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DEEP DIVE: Digital Tokens

Tokenizing Creativity: Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Intellectual Property

Hear from industry and legal leaders about Digital Tokens and NFTs.  This panel will discuss the origins of Digital Tokens / NFTs, the current application and use of Digital Tokens / NFTs, and the legal challenges and future potential legal issues that may arise as Digital Tokens / NFTs continue to gain acceptance.  Moderator Allison Gaul, IP & Technology attorney at Millen, White, Zelano & Branigan, P.C. will moderate our esteemed panel of lawyers, artists, and entrepreneurs, for an in depth discussion of Digital Tokens and NFTs.

The Business of Digital Tokens: Turning Products into Tokens and Tokens into Products

Basics of NFT, Blockchain and Smart Contracts
Matthew S. Makover, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

Implementing NFTs in Creative Spaces
Halie Klein, Pace Gallery, New York, NY

Digitizing Physical Products IP Issues in the DigitalToken Ecosystem
Bennett Collen, Endstate, Boston, MA

BREAK 3:15 - 3:30 PM

Smart Art: Using NFTs to Protect Artistic Works
Dave Steiner, Meister & Steiner PLLC, New York, NY

Patenting Digital Token Innovations
Frank Gerratana, Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, PC

Protecting Against NFT Counterfeits
Michael Fluhr, DLA Piper, San Francisco, CA

Speakers

• Klein, Halie

  Pace Gallery | General Counsel

  Halie Klein is the General Counsel of Pace Gallery. As General Counsel, she negotiates and drafts agreements and provides strategic advice to Pace on all of the company’s legal matters, including contractual matters, artist agreements, corporate governance, compliance and, most recently, NFTs.
• Collen, Bennett

  Endstate | CEO

  Bennett Collen is the cofounder/CEO of Endstate, a brand creating the future of product ownership through NFTs and sneakers. He is also an Adjunct Professor teaching Business Applications of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency at Boston College’s MBA program. Prior to Endstate, Bennett was founder/CEO of Cognate, which pioneered the use of smart contracts/NFTs to represent trademark rights. Cognate Acquired by GoDaddy 2018.
• Gerratana, Frank

  Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo | Member

  Frank Gerratana is a Member at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo in Boston. Frank partners with innovators to develop and execute smart patent strategies that help them compete in global markets. His clients include growing, dynamic companies pioneering next-generation electrical and computer technologies including cryptocurrency and blockchain systems, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, and autonomous vehicles.
• Steiner, Dave

  Meister & Steiner PLLC | Founding Partner

  Dave Steiner has been advising clients for over 20 years on technology, media and intellectual property deals as well as trademark, copyright and art-related matters. Dave is also a working artist, and has had solo shows in New York, Los Angeles and Copenhagen. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Huffington Post and Hyperallergic.
• Gaul, Allison

  Boston Consulting Group | Legal Counsel

  Allison Gaul is Legal Counsel at the Boston Consulting Group, where she serves as technology and product counsel. She advises and supports BCG’s data products, GenAI development, AI/ML builds, and Metaverse + Web 3.0 offerings. Allison has a background in mathematics and computer science, and recently graduated from a program at the Harvard Business School focusing her studies in business analytics and data science pipelines. She regularly advises and speaks on topics such as technology contract risk mitigation, policy development, intellectual property, and data governance.
• Fluhr, Michael

  DLA Piper | Of Counsel

  Michael Fluhr counsels and defends companies in a wide variety of complex, commercial disputes. Michael focuses his practice on the financial sector, including the blockchain and digital asset space, where he advises and defends exchanges, issuers, NFT platforms and creators, and related companies. Sought-after for his deep understanding of the space and technology, Michael has been quoted in media and regularly publishes and speaks about issues germane to blockchain and digital assets, including securities analysis, intellectual property rights, and regulation of the NFT space.
• Makover, Matthew

  Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP | Partner

  Matthew S. Makover is a partner in the Intellectual Property Department of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in New York. Matthew's focus includes intellectual property transactions and counseling. Matthew has advised on intellectual property matters involving the sale and licensing of software, patents, trademarks and copyrights (including media content) and has experience with both private and public mergers and acquisitions, financings and capital market transactions. Matthew also has experience structuring and negotiating project and commercial agreements. Matthew has worked with a number of clients in the software, entertainment, cryptocurrency, gaming, fintech, media, retail, insurance, healthcare, consumer products, manufacturing, telecommunications, gaming and fashion industries.