she represented clients in the music and film industries. Susan has also served as Administrator for the Office of Legislative and International Affairs at the Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Department of Commerce, and as Attorney-Advisor in the same office. While at the Department, she participated in numerous multilateral and bilateral intellectual property negotiations and also served as an advisor on legislative and policy initiatives affecting the trade aspects of, and the protection of, intellectual property rights. Ms. Mann has focused on legislative and copyright matters as an associate of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison in Washington, DC. She has also served as a legislative/regulatory analyst with a trade association and as a congressional staffer.
Jacques Michel
Former Vice President
European Patent Office
Dr. Jacques Michel, the former Vice President of the European Patent Office (EPO), has contributed greatly to the patent world. He has served as a policy maker, politician, and diplomat. He held various positions in the French Secretariat of State for Research and the Ministry of Industry, related to problems of scientific and technological information issues. Dr. Michel also served as Assistant and then Senior Assistant at the Science Faculty of Paris-Orsay. Prior to that, he was appointed Science Attaché to the French Embassy to the United States of America where he monitored the fields of chemistry, materials, environment, nuclear technology, and other science and technological information. Dr. Michel has a doctorate in Physical Science.
Shinjiro Ono
Yuasa and Hara
Mr. Shinjiro Ono graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Chemistry (B.S.). In April 1970, he joined the Japan Patent Office where he initially conducted patent examinations in the Polymer Division. From1978 – 79, Mr. Ono studied abroad in the United States (Chemical Abstracts Service, American Chemical Society), and from 1982-85, he was First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Japan, Geneva. Subsequently, Mr. Ono held several high positions in the Japan Patent Office (JPO). From 1998 to 2001, he was Director-General of the Fourth (Chemical) Examination Department, then from 2001 to 2002, Director-General of Appeals Department. Mr. Ono was appointed Deputy Commissioner in June 2002 and served as his post until October 2005. During his tenure as Deputy Commissioner, he engaged in significantly strengthening the examination system in order to achieve timely high quality patent examination, which is essential to transform Japan into an intellectual property-based nation, and vigorously advanced Trilateral (EPO, USPTO, JPO) Cooperation in patent examination and the international harmonization of IP systems to globally support the acquisition of rights. He has taken initiative in establishing examination policies and in conducting comparative studies among trilateral Offices in fields of cutting-edge technologies, such as gene-related inventions and medical treatment, including medical inventions.