Speakers

Christopher V. Carani is a partner at McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd. in Chicago, which he joined in 1995.Widely recognized as a leading authority in design law, Chris has written and lectured on the field for more than 25 years.

Chris has extensive experience litigating design patent cases before U.S. district courts, the Federal Circuit, U.S. Supreme Court, and International Trade Commission. In 2023, he successfully argued Columbia Sportswear v. Seirus, a case of first impression before the Federal Circuit that established new law concerning comparison prior art in design patent infringement analysis. He has also authored amicus briefs in significant design cases, including Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa, LKQ v. GM Global Technology, and Range of Motion v. Armaid.

Chris advises many of the world’s most design-focused companies on developing and enforcing global design-right portfolios, including the leading filer of U.S. design patents. He has procured thousands of design rights in the United States and more than 70 countries.

For the past 15 years, IAM has included Chris in the IAM Patent 1000, calling him one of the nation’s “pre-eminent design law experts.” He also has been named to the IAM Strategy 300 since 2019.

Chris serves on the Board of Directors of AIPLA and chairs AIPPI’s Designs Committee. He is a past president of AIPPI-US and former chair of both the AIPLA and ABA design rights committees.

Chris previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Rebecca R. Pallmeyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He earned his B.S. in Engineering from Marquette University and J.D. from the University of Chicago.

Evi Christou, a shareholder at Banner Witcoff, focuses her practice on trademark prosecution, enforcement, and brand portfolio management, as well as licensing, copyright, and domain name matters.

Evi assists clients in various industries with all stages of domestic and international trademark prosecution and provides consultation and strategy with respect to the selection, clearance, enforcement, and licensing of trademarks and copyrights. Evi also represents clients in district court litigation and proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Evi’s practice also includes negotiating and preparing intellectual property licenses, assignments, and consent agreements and instituting domain name arbitration proceedings before the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). 

Michael Conway is a Partner in the Intellectual Property team at Birketts LLP, a UK national top 50 law firm, and a Chartered Trade Mark Attorney. He has a substantial designs practice, advising on both registered and unregistered design rights and helping clients develop effective strategies for the clearance, protection and enforcement of designs. His designs work covers both 2D and 3D designs across a broad range of sectors, including consumer products, technology, engineering and manufacturing.

Michael also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Copyright Law from King’s College London, complementing his designs practice with a broader understanding of copyright protection. His studies included comparative consideration of European and US copyright law, giving him an international perspective on the relationship between copyright and design protection.

Michael works with an international client base across consumer-facing and business-to-business markets and is a frequent speaker at international IP events on trade mark and design issues.

Joshua Davenport is a shareholder at Banner Witcoff. Joshua represents clients in a variety of intellectual property matters, including patent prosecution, litigation, and counseling. As an electrical engineer with expertise in nuanced industries, including artificial intelligence, cellular networks, green energy, video games, finance infrastructure, carrier networking, and television broadcast systems, his practice focuses on applying the law to complex technical issues. This includes arguing many cases before the Patent Trials and Appeals Board (PTAB), where he was recognized by Managing Intellectual Property magazine among the top-50 filers in inter partes review petitions. In particular, Joshua has emerged as a leader in generative AI, presenting several CLE talks on generative AI issues, giving interviews for multiple publications, serving a secondment as a patent portfolio manager with a Fortune 500 company managing an extensive machine-learning portfolio, and even applying machine-learning modeling techniques outside work as co-host of a major college football podcast.

Due to Joshua’s frequent involvement in complex patent matters involving large corporate disputes, he was recognized by Managing Intellectual Property magazine in 2017 as among the top-50 filers of inter partes review petitions. Joshua often works in nuanced industries, including cellular networks, green energy, video games, finance infrastructure, carrier networking, and television broadcast, that require a solid understanding of technology and its strategic importance in running a business.

Tracy-Gene G. Durkin is the practice leader of Sterne Kessler’s Mechanical & Design Practice Group and a member of the Trademark & Brand Protection Practice. Tracy has a well-earned reputation for excellence in design patent law. Financial Times named her as one of the “Top Ten Legal Innovators in North America,” noting her as “a leading authority on design patents.” Tracy has also been named among Chambers & Partners’ “recognized practitioners” in the IP Patent Prosecution, District of Columbia category. Among Tracy’s additional rankings, Legal 500 recognized her as a “Recommended Lawyer” in the U.S. for assisting a world leader in the consumer electronics space “with the development and implementation of its global design patent strategy, including the coordination of patent filings in over twenty countries worldwide.” Intellectual Asset Management’s “IAM Patent 1000” declared Tracy is the “design doyenne,” and World Trademark Review’s (WTR) annual “WTR 1000” editors wrote that Tracy is “the go-to for top consumer product companies, as well as global colleagues” and is particularly known for operating “at the vanguard of design patent law.” Tracy was also heralded in the 2026 “WTR 1000” as “a powerhouse as to the world of IP” and that “she has honed her insight over three decades and excels in challenges that demand creative, thoughtful solutions.” In the 2025 edition, WTR editors declared “her deep knowledge of patents, trademarks and copyrights allows her to craft unique IP protection strategies tailored to each client’s needs.”

Ivy Clarice Estoesta is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Mechanical & Design Practice Group and Trademark & Brand Protection Practice. Ivy counsels a wide range of clients, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, on strategically securing and enforcing intellectual property rights in the U.S. and abroad. She focuses her practice on design rights and brand protection for clients in various industries, including consumer electronics, apparel, household cleaning products, and software and applications. Ivy’s multidimensional practice includes drafting and prosecuting design patent applications and enforcing design rights; clearing, prosecuting, and enforcing trademark rights; and advising on copyright protection, for some of the most recognizable brands in North America. She also has experience in ex parte proceedings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board and U.S. Copyright Review Board, and inter partes proceedings before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Ivy has niche expertise in U.S. and foreign design rights related to graphical user interface (GUI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) designs. She is also the firm’s go-to resource for copyright matters, particularly for visual works, including digital art/NFTs.

Elizabeth Ferrill is a partner at Finnegan LLP in its Washington DC office. She has experience with design patents for a wide-range of products and industries. Beth has experience with all facets of design patents, including prosecution, ex parte appeal and post-grant proceedings before the PTAB, licensing, and district court cases through trial. At Finnegan, she is the head of the firm’s Electrical Practice Group. Beth is also the Editor-in-Chief of Comparative Global Design Law, now in its second edition, published by Bloomberg Law.

Daniel A. Gajewski is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Mechanical & Design Practice Group and a co-chair of the Patent Prosecution Practice. He has over 10 years of experience helping clients achieve strategic utility and design patent protection and navigate the IP landscape for their products. Dan is currently Vice Chair of the Intellectual Property Owners Association Industrial Design committee.

The appearance—or industrial design—of a new product can be just as valuable as its utility, particularly in keeping knock-off products off the market. Dan specializes in developing a full product-based patent protection strategy. This means working with inventors to zero in on a new product’s innovative features, whether they be structural, aesthetic, or both. Based on this, Dan prepares design and utility patent application strategies that intermesh, working to ensure that neither application is drafted or prosecuted in a way that limits the other.

Rebekah Holtz is an associate in Sterne Kessler’s Mechanical & Design Practice Group. Her practice focuses on the preparation and prosecution of design and utility patents, both domestic and foreign. At Sterne Kessler, she secures IP protection for clients across a range of mechanical technologies and product designs, including designs for graphical user interfaces, consumer products, and product packaging.

Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Rebekah worked as a patent portfolio manager at Apple, where she helped to shape the company’s patent portfolio and directed the design patent filing strategy for each software release. In her role as a patent portfolio manager, she worked closely with product design and engineering teams and collaborated with a variety of legal and business groups. Rebekah leverages this past experience working in-house to develop and execute prosecution strategies uniquely tailored to the business objectives of each client.

Mark D. Janis teaches courses in patents, trademarks, and other areas of intellectual property law. He is the Robert A. Lucas Chair of Law and the Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Research. Janis has authored a number of books, including the treatise IP and Antitrust (with Hovenkamp, Lemley, Leslie, and Carrier), Intellectual Property Protection for Plants (with Jervis and Peet), Trademarks and Unfair Competition in a Nutshell, three casebooks (Trademarks and Unfair Competition: Law and Policy and Trade Dress and Design Law, both with Dinwoodie; and Patent Law: An Open Access Casebook, with Sichelman). With Graeme Dinwoodie, he has edited several additional collections of trademark law scholarship. He has published numerous law review articles and book chapters on intellectual property law topics, including several on design patent law.

Janis has won awards for his teaching at Indiana and at Iowa (the Collegiate Teaching Award).  He was awarded International Trademark Association’s Ladas Award for his trademark scholarship with Prof. Dinwoodie. In 2018, he was elected to the American Law Institute.

Prior to joining the faculty at Indiana, Professor Janis was the H. Blair & Joan V. White Chair in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Iowa College of Law. He practiced patent law at Barnes & Thornburg (Indianapolis) from 1989 to 1995.

Michael Joffre is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Trial & Appellate Practice Group. Mike is co-chair of the firm’s appellate practice and focuses on intellectual property disputes before trial and appellate courts. He has argued and won cases throughout the country, including in Texas, California, Wisconsin, Delaware, New Jersey, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), and the Federal Circuit. He has also represented clients before the U.S. Supreme Court at both the certiorari and merits stages.

Mike is a skilled litigator, adept at handling cases involving a variety of technologies and products, including microprocessors, telecommunications networks, mechanical devices, consumer products, and computer software. He also draws on his strong scientific background to counsel pharmaceutical companies on matters related to Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs).

Sean Jungels, shareholder at Banner Witcoff, has helped procure more than 1,500 design patents in the U.S. and more than 6,000 design patents/registrations worldwide across 15+ jurisdictions. He also has successfully enforced numerous design patents and offers clients valuable insight into strategically creating and managing their design patent portfolios.

In addition to his patent practice, Sean has extensive experience in all phases of intellectual property litigation, from pre-trial investigation, discovery, motion practice, and pre-trial efforts. He has helped file and litigate over 30 cases asserting trade dress and trademark rights.

Sean has represented a wide range of clients, including a leader of lifestyle products, a popular footwear and fitness apparel brand, and a personal care corporation with a portfolio of global brands, among others. Sean counsels these clients on a variety of intellectual property issues. Among his other professional accomplishments, Sean has been recognized by Super Lawyers as an Illinois Rising Star for his work in intellectual property law for four consecutive years, most recently in 2019. During law school, Sean received two CALI Excellence for the Future Awards for legal writing, served as an associate editor for the Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property, and was involved with the Intellectual Property Law Society.

Robert Katz, a shareholder at Banner Witcoff, has benefited firm clients in the areas of utility patents and industrial designs. He has drafted and prosecuted to issuance numerous and significant utility patents in the U.S. and in foreign countries. These clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as many individual inventors and small companies who rely on strong patent protection in their marketplaces. The patents have been directed primarily to mechanical and electromechanical devices, and to software and computer-related inventions. Many patents drafted and prosecuted by Rob have been successfully enforced with some having served as the cornerstone for the successful sale of companies.

Rob has also provided advice and prepared opinions regarding the patentability of inventions, patent infringement, patent validity, and trade secret protection to help clients properly assess the advantages and disadvantages of certain intellectual property and business decisions.

In patent and trademark litigation matters, he has assisted clients in enforcing and defending intellectual property related claims at the district court and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in the International Trade Commission.

Both nationally and internationally, Rob is considered one of the premier practitioners in the field of industrial designs, leading the way in the procurement and enforcement of design patents. On behalf of the firm’s clients, he has helped procure more than 11,000 design patents in the U.S. and more than 32,000 design patents/registrations outside the U.S., and has helped to successfully enforce over 200 design patents. Leaders from foreign design patent offices have consulted with him regarding industrial design policies, and he has served as an expert in design patent litigations. He also prepared and filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America).

Erik Maurer is a shareholder at Banner Witcoff. Erik focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation and counseling at the intersection of technological innovation, industrial design, and brand building. Whether pioneering new strategies for defining and enforcing product configuration trade dress or crafting creative dispute resolutions, Erik thrives on understanding clients’ business goals and solving complex IP problems.

Erik has been a persuasive advocate at trial, on appeal, at the ITC, and in PTAB and ADR proceedings, representing both plaintiff and defendant perspectives with zeal. He has represented clients in a wide range of industries — from fitness products to architectural lighting, and of varying sizes — from Fortune 100 to sole proprietors. He was recognized as one of the top five best performing attorneys representing patent owners in inter partes review matters in Patexia’s 2019 IPR Intelligence Report.

Transferring his knowledge and passion for IP litigation to others is evident as Erik serves as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago teaching Intellectual Property Pretrial Litigation Skills and Patent Trial Practice. He also wrote a course – Trial Practice in the High Technology Courtroom – based on his experiences simplifying complex patent and design issues for judges and juries. In addition to teaching, Erik is a contributing author to the Patent Trial Advocacy Casebook, Second Edition published by the American Bar Association.

George Raynal is the managing partner of DesignLaw Group, a law firm that has focused on design protection for more than 35 years. George and his team plan and execute US and global filing strategies for products and designs of all types and have significant experience with graphical user interface designs.  George has a deep interest in studying and practicing design law, legal design, and design thinking. George and his team also regularly research and consult on design patent litigation and enforcement matters and track and publish developments in the district courts and Federal Circuit.

Richard Stockton is a shareholder at Banner Witcoff and renders holistic intellectual property counseling, prosecution and litigation advice. Exemplary achievements include:

• Prosecuting hundreds of US utility patent applications and thousands of US design patent applications before >100 US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) examiners, and managing thousands of foreign counterparts in >100 jurisdictions and >140 countries
• Prosecuting and/or managing thousands of US trademark and copyright applications and their foreign counterparts
• Litigating dozens of patent, trademark and copyright actions and inter partes review proceedings as counsel of record, litigating numerous other IP actions, successful preliminary injunction and Markman hearings
• Drafting US Supreme Court amicus briefs regarding trade dress functionality and extraterritoriality of damages, serving as design patent expert witness
• Managing multiple IP portfolios with >1,000 properties, orchestrating the transfer of a >10,000 property portfolio and conducting large scale buyer/seller IP due diligence
• Drafting cease and desist letters and responses, rendering infringement/invalidity/unenforceability opinions, supervising infringement, invalidity, and counterfeiting investigations worldwide, prevailing in numerous domain name arbitrations, preparing licensing agreements and IP holding company transfers
• General labelling and compliance counseling (e.g., “Made in USA” standards, country of origin determinations)
• Advising on domestic and international IP policy issues and treaties, including eligible subject matter, sufficiency of disclosure, harmonization, the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of IP Rights, the Design Law Treaty and the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters

Monica Talley is a director and heads Sterne Kessler’s Trademark & Brand Protection Practice. For more than 25 years, she has specialized in strategic trademark counseling and portfolio enhancement, developing anti-counterfeiting solutions and strategies, and resolving trademark disputes. Monica is particularly sought after for her expertise in enforcing brand rights against infringers and counterfeiters seeking to profit from her clients’ well-known brands.

In addition to managing her robust practice, she has worked as an adjunct professor teaching trademark law at The George Washington University Law School. Ranked as one of the leading trademark prosecution and strategy attorneys in Washington, DC, Monica is noted for her global brand protection and commercialization strategies. She has been consecutively ranked in the prestigious World Trademark Review 1000 (WTR 1000) since 2012. In the 2025 edition, editors commented that “Monica is an indispensable asset to her clients. She excels in managing global trademark portfolios, demonstrating exceptional expertise and dedication. Her meticulous care in handling trademark applications and disputes across multiple jurisdictions showcases her deep knowledge and proactive approach. Monica is also an excellent communicator and a pleasure to work with, consistently going above and beyond to achieve successful outcomes and earn her clients’ trust.”

Brad Van Pelt is a shareholder at Banner Witcoff. He combines his extensive legal experience and background in engineering with the valuable insight of a former patent examiner to help clients creatively advance their patent applications and strategically develop their portfolios. He concentrates his practice on prosecution, counseling, and litigation in all areas of intellectual property.

Brad has years of patent drafting experience in a range of industries and technologies, including mechanical, software, and business method arts. He frequently prepares freedom-to-practice opinions, and has served on a number of successful Banner Witcoff teams that have obtained favorable rulings for clients in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings and patent litigation.

In addition to his utility patent practice, Brad has broad experience in procuring design patents and is active in the design patent bar. He enjoys working with clients to craft innovative strategies to build and protect their patent portfolios, both domestically and internationally. He has spoken at numerous conferences and authored several articles on a variety of intellectual property topics, including IPR proceedings and prosecution strategies in light of the America Invents Act.

Brad has prepared and prosecuted software-oriented applications directed to security, networking, audio monitoring, cash handling devices, business methods, and graphical user interfaces and mechanical applications related to merchandising systems, transducers, microphones, earbuds, medical devices, insulation devices, sporting equipment, composite materials, container handlers, and dispensers.