PatentX: Faculty

Stefania Bergia heads the IP Practice of the Italian office of Simmons & Simmons since 2018. She received a Juris Doctor degree at the Catholic University of Milan, a PhD in IP Law at the University of Parma and was admitted to the Italian Bar in 2000. She has been a partner at a specialist IP law firm since 2004 after initially joining the firm in 1996.

She assists clients, including on a pan-European level, on a extensive range of judicial and extra-judicial matters of IP law, including patents, trademarks and domain names, trade secrets, appellations of origin and geographical indications, industrial design, copyright and related rights, unfair competition, and arbitration.

She teaches: 

• since 2017 at the Industrial Property Course – Patents, organized by the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano, aimed at providing a professional training in the IP field, with a specific focus on the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court. This course includes mock trials.
• since 2017 at the Patent course, organized by the the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano, lecture on civil defense of industrial property rights. This course aims to prepare for the habilitation exam as a patent attorney and to provide an opportunity to update professionals in the sector.
• at postgraduate courses, including those held by the Italian School for the Judiciary (Scuola Superiore della Magistratura), as well as since 2011 for Just Legal Services’ post-graduate courses on IP matters.
• finally, she had a long-lasting relationship with the University of Parma, where over the years she has taught a course entitled “Legislation and Patents – Chemical and Biotech Patents and GMO Legislation”.

She is regularly a speaker at IP conferences and authored publications in the IP field.

She is listed among the Leading Individuals in The Legal 500. She is also ranked in Chambers Global/Europe; in the enforcement and litigation category of the World Trademark Review; and in IP Stars as a Patent Star in the patent strategy and counselling category. And earned other mentions in benchmark legal publications.She is President of the Italian AIPPI Patent Group and deeply involved in the activities of the main IP associations including AIPPI International, INTA and LES.

Enrico Bonadio is Reader in Law at City, University of London. He teaches, researches, and advises in the field of intellectual property (IP) law. His research agenda is wide-ranging, having recently focused on international trade aspects of IP, the intersection between IP and technology and IP protection of non-conventional forms of creativity, amongst other areas. 

Enrico has attracted funding from a variety of bodies, including the European Commission, UK Research and Innovation, UK Economic and Social Research Council, and the UK Higher Education Innovation Funding. He is also Deputy Editor in Chief of the European Journal of Risk Regulation.

Enrico has been delivering classes and talks in more than 130 universities and research institutions in six continents and his research has been covered by several media outfits including CNN, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Washington Post, New York Times, Reuters, South China Morning Post, BBC, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent and Associated Press.

Magali Contardi is a postdoctoral researcher at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, and an Italian-qualified lawyer specialised in IP, member of the Milan and Munich bar. Her career spans IP legal practice and IP research. She also lectures on IP in the LLM Digital Technologies at the University of Lyon. Magali obtained her PhD cum laude and with mention of international doctorate at the University of Alicante (Spain). She conducted part of the research at the Max Planck Institute for Competition and Law in Munich. Being a dual national of Argentina and Italy, she holds law degrees from the University of Florence (Italy) and the Catholic University of Argentina. She obtained a Master in Business Law and Public Manager (Università degli Studi di Pisa, Italy), a LLM in Intellectual Property Law (University of Alicante, Spain) and a Specialization in Artificial Intelligence & Intellectual Property (University of Strasbourg, France). 

Christopher E Cruz is the University Legal Counsel, Director of the DLSU Intellectual Property Office, and Manager of the Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) of De La Salle University (DLSU).  He is a Full Professor of the Department of Commercial Law, RVR- College of Business, and Department of Philosophy, where he has been teaching and mentoring research projects for the last 32 years.  He has been invited as a resource speaker in numerous seminars and conferences on Intellectual Property and technology transfer in the Philippines and abroad. He has attended intellectual property and technology transfer training organized by IPOPHIL, WIPO, and other international organizations.  

Atty. Cruz obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from DLSU and his Bachelor of Laws degree from San Beda University, Manila.  He also earned his Master in Philosophical Research degree and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from DLSU.  He is Co-Editor in Chief of the Asia Pacific Journal of Intellectual Property Management and Innovation – a first of its kind in the Philippines.  He has been a registered patent agent of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines since 2011 and a member of the Advisory Council for Intellectual Property (ACIP), which is a council that advises the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.  He is also part of the Department of Science and Technology technical panel, which evaluates government grant projects on intellectual property and technology transfer.  He is currently the President of ATOP (Alliance of Techtransfer Professionals of the Philippines, a non-stock, non-profit professional organization promoting technology transfer as a career in the Philippines.  He is one of the first trainers in 2023 of the PatentX program organized by WIPO and Harvard University.

Pierrette Essama Mekongo is a Senior Lecturer in Law currently serving as Program Coordinator in the Pan-African University (African Union Commission) Institute for Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences. She holds a Law Degree from the University of Buea, a Master’s in Business Law, a Master’s in Intellectual Property Law and a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Yaounde II. She teaches Intellectual Property Law in the joint WIPO-OAPI-University of Yaounde II Master’s Program in Intellectual Property, and in the Central Africa Catholic University. She has authored several publications in intellectual property including a book on the disclosure of the origin of genetic resources in patent applications. She is an Africa Science Leadership Programme (ASLP) Fellow and Inter-Academies Partnerships (IAP) Fellow at Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) for the Design of Science Policy Tools for Policymakers.

Olga Gurgula is a Senior Lecturer in IP law and Director of International and External Partnerships at Brunel University London. She holds a PhD and LLM from Queen Mary University of London. She specializes in the intersection of intellectual property (IP) law, particularly patents and trade secrets, with various legal domains, including competition law and human rights. Olga has served as an expert consultant for international organisations, governments and non-governmental organisations, mainly in the field of IP and access to medicines. She has been involved in notable projects, such as the establishment of the new IP court in Ukraine, advising the Government of Kazakhstan on their new IP strategy 2020-25 and providing counsel to the largest patient-led organization in Ukraine, 100%LIFE. She is the author of many publications and policy papers, including on IP and public health, strategic patenting by pharma companies, and compulsory licensing of trade secrets to enhance access to COVID-19 vaccines. Olga is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a qualified attorney in Ukraine since 2004. Before the commencement of her PhD research in 2013, she worked in private practice in Ukraine for over ten years.

Koray Güven currently serves as a Researcher at the Faculty of Law at Ankara University, where he also coordinates the WIPO Joint LLM in Intellectual Property, which is jointly run by Ankara University, WIPO, and the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. Güven holds degrees from Bilkent University (BA in Law), Ankara University (LLM and PhD in Private Law) and the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (LLM in IP and Competition Law). He was a recipient of the Jean Monnet Scholarship, which is implemented by the European Commission, and has been acting as an assessor for this scholarship program. Güven’s academic research and teaching activities center on comparative law and various aspects of intellectual property law. He is the author of articles published in leading national and international journals.

May Hassan is an accomplished trilingual Intellectual Property (IP) Attorney and a certified Master Trainer, she brings over 14 years of progressive expertise in IP protection, management, and enforcement. Her experience spans working with renowned companies and handling IP cases. As a regional IP consultant, she has contributed substantially to more than 20 projects centered on legal education or IP development. These projects were carried out in collaboration with the American Bar Association (Rule of Law Initiative) in earlier years and currently with the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Her extensive experience as a master trainer is marked by her effective development and delivery of top-notch interactive IP training programs, courses, and seminars. She employs contemporary teaching methodologies and technological tools to engage varied audiences. May has trained over 400 IP trainers globally in intellectual property subjects and/or modern teaching methodologies. Her contributions to the field are further highlighted by numerous speaking engagements at international intellectual property events. The countries with which she has worked include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India, Georgia, Bahrain, Syria, Türkiye, Ethiopia, Trinidad and Tobago, Indonesia, Algeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Armenia, member nations of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations, and member states of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization. May obtained a Master of Law in Intellectual Property from Seoul National University Law School in South Korea, with a specific focus on competition, generic pharmaceuticals, and reverse payment patent settlements. In addition, she has completed many intellectual property (IP) courses with prestigious institutions such as the Center for International Intellectual Property Studies at Strasbourg University and the World Intellectual Property Organization Academy.

Pablo Iannello received his degree in Law from Universidad de Buenos Aires and he got a Master Degree in Law and Economics from UTDT. He is an IP professor at the IP and Innovation Joint Master Program offered by UdeSA – WIPO, in Argentina. He also practices as an of counsel attorney on IP matters for Moeller IP Law. He was a UNIDROIT Research Fellow in 2013. Since 2014, he has been adjunct at the University of Dayton School of Law where he teaches for the JD as well as the LLM program. Since 2023 is the director of program in Law and technology at UDSL. His teaching areas include Patent law, IP and Antitrust, International IP, IP contracts cyber law, IP Law and Economics and IP commercialization. He has published different articles on the IP field.

Dariusz Kasprzckia iis a research scholar at the Department of Intellectual Property Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Specializing in industrial property law, combating unfair competition law, and the management of intellectual property in the university environment. His recent academic interests revolve around the relationship between intellectual property rights and combating unfair competition, as well as the protection of biotechnological inventions. Over the past 15 years, he has been a frequent participant and coordinator of national and international projects in the field of intellectual property management in higher education, including the China Intellectual Property Management Network (CIPnet) 2017-2020. Currently serving as the director of the English-language master’s program in Intellectual Property and New Technologies, conducted in collaboration with WIPO and the Polish Patent Office

 Milton Lucídio Leão Barcellos is a Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Antonio Meneghetti Law School. Invited University Professor in Post-Graduation Law Programs in several Brazilian Universities and Institutions in the field of Intellectual Property, Competition Law and innovation. Lawyer, Patent Attorney and Partner at Leão Intellectual Property Firm. Doctor of Law (PhD) from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) with a BR CAPES scholarship and a period as Visiting Professor at the Boston University Law School (2009) with a thesis in the field of Patents and Competition Law with unanimous approval Summa Cum Laude (2010). Master’s Degree in Law from PUCRS with a BR CAPES scholarship and dissertation in the field of industrial property and constitutional hermeneutics (2006). Specialist in International and Integration Law from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) with a monography about the international patent system (2002). Milton Lucídio is also an IP researcher and IP forensic expert of the State Court of Rio Grande do Sul. Author of several books, chapters in books and papers in the Intellectual Property field. Idealizer and Ex-President of the Special Commission of Intellectual Property of the Brazilian Bar Association – State of Rio Grande do Sul (1999-2006) and Ex-President of the Brazilian Association of Patent and Trademark Attorneys – South Region – ABAPISUL – (2005-2007). Active member of the following national and international IP Associations: ABAPI, ABPI, AIPPI (Member of the PCT SC), APAA (Observer), ATRIP, INTA and LIDC. As a lifelong learner in the field of IP, he attended to hundreds of IP national and international conferences (as attendee or invited lecturer), concluded the FICPI SEAD International Patent Drafting Course (2017) and concluded the PatentX course (1^st Edition) as a student (2023).   Married with Camila and father of two amazing children (Isis and Antônio).

Henny Marlyna received her undergraduate degree, graduate degree, and doctor degree (in Law) from the Faculty of Law Universitas Indonesia. She also received her Master of Legal Institution (M.L.I.) from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2004. She participated in the 10th WIPO-WTO Colloquium for Teachers of Intellectual Property in 2013. She also participated in the Training of Trainer WIPO-Harvard Course on Patent Law and Global Public Health [“PatentX”] in 2021.  She has been a tutor for the PatentX Course from Batch 1. She is also one of the Scientific Committee for the IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference. 

Currently, she is a Senior Lecture at the Faculty of Law Universitas Indonesia, as well as a registered Intellectual Property Consultant and Lawyer in Indonesia. She is also a Mediator and Arbiter at The Alternative Dispute Resolution Institution for the Financial Services Sector (LAPS SJK), an out-of-court dispute resolution institution established by Self Regulatory Organizations (SROs) and associations in the financial services sector in Indonesia. Since 2024 she has been appointed as one of the panelists for Indonesia Domain Name Dispute Settlement established by Indonesia Internet Domain Name Registry (PANDI).

Henny has been teaching courses related to Law on Economic and Technology for both undergraduate and graduate programs such as Intellectual Property Law; Trademark and Geographical Indication; Intellectual Property Management and Valuation; Drafting on Intellectual Propery Related Agreement; Consumer Protection Law; Cyber Law, and Privacy and Data Protection Law. 

Eltony Mugomeri trained as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist at the University of Zimbabwe (2005). He earned the Master of Biomedical Technology and Doctor of Health Sciences degrees from the Central University of Technology, Free State, South Africa; he served as a researcher and lecturer in Biomedical Sciences, first to the National University of Lesotho and then to Africa University where he an Associate Professor in the Public Health Program and interim Director in the Office of Research and Innovation. He has also served as a Project Director for Tuberculosis Commitment Grants funded by USAID in Zimbabwe since 2020 to date. He has received Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship training at Tshwane University of Technology on lateral flow devices. He has innovated the U-Safe® alcohol-based hand sanitizer, a lozenge product & a point-of-care dual testing device for HIV/HCV. In the period September 26 – 30, 2022, he received training on Patent Law and Global Public Health ‘PATENTX’.

Christopher Munguma is a senior law lecturer at Africa University, Zimbabwe where he has been teaching since 2011. Christopher was admitted to practise law in Zimbabwe in the year 2000. Christopher holds an LLB degree from the University of Zimbabwe, a post graduate diploma in higher education and a Master in Intellectual Property degree (MIP) from Africa University. Currently, Christopher is a Doctor of Philosophy candidate in Intellectual Property at Africa University. Christopher has practised and taught Intellectual Property since 2014. His research interests are in the fields of geographical indications, enforcement of intellectual property, trademarks, constitutional law and Human rights. 

Lonias Ndlovu joined the WIPO-Harvard-PatentX team as an instructor, effective from the first edition of the course in January 2023. He graduated with an undergraduate law degree (Bachelor of Laws) at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa in 2004. In 2005, he graduated with an LLM, majoring in international trade law at the same institution. His Doctoral degree (LLD focusing on TRIPs flexibilities & access to medicines in a SADC context) obtained from the University of South Africa won the Barney Pityana Prize for the best LLD thesis in 2013. Between 2005 and 2015, Lonias taught law at three South African universities, rising from junior lecturer to associate professor. In August 2016, he joined the University of Venda School of Law in South Africa, which he currently heads as a full professor and interim director. An Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, Lonias runs a limited commercial law practice, researching, consulting, and advising on intellectual property and public health issues and commercial law matters.

Selin Özden Merhaci earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees, including an LLM and a PhD, from Ankara University. Currently, she holds a position in the Department of Comparative Law within the Faculty of Law at Ankara University and serves as the Vice-Director of the Ankara University Intellectual and Industrial Rights Research and Application Center (FİSAUM). Additionally, she is a member of the Steering Committee for the Master of Laws in Intellectual Property, jointly organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.

Selin has contributed significantly to the fields of civil law, comparative law, and intellectual property law, as evidenced by her numerous articles and presentations. She imparts her expertise by teaching courses in comparative law and intellectual property law at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.She also serves as an expert witness upon the request of Turkish IP Courts.

Justyna Ożegalska-Trybalska received her graduate degrees (MA, PhD) and Doctor Habilitatus title from Jagiellonian University in Kraków. In 2023, she obtained a professorship at the same institution. Justyna has gained experience as a visiting scholar at the Columbia University School of Law in New York (2001) and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich (2017). 

Since 2006, Justyna has been teaching intellectual property and patent law at the Intellectual Property Law Chair of Jagiellonian University. She is also the coordinator of the Joint Master’s Degree Programme in Intellectual Property and New Technologies, organized in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Polish Patent Office, where she runs courses and seminars on patents and new technologies. She also teaches patents at Tongji University in Shanghai and Dresden Technical University. 

Apart from teaching, Justyna is an arbitrator at the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre and a national Domain Name Arbitration Court. In addition, she cooperates with law firms, international projects, and organisations on IP issues as an expert, including being a consultant in the WIPO projects. She provides IP training and workshops for judges, patent attorneys, and academic staff. 

Justyna has authored (co-authored) over 90 publications, including a monograph titled Limitations of Patent Protection and Patent Infringement (Wolters Kluwer, 2019), which deals specifically with pharmaceutical patent exemptions.

Samiksha Ramesh received her undergraduate and master’s degrees (B.S. and M.S.E., both in Biomedical Engineering) from Johns Hopkins University and is currently a third-year J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School. Samiksha currently supports intellectual property litigation and strategic transactions in private practice; in this capacity, she works with patents that span a large range of technical areas, including digital health, medical devices, semiconductor, software, and telecommunications. Prior to law school, she worked closely with patents at Johns Hopkins University’s technology transfer office. 

Elizabeth Rothman is an accomplished attorney practicing in Los Angeles, California with a professional background in healthcare, intellectual property, regulatory compliance, and the emerging technology space. In addition to her client-oriented work, Elizabeth is actively engaged in academic and research initiatives, frequently publishing on the intersections of emerging technologies and legal frameworks. She is particularly interested in how emerging technologies might influence global health outcomes and the role of intellectual property in this realm. Elizabeth holds advisory roles at The Cantellus Group and for XRSI, a nonprofit guiding best practices for protecting privacy and safety in virtual environments. She received her Juris Doctor from Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College in 2011.

Maria de Lourdes Vazquez holds a law degree from Universidad Católica Argentina and an LLM from Harvard Law School. She completed her doctoral studies at the European University Institute in Italy. After serving as in-house counsel to Virgin Records (London) and EMI Records (New York), Maria was a partner at the law firm Marval O’Farrell & Mairal in Buenos Aires. She was the recipient of the “Fortabat Visiting Scholarship” in David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, where her research focus was on Latin American IP and Internet Policy. Maria currently serves as Dean of the Law School at Universidad de San Andres in Buenos Aires, where she teaches Intellectual Property and directs the WIPO Joint Master Program in Intellectual Property and Innovation. She has lectured at the WIPO – WTO Colloquium for Intellectual Property Teachers in Geneva, and is on the editorial board of the WIPO – WTO Colloquium Papers.

Jayashree Watal retired from the Intellectual Property, Government Procurement and Competition Division of the World Trade Organization in mid-2019, where she had contributed inter alia to work on TRIPS and public health, Patents, Undisclosed information, Economics of TRIPS, IP and Transfer of Technology, and IP and Competition Policy. She assisted the then Director of the Intellectual Property Division on the negotiations that led up to the adoption of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health in November 2001; the interim waiver solution in August 2003; and the Protocol on the amendment that resulted in a new article 31bis in December 2005. Prior to joining the WTO, has had more than twenty-two years of experience in government in India.  She represented India at a crucial stage in the Uruguay Round TRIPS negotiations from 1989-90, contributing substantially to the development of the text.

She currently holds the position of Visiting Professor at the National Law University Delhi (where she co-teaches a course on International Intellectual Property Law) and Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Centre (where, since 2009) and Visiting Professor at the National Law School University of India (NLSUI), Bangalore (since January 2024), where she teaches a course on International Trade, Intellectual Property and Public Health). She was a member of the Governance Board of the Medicines Patent Pool, a non-profit organization based in Geneva for six years until mid-2021 and continues to be consulted by the MPP board on strategy. She holds several part-time consulting positions, including with the UK Department of International Trade, Summit Alliance International and the International Trade Centre, to assist WTO members and observers on TRIPS-related issues. 

Ms. Watal holds post-graduate degrees in both law and economics. She is the co-editor of three WTO books: A Handbook on the TRIPS Agreement, (Cambridge University Press, 2012/2021); The Making of the TRIPS Agreement, (WTO, 2015); and Trade in Knowledge (Cambridge University Press, 2021). She has authored a book Intellectual Property Rights in the WTO and Developing Countries (Oxford University Press, India and Kluwer Law International, 2001) and several peer-reviewed journal articles on issues related to the law/economics of intellectual property rights.