February 24, 2010
10:00 a.m.
USPTO Auditorium
Madison Building

This year’s speaker is:
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Sharon Barner

One hour of other time may be charged to:
Patent employees: PNCSPA-0000-090241
Non-Patent Employees: AVEORG-0065-A00151
with supervisor’s approval.

For information on attending remotely, please contact Matthew Troutman.

Sharon Barner, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO

Prior to joining the USPTO, Ms. Barner was a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP, and chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Department and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Her practice has included a focus on Asian practice, complementing her traditional intellectual property practice. Ms. Barner frequently lectured in both China and Japan and spearheaded her firm’s establishment of offices in Tokyo, Japan and most recently in Shanghai, China.

Ms. Barner is a leading attorney in the field of intellectual property law.  She has represented clients in a broad range of technologies from genetically engineered corn seed, to computer software to satellites. In over 27 years of practice, she has represented the interests of individual inventors, multinational corporations, manufacturers, service companies, municipalities, and universities in IP strategic counseling, litigation, and IP risk management. She has tried numerous cases to verdict including representing Pioneer Hi-Bred International in genetically engineered corn seed litigation, a six-week jury trial involving misappropriation of trade secrets, securing a $2.6 million damage award in Rockwell Graphics v. Dev, Inc.

Over the past ten years, Barner has been featured as a top intellectual property lawyer in The National Law Journal, Black Enterprise Magazine, Diversity and the Bar and IP Law & Business and was recognized in the Illinois Super Lawyers for her intellectual property litigation work.

Ms. Barner received her law degree from the University of Michigan in 1982 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, from Syracuse University in 1979.

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