000534	01intro_wmp_a_16.wma
000000	MICHAEL GORMAN:  Okay, this is Michael Gorman from the Santa Clara High Tech Law Institute's Tech Law Forum.
000008	And I'm currently here with Taraneh Maghame.
000012	I hope I pronounced that correctly.
000013	TARANEH MAGHAME:  Yes.
000014	MICHAEL GORMAN:  And Derek Minihane?
000016	Is that --?
000017	DEREK MINIHANE:  Minihane.
000019	MICHAEL GORMAN:  Minihane, I'm sorry.
000020	And we're here to talk with them about their new group that they formed, a lobbying group on Capitol Hill concerning patent reform, the Innovation Alliance.
000030	And just as a quick introduction just to talk about who each of you work for and what you do outside of the Innovation Alliance.
000039	I understand, Taraneh, that Tessera is primarily involved with the development of miniaturized technologies.
000045	And as Emerging Technologies Counsel, I was hoping you could share with our listeners a little bit of what Tessera does, what you do and how it is that you do it.
000054	TARANEH MAGHAME:  Okay, thank you, Michael.
000056	Tessera provides a broad range of advanced packaging interconnecting consumer optics solutions that are widely used in high-growth markets
000104	including consumer electronics, computing, communications, medical and defense electronics.
000111	We develop the technology and we license it to our customers.
000116	And our customers include the world's top semiconductor companies such as Intel, Samsung, Micron, Infineon and so forth.
000126	You can find our technology in just about every consumer electronics product because we enable the miniaturization of the chips in those products.
000136	So cell phones, PDAs, PCs, laptops, MP3 players, they all contain our patented technology.
000143	MICHAEL GORMAN:  All right and, Derek, I guess the same question for you.
000148	Tell us a little about what you do.
000150	DEREK MINIHANE:  Sure, I'm the Vice President of Intellectual Property for Intermolecular.
000155	And it is a VC-funded startup.
000158	And what we've done is we've licensed in some enabling technology.
000202	And we're developing that technology and applying it to the semiconductor fabrication industry to enable high throughput research.
000210	And as a company that's essentially creating a new market in the semiconductor space for this type of research and development,
000217	we rely heavily on patents to protect that space so that we have an opportunity to grow as a company.
000223	And what we do with the tools and methods that we've developed is that we work collaboratively with larger companies and as well as do our own internal research
000234	to improve the next generations of semiconductors.
000238	MICHAEL GORMAN:  Okay, excellent, well I guess just as one other quick question before we get into really the lobbyist group, this is primarily for Taraneh.
000248	But Derek you can chime in if you've got some thoughts as well.
000251	How do you feel about the recent Supreme Court MedImmune decision and the follow-on SanDisk case from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
000259	which significantly lowered the bar for meeting the Constitutional case or controversy requirement for getting your case in front of a judge?
000306	And what are the implications for an in-house counsel and I guess for Derek for a VP of IP at a startup company?
000314	TARANEH MAGHAME:  Well we believe that those decisions continue to basically weaken the patent system
000322	and the ability of companies like ours to be able to license our technology and enforce our patents.
000324	And they continue the trend that we have seen lately in terms of Supreme Court decisions and of course SanDisk is a Federal Circuit decision.
000338	But with activity that's going on on the legislative side, certain proposals made by the PTO along with these cases that have come out have had a
000349	I think damaging effect to the patent environment.
000354	Because basically it has become more difficult now to approach a infringer, a company that is infringing your patents,
000404	and initiate licensing discussions even if you do not intend to bring suit against that entity
000413	because according to SanDisk that may be enough for that company to file a Declaratory Judgment Action against you.
000421	So obviously for companies such as ours, we need to be much more careful about how we approach companies to license our patents which they will already be using.
000434	MICHAEL GORMAN:  Okay, and Derek, did you have any thoughts or have you, I assume since it's going to make things harder to license,
000442	and that seems to be both of what you're all about, how is that affecting you as a startup?
000446	DEREK MINIHANE:  At this point it's less the approaching of the customers and more I think just the general negative effect on the value of patents
000458	that is more affecting us as well as the fact that when you're entering into licensing negotiations with a company,
000505	MedImmune has basically introduced a whole new set of issues that need to be negotiated ahead of time.
000511	And by creating those new issues, one, they're new.
000516	So there's a lot of uncertainty around whether the language that you're proposing is even going to do what you want it to do,
000522	how the Court's going to interpret that language.
000524	And it also just makes it harder to come to an agreement because there's more issues that have to be on the table.