Senior IP and licensing executives, legal professionals, and technology leaders from Fortune 50, 100, and 500 companies will soon be convening at Via Licensing Alliance’s third-ever Via Business Summit, which will this year be held at the Westin Excelsior Hotel from March 17 to March 20.
This year’s summit, an invitation-only event by Via Licensing Alliance, is sponsored by Sullivan & Cromwell, Couhausz & Florack, Licks Attorneys, Devlin Law Firm, Bardehle Pagenberg, EIP Law & Strategy, and Venable LLP. The week will kick off with two days of licensor meetings, followed by a half-day IP industry business conference focusing on policy and jurisdictional considerations in SEP enforcement, and rounded off with a full day of dynamic excursions of Rome, where attendees will have the choice between a tour of the Colosseum, the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, or a day out to the hills surrounding Rome for a vineyard visit.
There will also be ample networking opportunities for attendees throughout the day. Following the conference, sponsors Venable LLP, Bardehle Pagenberg, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Devlin Law Firm will then host exclusive IP industry dinners, creating further opportunities for networking and discussions on industry developments.
ip fray is an official media partner of the event and will report before, during, and after. We are excited to be joining such an exclusive event – and one that is expected to host over 100 senior-level attendees from major licensors, manufacturers, and technology implementers, as well as IP and patent licensing industry officials.
Key summit speakers will include (in alphabetical order by last name):
- Dr. Nina Belbl, World Intellectual Property Organization
- Hanish Bhatia, Atom Insights
- Magali Fitzgibbon, ETSI
The final panel, which will be moderated by Garrard Beeney, Sullivan & Cromwell, will also include (in alphabetical order by last name):
- Carlos Aboim, Licks Attorneys
- Tim Devlin, Devlin Law Firm
- Volkmar Henke, Bardehle Pagenberg
- Michael Nielsen, EIP Law & Strategy
Via LA’s summits so far
In 2023, following the formation of Via Licensing Alliance, the company launched two key annual summits: the Via Bridge Summit and the Via Business Summit.
The Via Bridge Summit was first held at the Fairmont San Francisco Hotel in September 2023 and is designed to bridge the gap between licensees and licensors. The Via Bridge Summit takes place every year in San Francisco (August 29, 2025 ip fray article).
Meanwhile, the Via Business Summit was first held in Madrid in March 2024, while last year’s was held in Shanghai (February 28, 2025 ip fray article).
ip fray attended the Via Business Summit for the first time last year, covering key news on the ground in Shanghai (March 20, 2025 ip fray article) and interviewing attendees on the sidelines, including:
- Dolby GC Andy Sherman (March 31, 2025 ip fray article)
- Orange’s IP leaders Lyse Brillouet and Harold Barrault (April 15, 2025 ip fray article)
- HDMI Licensing Administrator CEO Rob Tobias (April 10, 2025 ip fray article)
- Changhong IP head Dejian Dai (April 1, 2025 ip fray article)
This event is structured to provide licensors with the data and tools necessary to manage their portfolios and navigate the evolving IP landscape, rotating between Asia and Europe, ensuring regional perspectives and opportunities for cross-border collaboration. The summit also provides a unique opportunity for licensors to meet and discuss official patent pool business, and for manufacturers, technology implementers, IP and patent licensing industry officials, and others to come together to explore the most pressing trends in patent licensing and IP.