Via Licensing Alliance’s marquee event of the year, the Via Bridge Summit, will this year be held at the Fairmont in San Francisco from September 22 to September 26. The third-ever edition is expected to host roughly 200 attendees from Fortune 50, 100, and 500 companies, including major licensors, manufacturers, and technology implementers, as well as IP and patent licensing industry officials.
This year’s summit, an invitation-only event, will focus on the impacts of today’s geopolitical climate on global IP, and will also feature panels comparing enforcement across Asia, as well as perspectives from different licensees (Google included), and the heads of pool administrators Sisvel and Access Advance.
The week will kick off with three days of licensor meetings, followed by a one-day IP industry business conference, and rounded off with a full day of fun activities across San Francisco, where attendees will have the choice between a golf outing at the TPC Harding Park sponsored by Licks Attorneys, a Napa Valley wine tour sponsored by Devlin Law Firm, or a sailing outing in the San Francisco Bay & Fisherman’s Wharf sponsored by Singh & Singh.
Key summit speakers will include (in alphabetical order by last name):
- Garrard Beeney from Sullivan & Cromwell;
- Gloria Dai from Changhong US;
- Yuan Hao from UC Berkeley, BCLT;
- Michael Jacobs from JAMS;
- David J. Kappos from Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP;
- Dong-Hwan Kim from Lee International;
- Shogo Matsunaga from Sonderhoff & Einsel;
- Christopher Ng from Sansui America;
- Junlin Pan from Insight IP;
- James Pooley from James Pooley, PLC;
- Vivek Ranjan from Kommit Techno-Legal LLP;
- Gail Su, Senior Counsel at Google;
- Na Wei from Xiaomi, who will be delivering a keynote and company update; and
- Emil Zhang from Huawei, who will also be delivering a keynote and a company update.
One of the panels, entitled “Impacts of Today’s Geopolitical Climate on Global IP”, is co-hosted by the UC Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT). The final panel – the discussion between pool administrators – will be moderated by Dolby’s General Counsel Andy Sherman (whom we interviewed at Via’s Business Summit in Shanghai earlier this year: March 31, 2025 ip fray article), and will include (in alphabetical order by last name):
- Mattia Fogliacco, President of Sisvel;
- Heath Hoglund, President of Via LA; and
- Peter Moller, CEO of Access Advance.
During the IP conference, Via LA’s Mr. Hoglund will be presenting the “Golden Bridge Award”.
The week-long event will also feature an optional outing to the San Francisco Giants baseball game at Oracle Park, sponsored by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and will close off with Via LA’s annual patent pool party.
Via LA’s previous summits
The San Francisco event is one of two key annual summits that Via LA holds every year – and has been since its formation in 2023. The second event, its annual Business Summit, takes place in a city in either Europe or Asia every year.
This year, the Business Summit was held at the Bellagio Hotel in Shanghai, and ip fray was an official media partner, reporting before, during, and after. Coverage during the event included Huawei’s announcement of plans to join Via’s HEVC/VVC patent pool as a Versatile Video Coding licensor and licensee (March 20, 2025 ip fray article).
In the weeks that followed, ip fray also published interviews with speakers and attendees such as Orange’s Executive Vice-President of Research Lyse Brillouet and Vice President of Patent Licensing, Harold Barrault (April 15, 2025 ip fray article), Sichuan Changhong Electric’s IP head Dejian Dai (April 1, 2025 ip fray article), and HDMI Licensing Administrator CEO Rob Tobias (April 10, 2025 ip fray article).
Next year, Via’s Business Summit will take place in Rome, Italy, from March 17 to March 20.