IP/Corporate Workshop: Common Pitfalls for Early Stage Companies

This workshop will take you through the fundamentals of IP and company formation from a legal point of view.

1pm - 2pm  | IP Workshop: Putting Together a Patent Strategy

A strong patent portfolio starts with thoughtfully-crafted patent strategies. The session will highlight the requirements for obtaining a patent and careful considerations as you grow your patent estate. Crafting a patent strategy begins with matching patent filing timelines to business timelines. It also includes detailed planning for global patent protection in light of market opportunities and patent expiration dates. Finally, your patent strategy must also look at how to maximize patent term, for example through strategic use of accelerated filings.

2pm - 3pm  | Corporate Workshop: Company Formation - Common Pitfalls for Early-Stage Companies

This session will walk attendees through helpful tips, provide pointers, and highlight other relevant legal insight when it comes to frequently occurring mistakes in company formation and documenting transactions. We will offer thoughts on how to avoid technical missteps and suggestions for fixing problems before they compound.

This workshop is part of the Pitch. Launch. Grow. Demo Day on August 24th from 4:00pm - 7:30pm at the Cove. Don't forget to join us to watch the finalists pitch for sponsored lab bench for 1-year!

 

Event Speakers

Kenji Funahashi WilsonSonsini

Kenji L. Funahashi

Partner
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Kenji (Ken) Funahashi is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where his practice focuses on corporate and securities law. Ken works on a wide range of corporate finance matters, from start-up companies obtaining angel financing to multibillion-dollar transactions for multinational and Fortune 500 companies. He has handled more than $10 billion in financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and IPOs, including hundreds of private and public financing transactions for entrepreneurs and investors.

Ken's practice focuses on the representation of technology, life sciences, healthcare, and other growth companies throughout the United States and internationally. Representative clients include software, SaaS, IT, IoT, cybersecurity, aerospace, robotics, e-gaming, AR/VR, and blockchain entrepreneurs and investors in the technology area, and genomics, diagnostics, biologics, pharmaceuticals, medical device, and digital health entrepreneurs and investors in the life sciences and healthcare fields.

In addition to practicing in California's technology clusters for over two decades, Ken has studied and worked abroad and has extensive experience in cross-border transactions in Asia and Europe. He was previously a partner at one of the largest international law firms in the world and assists both U.S. technology companies engaging in business overseas, as well as Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and European companies in financing, licensing, M&A, and joint venture activities in the U.S.

Pessian_Maysam_ (1)

Maysam Pessian

Associate
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Maysam Pessian is an associate in the San Diego office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. His practice focuses on patent prosecution and intellectual property counseling, serving clients in a wide range of technology fields, including the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries.

During law school, Maysam was an extern for licensing officers in the Invention Transfer Group at UC Irvine Applied Innovation. In this role, he performed a wide range of tasks, including preparing patentability and marketability reports on UC Irvine-owned technology; preparing targeted research reports on various private companies as a part of campus outreach efforts for collaboration; and drafting term sheets for technology licensing agreements and inter-institutional agreements. In addition, Maysam worked at the Domestic Violence Clinic at UC Irvine, where he represented victims of domestic violence in various proceedings and hearings to obtain temporary restraining orders, favorable financial terms, and permanent restraining orders in California Family Court.

Before embarking on his legal career, Maysam acquired extensive experience in immunology and neurobiology. Previously, he worked at an early-stage research company, where his work focused on various cancer vaccines and immunotherapies—specifically vaccina virus-derived oncolytic virus combination therapies. During graduate school, his research focused on the remodeling of the nervous system and functional recovery after spinal cord injury—specifically the effects of modulating Wnt-Ryk signaling. As an undergraduate, Maysam volunteered at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center as a research assistant in Boris Minev's laboratory, where he researched nanoparticle-delivered cancer vaccines.

Event Partner

WilsonSonsini-Stack-Standard_RGB-1
 

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's legacy closely traces the birth and evolution of Silicon Valley.

For more than six decades, the firm has represented the technology pioneers associated with virtually every milestone innovation.

Today, Wilson Sonsini is synonymous with ushering promising, innovative companies through their business life cycle.

And as our clients have grown, so has our firm. We now represent many of the largest companies in the world—and thousands of the smallest ones, too.

Event Details

Community Event

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

01:00 PM - 03:00 PM

Location:

UCI Beall Applied Innovation

5270 California Ave. Irvine, CA 92617

Attendees, please check in on the 1st floor reception desk.

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