“I’ve learned to keep my eye on the overall business objectives of any deal and keep the legal issues in that business context. It’s exciting to be the Chief IP Officer at an IP management company.”

In Scott’s view, one of Conversant’s strengths is that the company always prosecutes patent applications from the perspective of licensing. The patent prosecution and licensing teams work together to get the best possible claims allowed for future licensing potential.

Conversant is focused on achieving patent licensing agreements. But when Conversant must turn to a court to help resolve the issues, Scott brings over 20 years’ experience to the litigation process.

Representing Conversant in the public policy debate about patents is a challenging part of Scott’s role. As a longtime leader in the patent licensing business, he understands Conversant’s responsibility to be involved in the conversation about the principles underlying responsible patent licensing and to be a part of the solution to the problems caused by the bad apples.

Career highlights
• Being on the team that “discovered” the Eastern District of Texas as a place for patent litigation in 1992
• Representing a company that bought a cleaning products business from Unilever for $1.6 billion. The deal involved the transfer of a large amount of intellectual property, including portfolios of thousands of patents and trademarks around the world. There were seven separate agreements related just to the intellectual property aspects of the deal.
• Representing a prominent children’s rights advocate in Palestine who was seeking religious asylum in the United States. He was granted asylum, and his immediate family later joined him in the US. We did a good thing for a deserving man.