Partners and Affiliates

Astellas Pharma US, Inc., is a U.S. affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. Located in Northbrook, Illinois. The company serves as the headquarters for the U.S. and employs nearly 1,200 people. Astellas is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. Our commitment to changing tomorrow is measured not only by our focus on bringing innovative and effective new medicines to patients and physicians, but also by the importance we place on the impact we can make within the communities where we work and live. Astellas supports many causes and has created Changing Tomorrow Day, an annual worldwide volunteer event, to demonstrate this commitment. www.astellas.com/us/.

The Copyright Alliance is the unified voice of the copyright community, representing the interests of thousands of individuals and organizations across the spectrum of copyright disciplines.The Copyright Alliance represents the interests of authors, photographers, performers, artists, software developers, musicians, journalists, directors, songwriters, game designers and many other individual creators. It also represents the interests of book publishers, motion picture studios, software companies, music publishers, sound recording companies, sports leagues, broadcasters, guilds, unions, newspaper and magazine publishers, and many more organizations. The Alliance is dedicated to advocating policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright, and to protecting the rights of creators and innovators.

The Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP) is a bipartisan coalition dedicated to advancing policies that strengthen intellectual property as a driver of innovation, economic growth, and global competitiveness. Working with policymakers, business leaders, academics, inventors, and other stakeholders, C4IP promotes greater understanding of the role patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets play in encouraging investment, technological advancement, and creative achievement. Through research, public policy initiatives, educational resources, and advocacy, C4IP works to foster an innovation ecosystem that benefits creators, entrepreneurs, businesses, and society as a whole.

CreativeFuture is a nonprofit coalition of more than 500 companies and organizations and nearly 300,000 individuals from film, television, music, book publishing, photography, and other creative industries. The organization advocates for strong copyright protections for the millions of Americans working in the creative industries. Creative people and businesses around the world depend on copyright to bring people inspiration, learning, and joy. The massive harm caused by the global theft of creative work is devastating. CreativeFuture brings members of the creative community to Washington, D.C. to discuss how it affects our ability to create and to make a living.

Dolby Laboratories develops technologies that transform the science of sight and sound into immersive experiences for billions of people worldwide. Best known for Dolby Atmos®, Dolby Vision® and Dolby Cinema®, the company partners with filmmakers, artists, developers and businesses across entertainment and communications. Dolby is also a global leader in innovation and patent licensing.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center is working globally to champion innovation and creativity through intellectual property standards that create jobs, save lives, advance global economic and cultural prosperity, and generate breakthrough solutions to global challenges. The GIPC is leading efforts to promote innovation and creativity by advocating for strong IP standards. Through a wide variety of programs, initiatives, and activities, GIPC provides world leaders, academia, industry experts, and the general public the authoritative business voice on innovation policy. The organization brings together IP stakeholders at all levels – from governments to grassroots – to develop solutions together.

IP CloseUp is a leading source of insight for people who need to keep up with intellectual property trends. Since 2012 readers have turned to IP CloseUp for free weekly updates on news and perspective about issues affecting patents, trademarks and copyrights. Coverage includes news, data, events, investment and the people that drive them. Readers are executives, entrepreneurs, lawyers, investors, educators, journalists and creators. Regular features cover transactions, disputes and data. IP CloseUp, a Feedspot “top-50” blog, is read in more than 60 countries and has generated over 450,000 visits.

The knowledge economy is a confusing place. IPBasics.org is an information portal designed and curated by the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding that makes it easy for people to get the essential information about IP they need to know today. IPBasics.org can be used effectively by everyone from enrepreneurs, educators and students to IP professionals, creators and investors. No prior background is necessary. It draws on original material as well as content and data from IP organizations, such as the Global Innovation Policy Center, USPTO, IPO Education Foundation, Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, World Intellectual Property Organization and the Copyright Alliance.

Ideas Matter was established in 2012 in the UK (at that time still part of the EU), and launched at an industry, government and media event in Brussels. The organization promotes better understanding in Europe and elsewhere of the function and benefits of intellectual property rights (IP) for innovation and creativity, for small and big companies, and for the economy, society, and consumers. Members and partners have included Motion Picture Association, Philips, Microsoft, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Companies and Associations, The Center for Intellectual Property Understanding and the International Chamber of Commerce.

The Illinois Intellectual Property Alliance is comprised of passionate professionals throughout the Illinois business ecosystem: creators, protectors, and enablers of intellectual property. These professionals represent interests from academia, advisory services, banking and finance, business and community organizations, law, incubators and accelerators, not-for-profit organizations, public and private companies, and research laboratories. The Alliance will also engage officials in Congress, local and state government, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and the International Trade Commission. In short, the Alliance endeavors to be inclusive. Such a collective collaboration of thought leaders will undoubtedly result in a more efficient utilization of intellectual property that will improve the quality of life for Illinois citizens.

The mission of the Institute for Business Innovation is to disseminate pioneering research on innovation, train students to be inventive and entrepreneurial leaders, and facilitate innovation in the start-up and corporate domains. Through conferences, forums, roundtables, and scholarly journals, we gather to examine the processes and capabilities essential for successful innovation. Among its activities the Institute and its Centers organize academic conferences and seminars that examine new and old paradigms in open innovation, entrepreneurship, business analytics, and dynamic capabilities. Centers and programs include the Tusher Initiative for the Management of Intellectual Capital and the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation.

The International Trademark Association (INTA) is a global association of brand owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and related intellectual property (IP) to foster consumer trust, economic growth, and innovation. Members include more than 7,200 trademark owners, professionals, and academics from 187 countries, who benefit from the Association’s global trademark resources, policy development, education and training, and international network. Founded in 1878, INTA is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Brussels, Santiago, Shanghai, Singapore, and Washington, D.C., and representatives in Geneva and New Delhi.

The Center for Research in Technology & Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, was founded by McCormick Tribune Professor of Technology Mohanbir Sawhney in June 2001. CRTI plays a pivotal role in understanding, solving and forecasting the most pressing issues that innovators in business will face today and tomorrow. At the point where business issues and academic endeavor intersect, CRTI leadership, faculty and staff apply their experience and expertise in marketing, invention, engineering, strategy and law to address management’s toughest challenges, offering a synthesis of perspectives through their research, teaching and collaborative endeavors.

The Lemelson-MIT program has become a national leader in efforts to prepare the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs. Our work focuses on the expansion of opportunities for young people to learn ways inventors find and solve problems that matter. We are devoted to bringing invention education opportunities to all students, while prioritizing work with young women and Black, indigenous populations, Latinx and other people of color. Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion aims to remedy historic inequities among those who develop inventions, protect their intellectual property and commercialize their creations. The Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was established in 1994 by Jerome Lemelson, one the most prolific inventors. His family continues to support this vision through The Lemelson Foundation and grant funding administered by MIT’s School of Engineering.

The Licensing Executives Society, Silicon Valley Chapter (LES-SVC) is one of the leading regional chapters of LES USA & Canada. Founded in 2000, it brings together business leaders, attorneys, investors, researchers and licensing professionals through educational programs and networking events focused on intellectual property, technology transfer and innovation management.

As the national authority on public speaking and debate, the National Speech & Debate Association provides the infrastructure for speech and debate competitions around the world. It provides a platform for youth voices to be heard and celebrated, which culminates with an annual National Tournament, the pinnacle of public speaking. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has announced the selection of “Intellectual Property Rights” as the National High School Policy Debate Topic for the 2024-25 academic year. In January, “Intellectual Property Rights” was chosen over “Nuclear Weapons Reduction” by a 25-17 vote in the final balloting process for this year’s debate topic, which saw participation from 38 state associations.

Open Invention Network With more than 2,000 participants is the largest patent non-aggression community in history and supports freedom of action in Linux as a key element of open source software. OIN enables freedom of action for Open Invention Network community members and users of Linux/OSS-based technology through its patent non-aggression cross-license in the “Linux System,” which defines its commitment. Founded in in 2005 by leading technology innovators, including IBM, Philips, Novell, Sony, NEC and RedHat, OIN acquires patents and licenses them royalty-free to its community members which, in turn, agree not to assert their own patents against Linux and Linux-related systems and applications.

Papst Licensing is a patent monetization company that operates worldwide. Since 1993, Papst Licensing has monetized several hundred patents in the field of electrical engineering and precision mechanical engineering. The company has since then executed more than 170 license agreements with well-known corporations in Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and the United States. In the event of a patent infringement we contact the infringing party directly and start negotiations with them. Papst Licensing has the know-how to track down patent infringements, analyze markets and products, conduct license negotiations and monitor the compliance with license agreements. Our goal is not to prohibit the use of the patent but rather to conclude a license agreement. If negotiations fail, Papst Licensing is in the position to fund and effectively complete court proceedings.

SDI’s mission is to educate the next generation of synthetic thinkers and leaders — people who are able to move across domains and industries, identify convergences, and create impact through the lens of human-centered design. These thinkers are not generalists, but specialists of a different sort. They take a unified approach to solving problems, drawing on skills from engineering, social sciences, design, and management theory. They embrace a methodology of problem framing and opportunity finding in order to produce creative, actionable outcomes, often in conjunction with intellectual property rights.

Soryn IP Capital Management is an investment management firm specializing in intellectual property finance. The firm provides flexible funding solutions to companies, universities and law firms through private credit, legal finance and specialty IP investments. Combining expertise in finance, law and intellectual property, Soryn helps organizations unlock the value of their innovation assets.

Tencent is a global technology company headquartered in Shenzhen, China. Its businesses span social media, digital entertainment, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, financial technology and online services. As one of the world's leading technology companies, Tencent is also a major innovator in intellectual property, holding one of the largest portfolios of AI-related patents while investing heavily in research, digital content and emerging technologies.

The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property (MIIP) is an initiative that addresses the lack of IP literacy throughout higher education, provides free IP education resources for hundreds of institutions, and works hand-in-hand with faculty to promote IP awareness. MIIP is the #1 IP educational partner for colleges, universities and entrepreneurial support organizations. In addition to its comprehensive, no-cost collection of IP educational offerings and content, MIIP’s emerging IP Ambassador Program creates notable opportunities for IP professionals to network support aspiring business owners, inventors and students. It was announced in 2021 that the Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property is partnering with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to bring intellectual property education to a new generation of creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs.

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010. Starting in 2012, the NAI has inducted 757 Fellows into the organization. Fellows must be named as an inventor on at least one U.S. patent and are selected by the NAI Fellows Committee. The NAI also includes colleges and universities as institutional members, beginning with nine such institutions in 2012. It now has over 200, including 30 outside the United States.

The Tusher Center for the Management of Intellectual Capital, a part of UC Berkeley’s Walter A. Haas School of Business, engages in research, teaching, and outreach on management and policy issues involving intangible assets and firm competitiveness. The intangible assets under study include: intellectual property, know-how, relational capital, brands, and corporate culture.

The United States Intellectual Property Alliance™ (USIPA) improves society by enabling the most efficient and effective IP ecosystem to facilitate creation, protection & enablement of ideas. Intellectual property is critical to moving society forward. However, complexity and uncertainty of IP rights presents delicate problems that impede progress. Until now, no organization has focused on the prosperity of society from all IP has to offer. Through USIPA, a collaborative partnership has been established comprising academic, business, government, and individual leaders – across public and private institutions, science and technology centers, and artistic creators. Together USIPA delivers IP thought leadership, programs and events to help all communities create, protect and enable IP for the benefit of global society.

VentureWell is a non-profit organization on a mission to cultivate a pipeline of inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs driven to solve the world’s biggest challenges and to create lasting impact. VentureWell is on a mission to cultivate a pipeline of inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs driven to solve the world’s biggest challenges and to create lasting impact. We foster collaboration among the best minds from research labs, classrooms, and beyond to advance innovation and entrepreneurship education and to provide unique opportunities for STEM students and researchers to fully realize their potential to improve the world.