Greg Ikonen Speaks at 2018 LES Annual Conference on How Emerging Biotech Companies Can Successfully Negotiate Complex Technology License Deals with Big Pharma

Faber Daeufer & Itrato principal Greg Ikonen recently shared his expertise as a speaker at the 2018 Licensing Executives Society (LES) conference, discussing the diverse perspectives that parties bring to technology license deals. “I was one of three speakers with substantial experience doing deals in the real world between larger and smaller partners,” Greg explained. “We talked about negotiation goals and strategies from the perspective of big, medium, and small parties, and shared some useful war stories.”

LES is a leading international association focused on helping intellectual property, technology, and business development professionals achieve professional and personal successes. For more than 50 years, the organization has worked to empower IP professionals by providing them with education, mentoring, networking and best practice information.

LES (USA & Canada) is a member society of the larger Licensing Executives Society International, Inc. (LESI), a global organization serving more than 9,000 professionals across 32 national societies, spanning over 90 countries. As stated on the LES website, the association’s strategic goals include demonstrating thought leadership, delivering personalized value and designing meeting for enhanced business value.

The 2018 LES Annual Conference was held in October, hosting more than 500 IP professionals. The six-day event offered seminars and speakers on such subjects as negotiation skills, IP valuations, start-up management and cross border IP enforcement.  Greg noted that “it was a valuable opportunity for a lot of different licensing people to get together and trade notes.”

Greg’s panel was Opposites Attract: Large and Small Company Perspectives on Overcoming Obstacles to Get the Deal Done. It explored the challenges that small and mid-size R&D companies often face when seeking to bring their ideas to market.

“Faber is a firm with seasoned and sophisticated professionals, and I was chosen to participate in this panel to talk about a mix of business and legal issues, including nuanced issues, to show how effective counsel can help bridge the gap between the reward profiles of differently-situated companies.”

Joining Greg on the panel were three other experienced IP professionals:

• Maureen K. Toohey - Founding member of the Toohey Law Group LLC, who has served as General Counsel for DEKA Research & Development Corporation, a research and development company founded by prolific inventor Dean Kamen
• Tim Oyer - President and Managing Partner of Wolf Greenfield
• Robert Jung - Director of Intellectual Property & Licensing, Sion Power

The brochure description promised attendees a lively discussion, and according to Greg, they were not disappointed. While the panelists shared their licensing negotiation war stories, the audience was also quite vocal in sharing their own experiences. “We tried to make it interactive for the audience,” Greg stated. “We asked them about their goals and concerns, and they were relatively active in their responses. As a panelist, I was able to share my experience structuring IP collaboration agreements, including key deal points like sublicense rights, deal termination provisions and rights to future improvements. It provided an opportunity to present to and answer questions from a sophisticated audience.”