Patent Public Advisory Committee Members Biographical Information

Earl "Eb" Bright

Mr. Bright currently serves as the President and General Counsel at ExploraMed Development, LLC, as well as the Founder and CAO at Revelle Aesthetics. He also serves as the Director of IP Policy at Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. Mr. Bright is a patent attorney and has served on the executive management teams of many start-up companies in multiple capacities. He is a co-founder and serves on the Alliance for U.S. Startups and Inventors for Jobs advisory committee (a group of inventors, startup companies, venture capitalists, incubators, and research institutions). Mr. Bright has studied and published many articles on patent policy, collaborated with the USPTO to teach entrepreneurship to patent examiners, testified to the U.S. Senate, and assisted many judiciary committee attorneys with legislative language. He is an inventor on sixteen U.S. patents. His term as a member began on December 1, 2023.

Loletta (Lolita) Darden (Chair)

Ms. Darden is the Visiting Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the IP and Technology Clinic at The George Washington University Law School, where she has been since August 2022. Previously, Ms. Darden was an Associate Clinical Professor (with tenure) and Director of the IP Clinic at Suffolk University Law School for six years. Before joining Suffolk University, Ms. Darden worked for Sachnoff & Weaver, where she was a Partner and Patent Prosecution Department Chairperson. Prior to joining Sachnoff & Weaver, Ms. Darden was Chief IP Counsel for a small consumer products company, where she managed the company's IP prosecution and litigation portfolios and pioneered a strategy for strategically using and creating IP assets to enhance the company's competitive strength. As a law professor, Ms. Darden has taught IP survey, trademark law and practice, and patent law and practice. Ms. Darden is also a C-IP² Scholar at the George Mason University Center for Intellectual Property x Innovation Policy, where her scholarship focuses on the protection and preservation of IP rights for creators and inventors. She is also a member of the Giles S. Rich American Inn of Court. Her term as a member began on December 1, 2022.

Charles Duan (Vice Chair)

Mr. Duan is a Senior Policy Fellow in the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at the American University College of Law.  He is also Director, Technology and Innovation Policy, at the R Street Institute, a nonprofit, public policy research organization in Washington, D.C. Prior to his current positions, Mr. Duan was Director, Patent Reform Project, at Public Knowledge, a nonprofit public interest organization, and he was a Research Fellow for Professor Paul Ohm at the Colorado Law School, a position funded by the National Science Foundation. He worked as a patent litigation and prosecution attorney at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP, as well. His term as a member began on December 1, 2021.

Henry Hadad

Mr. Hadad is Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Innovation Law, at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he is Chief Intellectual Property (IP) Counsel, leading a team supporting the company’s efforts to discover, develop and deliver groundbreaking treatments for patients with serious unmet medical need. He was previously Chief IP Counsel at Schering-Plough Corporation and held roles at Johnson & Johnson and in private practice. During his legal career, Mr. Hadad has represented the innovative biopharmaceutical, generic, medical device and consumer goods industries, with a focus on IP procurement, litigation, transactions and policy in the United States and internationally, and is an active member of numerous IP educational, policy and advocacy organizations. Mr. Hadad is a passionate advocate for a strong and predictable IP system that drives innovation across all technologies, and in developing a diverse and inclusive pipeline of future leaders in the IP profession and the innovation ecosystem. He is a board member of the Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) Association, served as its President (2018-2019), and is currently chair of its Amicus Committee. Mr. Hadad holds a B.S. in Biology from Haverford College and a J.D., cum laude, from the American University, Washington College of Law. His term as a member began on December 1, 2022.

Suzanne Harrison

Ms. Harrison is the Founder of Percipience LLC, a board-level advisory firm focused on managing and developing IP strategy, quantifying and mitigating IP risk, and increasing IP value capture. Ms. Harrison was previously a Director with Inflexion Point Strategy, an IP investment bank providing IP transaction assistance, and was the CEO and Founder of Gathering2.0, the first online community to increase information transparency and efficiency in the patent transaction market. She is also the co-author of three published books, each of which takes an in-depth look at the concepts of intellectual asset management and highlights the winning strategies used by large companies to maximize the value of their IP. Her term as a member began on December 1, 2021.

Lateef Mtima

Mr. Mtima is a professor of law at the Howard University School of Law, and the founder and director of the Institute for IP and Social Justice, an accredited NGO member of WIPO, that advocates for core principles of socially equitable access, inclusion, and empowerment in the development and implementation of the IP ecosystem. Professor Mtima has testified before Congress in support of IP social justice legislation, including the Unleashing American Innovators Act, which President Biden signed into law on December 29, 2022. He has served as a member of the Advisory Council for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims; President of the Giles S. Rich Inn of Court for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; a member of the BNA Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal Advisory Board, the founding editorial board for the ABA IP periodical, Landslide; a Thomas Edison Innovation Law and Policy Fellow, Center for IP x Innovation Policy, Antonin Scalia School of Law, and a Distinguished Libra Visiting Scholar in Residence at the University of Maine School of Law. His term as a member began on December 1, 2023.

Heidi S. Nebel

Ms. Nebel serves as the Managing Partner and Chair of the Biotechnology & Chemical Practice Group of McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC. Ms. Nebel has over 29 years of experience obtaining patents and designing IP strategy in the areas of biotechnology, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. She serves as an advocate for her clients and believes that the best results come from working in close association with USPTO examiners. Her clients include over 40 universities and research institutions, as well as fortune 500 companies around the world. She is also an active member of ChIPs®, a nonprofit organization that advances and connects women in technology, law, and policy. Her term as a member began on December 1, 2021.

Marvin J. Slepian

Dr. Slepian, M.D., J.D. is Regents’ Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering (Associate Department Head), at The University of Arizona. He is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Accelerated Biomedical Innovation (ACABI), a university-wide “creativity engine” driving innovation and novel solution development for unmet medical needs. Dr. Slepian has had an extensive research career leading to the development of innovative diagnostics and therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases including drug-eluting stent technologies and the only FDA approved total artificial heart. He is an elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES); a member of BEMA – the Biomaterials Engineering Materials and Applications (BEMA) Roundtable, of the National Research Council of the National Academies; and recently completed his J.D. at University of Arizona Law. He is a named inventor on more than 60 patents covering a broad range of technologies. His term as a member began on December 1, 2023.

Olivia Tsai

Ms. Tsai is Assistant General Counsel and Head of IP at Cruise, a leading autonomous vehicle company. At Cruise, she leads the team responsible for IP protection and strategy. She founded Cruise’s Asian and Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group. Prior to Cruise, Ms. Tsai counseled in cutting edge technology areas at Cisco, Sandia National Laboratories, and in private practice. She has a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a JD from Case Western Reserve University. Ms. Tsai serves as Co-Founder and Corporate Secretary of Allied Transportation Association to bring together collaborative IP opportunities in the transportation industry. Ms. Tsai also serves as Founding Member of Advancing Diversity Across Patent Teams (“ADAPT”) to promote the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion among patent professionals. Her term as a member began on December 1, 2022.

 

Union Representatives

  • Kathleen Duda
  • Catherine Faint
  • Vernon Ako Towler