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IP During a Pandemic: Business Agility and Ethics

Top in-house counsel discuss unique challenges presented by a pandemic to generating and protecting IP and closing IP transactions, ethical implications of distributed and remote working, including contract execution and privilege, and strategies utilized by business to thrive in these new conditions.  

Moderator:  Randi Karpinia, Sagacity Legal, PLLC  

Part I (3:00 - 3:30 PM): Creative use of trademark law to combat price gouging of N95 personal protective equipment during the pandemic.

Speaker:
Kevin Rhodes, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, 3M, St. Paul, MN

Part II (3:30 - 4:30 PM - Ethics CLEs): Ethical implications of distributed and remote working, including contract execution and privilege, and strategies utilized by business to thrive in these new conditions.

Speakers:
Phyllis Turner Brim, Deputy General Counsel, HP,  Seattle, WA
David Hricik, Professor, Mercer Law School, Macon, GA

Speakers

• Karpinia, Randi L.

  Sagacity Legal, PLLC | Founder

  Randi Karpinia, founder of Sagacity Legal PLLC, helps small business and entrepreneurs minimize their legal risks. With over twenty years of experience, Ms. Karpinia is a recognized expert in all aspects of business legal management with a focus on intellectual property, legal operations, and online legal protection. Ms. Karpinia’s credentials include a B.E.E, with honors, from Georgia Institute of Technology; a M.E.E. from Florida Atlantic University; and a J.D. Magna Cum Laude from Nova Southeastern University. Ms. Karpinia is admitted to practice law in Florida and before the USPTO and is a Florida Bar Board Certified Intellectual Property Lawyer.
• Hricik, David

  Mercer University School of Law | Professor

  Professor David Hricik received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Arizona, and his law degree with Honors from Northwestern University School of Law. He practiced with Baker Botts and litigation boutiques from 1988 to 2002, litigating cases primarily involving patent infringement, legal malpractice, and general complex commercial matters. He is now a solo practitioner, representing practitioners and others before the Office of Enrollment and Discipline and in other disciplinary matters, consulting with firms about ethical issues, and serving as an expert witness. In 2021, he became a registered mediator.
• Turner-Brim, Phyllis

  HP | Deputy General Counsel and Chief of IP

  Phyllis T. Turner-Brim is Deputy General Counsel and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at HP Inc. In this role Phyllis has global responsibility for HP’s IP strategies, enforcement, acquisition and monetization. Along with leading HP’s global IP team, Phyllis regularly advises HP’s C-suite and is a member of HP’s Global Legal Affairs leadership team. Immediately prior to HP, Phyllis was VP and Assistant General Counsel at Starbucks Coffee Company, where she led the legal teams supporting intellectual property, technology, marketing, global supply chain, food safety and quality.
• Rhodes, Kevin

  3M | Vice President and Deputy General Counsel

  Kevin Rhodes is Deputy General Counsel and Vice President at 3M, a Minnesota-based technology company with over $30 billion in annual revenue and operations in over 65 countries. Before joining in 2001, Rhodes was an IP litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. He is also the former president of the Intellectual Property Owners Association.