KnowIt Announces $2 Million in Funding to Bring the Community of Creators and Protectors Together to Define Intellectual Property in a Digital World

NORTH WALES, Pa., Nov. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Cheryl Slipski, founder and CEO of KnowIt, and Anil D. Aggarwal, founder of the world's leading retail (Shoptalk, Groceryshop) and fintech (Money2020) events, representing each industry's definitive community of innovators, announced the closing of $2 million in funding for the launch of KnowIt Events, LLC.  KnowIt is an organization that brings together the intellectual property and innovation ecosystems to define the future of intellectual output in a digital world. Investors include LaunchCapital, Borrowworks and, Anil Aggarwal. 

KnowIt's first annual flagship event will be held at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on May 11-14, 2020, and will bring together more than 1,000 members of the intellectual output ecosystem, including lawyers (in-house and outside counsel), academics, inventors, authors, brand creators, cyber security and privacy professionals, leaders in government, regulators, startups, tech companies, investors, non-profits, media, Wall Street analysts and more.  Instead of focusing on the nuts and bolts of patent, trademark or copyright practice, KnowIt examines the critical questions that are fundamental to understanding the changes that are happening today, and to defining the innovations of the future.

The groundbreaking preliminary agenda contains four tracks spanning over 50+ topics covering patent, trademark, trade secrets, copyright, cyber security, and data privacy.  The final agenda will include more than 150 speakers, and the initial lineup of 50 speakers includes:

• Alan Friel, Partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP
• Astronaut Garrett Reisman (Ret.), Professor of Astronautical Engineering at USC & Senior Advisor at Space X 
• Beth Magnuson, Senior Legal Editor, Privacy & Data Security at Thomson Reuters Practical Law
• Chief Judge Paul Michel, Chief Judge (ret.) of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Christian Auty, Counsel at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
• David Kappos, Partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
• David Manek, Senior Managing Director of Data Privacy at Ankura
• David Zetoony, Partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
• Dominique R. Shelton Leipzig, Partner at Perkins Coie LLP
• Dr. Kai Westerwelle, Partner at Bird & Bird (America) LLP
• Eric Goldman, Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law
• George Sciarrino, Associate at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C.
• Heather McDonald, Partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP
• Ian C. Ballon, Co-Chair, Global Intellectual Property & Technology Group at Greenberg Traurig, LLP
• India Pinkney, General Counsel at National Endowment for the Arts
• Janet Fries, Of Counsel at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
• Jason Rebholz, Principal at MOXFIVE
• Jena M. Valdetero, Partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
• Jill E. McFarland, Corporate Counsel at The Sherwin-Williams Company
• Jonathan Retsky, Partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
• Justin Kohler, Sr. Director, Insight Sales Engineering and Customer Success at Gigamon
• Ken Adamo, Owner of the Law Office of KRAdamo
• Kevin R. Casey, Chair, IP Group, Stradley Ronon at Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, LLP
• Kim R. Jessum, Chief IP Counsel U.S., Associate General Counsel & Secretary at Heraeus Incorporated
• Lauryn Guttenplan, Deputy General Counsel at Smithsonian Institution
• Linda Goldstein, Chair of Advertising, Marketing and Digital Media at Baker & Hostetler LLP
• Marisa C. Weiss, M.D., Chief Medical Officer & Founder of Breastcancer.org
• Mary LaFrance, IGT Professor of Intellectual Property Law at UNLV-William S. Boyd School of Law
• Matt Ahrens, Principle at Charles River Associates
• Matt Donato, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at HuntSource
• Mike Lovitz, Founder of Lovitz IP Law PC
• Nick Aries, Partner at Bird & Bird (America) LLP
• Pablo Garcia Molina, Chief Information Security Officer at Georgetown University
• Polina Zvyagina, Counsel, Product Privacy at Airbnb
• Robert Cannuscio, Partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
• Robert Stoll, Partner at Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP
• Sherry M. Knowles, Principal at Knowles IP Strategies, LLC
• Teresa Stanek Rea, Partner at Crowell & Moring
• Theodore Kobus the Third, Partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP
• Tiffani L. McDonough, Director, Senior Counsel at Louis Vuitton Americas

KnowIt's preliminary agenda can be viewed at https://knowitevent.com/#agenda and the initial speaker lineup can be viewed at https://knowitevent.com/speakers.  Those interested in speaking can apply at https://knowitevent.com/.

"There are many challenges facing the intellectual property and innovation communities at this unique moment in time," said Cheryl Slipski, KnowIt's founder and chief executive officer.  "On the patent side, there is a debilitating lack of clarity about what is, and what is not, patentable. The trademark world is struggling with everything from managing brand reputations in the age of social media to battling counterfeiting around the globe. Copyright law is at the center of a tremendous debate about what is even copyrightable, as experts struggle to apply existing law to AI and other similarly groundbreaking innovations. And data privacy and security issues, which are closely intertwined with intellectual property, are looming large, not only for lawyers and companies, but also for lawmakers and regulators, both in the US and abroad. Because of these uncertain times, we cannot simply react to each new disruptive event that occurs, but instead we must challenge the status quo, identify trends, both good and bad, create the narrative and ultimately lead the conversation for the future of intellectual output.  That is why we created KnowIt."

Co-founder and chairman Anil D. Aggarwal added "having been a lawyer myself early in my career, I understand the impact this disruption is having on lawyers and other protectors of intellectual property." "I am excited about being part of the event that will help drive change and create a powerful new community of innovators." Aggarwal also highlighted the fact that the KnowIt event will be incorporating sessions that discuss innovation in the context of ethics and social responsibility, stating that "this is something that is especially important to me. So whether it involves the sessions on working to increase funding for STEM or the sessions that delve into the ethics of innovation, I believe these are conversations that we need to be having."

About KnowIt

KnowIt is an organization that unites the intellectual property ecosystem (both creators and protectors) to enable valuable and productive collaborations on vital topics. Our mission is to further advance innovation through our community of change makers, providing a platform for them to not only address current challenges in the intellectual property space but also to help define the future of intellectual enterprises.

To learn more, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Contacts:

KnowIt
Heather Seeley
[email protected]

SOURCE KnowIt