Biographies

Charles C.  Valauskas is legal counsel to domestic and foreign companies, new ventures, and universities and research foundations. Services include identification and forensic analysis of intellectual property, preparing and prosecuting patent applications, trademark registration applications, and copyright registration applications, preparing and negotiating a full range of agreements including licenses, hybrid licenses, employment agreements, work made for hire and assignment agreements, and litigation.

Mr. Valauskas is the Vice President for Industry Relations for the Association of University Technology Managers. Mr. Valauskas has authored separate chapters for the AUTM Technology Transfer Practice Manual (3rd Edition) on International Copyright Protection  and on the Rights of Privacy and Publicity and has co-authored two separate AUTM books: C. Valauskas and C. Innes, Copyright Protection of Software, Multimedia, and Other Works: An Author’s Guide, Association of University Technology Managers’ Educational Series no. 4 (Published Feb. 2000 and translated in 2004 into Japanese, Tokai University Press); and C. Innes and C. Valauskas, Development and Deployment of Digital Works in Universities: A Guide for Authors and Licensing Officers, Association of University Technology Managers’ Educational Series no. 5 (Published Feb. 2000 and translated in 2004 into Japanese, Tokai University Press).

Mr. Valauskas speaks on a regular basis throughout the world on technological and intellectual property topics. He has appeared in articles published in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the ABA Journal, and Food & Wine.

Mr. Valauskas is also a former adjunct law professor for intellectual property matters and the author of other articles that have appeared in publications including the: Boston College International and Comparative Law Review, Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Newsletter. Mr. Valauskas received his B.S. from the University of Illinois (Chicago), his J.D. from the DePaul University College of Law, and his LL.M. from the Northwestern University School of Law. Mr. Valauskas is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois and is a member of various organizations including the Licensing Executives Society, the Association of University Technology Managers, and the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago.

Allison M. Corder is a registered patent attorney practicing in all areas of intellectual property law, including patent, trademark and copyright. She participates in all phases of Patent prosecution and litigation including pre-suit investigation, infringement/validity analysis, preparation of pleadings and discovery, depositions, motions and Markman. In addition, she prepares patent opinions involving infringement, validity and inventorship as well as performs offensive and defensive analysis on strategic essential and nonessential licensing. Before entering private practice, she was in-house counsel for a global communication company where she served as Patent Committee Chair organizing invention disclosure processing of approximately 1500 invention submissions a year and administered bi-monthly Patent Committee meetings.

Ms. Corder’s experience includes Patent prosecution involving software, electrical and mechanical arts pertaining to cellular technology (CDMA, TDMA and GSM), financial instrument management software, synthetic vision systems, risk assessment processes, microfiltration methods, safety egress apparatuses, postal apparatuses; patent infringement litigation involving laser sintering, barcoding technology, document management systems, hip replacement devices, sports equipment, modular heating/ cooling devices, medical products, gas grill products, computer simulation; trademark infringement litigation involving restaurant services, home decor products, document management systems, motor vehicle services, beverage products; and copyright infringement litigation involving barcoding technology and home decor designs.

Ms. Corder earned a B.S. in General Engineering with a Mechanical Engineering minor from the University of Illinois (1996), a European IP Law Certificate from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands (2000), and a J.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s law school, Chicago Kent College of Law (2001) with the honors of Dean’s List and CALI Academic Achievement Award: Intellectual Property for Corporate Lawyers.

Ms. Corder is registered to practice in and before the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, United States Northern District Court of Illinois and United States District Court of Colorado.

Ms. Corder earned the 2009 Woman of the Year in Law awarded by the American Biographical Institute Board of International Research. She speaks at the Illinois Institute of Technology on Intellectual Property topics and is an Alumni Ambassador. She also actively participates as a Judge in the Interprofessional Projects Program sponsored by the Engineering College at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Jill A. Fahrlander, Ph.D. counsels clients regarding patent protection in the United States and abroad, strategic patent portfolio development and management, and renders advice relating to patentability, freedom to operate, non-infringement, and invalidity. A registered patent attorney with more than 14 years’ experience, Dr. Fahrlander has been selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2011 and 2012 in the fields of Biotechnology Law and Intellectual Property.

Dr. Fahrlander has extensive experience prosecuting applications in the biotech and chemical/pharmaceutical arts. She has prosecuted applications related to medical diagnostics, including genomic or proteomic markers predictive of therapeutic response, prognosis, or metastases, compositions and methods related to treating various medical conditions, genetically engineered plants, animals, and microorganisms, biologics, gene therapy, vaccines, antibodies, protein therapeutics, RNA therapeutics, small molecule pharmaceuticals, compositions and methods for therapeutic delivery, cell and tissue cultures, research tools, including compositions and methods for labeling, detecting, assaying, or isolating various biomolecules, compositions and methods relating to biofuels, bioremediation, bioprocess engineering, nanotechnology, particularly bio-nanotechnology, and food products.

Dr. Fahrlander is a graduate of The University of Wisconsin Law School (1996). Prior to law school, Jill earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from North Dakota State University (1992), which involved extensive coursework in biochemistry, chemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, bacterial genetics, virology, mammalian organ systems, endocrinology, and neuroendocrine systems. Her research and dissertation concerned the molecular biology of the plant pathogenic bacterium Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepidonicus Prior to graduate school, Jill earned a B.S. in Medical Technology from North Dakota State University (1981) and worked as a medical technologist performing diagnostic testing in all areas of the clinical laboratory, including hematology, chemistry, immunology, and microbiology.

Dr. Fahrlander is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Joseph P. Fox is a registered patent attorney who practices in all areas of intellectual property law. Mr. Fox has provided counsel to some of the largest Japanese and U.S. companies in the electronics, computer, and semiconductor industries. Mr. Fox has particular experience in a wide range of electrical and mechanical technologies. Some of the technologies on which Mr. Fox has worked include those concerning antennas, cellular communications, communication networks, computer hardware and software, CT and MRI systems, disk storage devices, lasers, liquid crystal displays, microprocessor circuits, motor control circuitry, packing systems, optical circuits, semiconductors and semiconductor fabrication techniques, ultra-thin film technologies, and wafer manufacturing and processing. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Fox worked in University technology transfer helping to identify, market, and license early stage University technologies. Mr. Fox earned a B.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois (1988), a M.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois at Chicago (1991), and a J.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s law school, Chicago Kent College of Law (1995).

Kathleen M. (Stutt) Wilt is an attorney supporting all areas of intellectual property law, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and licensing. Her experience includes food technology, bioinformatics, financial services, business methods, software, mechanical products, genetics, microbiology, patent and copyright infringement opinions, patentability opinions, and trademark prosecution including appeals.

Ms. Wilt earned a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse (2007). She earned a J.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s law school, Chicago Kent College of Law (2010) where she achieved an Intellectual Property Certificate. During law school, Ms. Wilt was a fellow with the Chicago Intellectual Property Colloquium, Associate Editor at the Chicago Kent Journal of Intellectual Property, and a participant in the intramural Giles Rich Moot Court Competition.