The Supreme Court's Year in Intellectual Property

Leisa Talbert Peschel is both an intellectual property trial lawyer and counselor. Leisa has considerable experience litigating intellectual property matters, including over fifty patent infringement cases. Her cases typically involve highly complex technical and legal issues. Leisa leverages her scientific background to gain a better understanding of a client’s technology to better position her client throughout a case. She has been involved in cases dealing with a wide array of technologies, including Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), biotechnology research tools, chemical compositions, audio compression technology, display technologies, plastics, pipe thread compounds, blow-out preventers, security systems, computer software methods, and electronics.

In addition to her litigation experience, Leisa maintains an active transactional practice. Leisa counsels clients on how to obtain, enforce, and license intellectual property. She also gives strategic guidance regarding intellectual property transactions, which includes performing due diligence on intellectual property portfolios. Her transactional practice also includes preparing patent opinions of counsel, including freedom-to-operate, noninfringement, and invalidity opinions. Leisa’s scientific background is particularly helpful to clients seeking an opinion of counsel relating to biotechnology, chemical, or oil field services products.

Leisa is also a frequent author and speaker on intellectual property law topics. She has spoken on matters relating to corporate patent policies, patent infringement defenses (including section 101 and 112 defenses), licensing, patent damages, patent reform, concurrent district court litigation and post-grant review proceedings, standing, e-discovery, the intersection of science and the law, and design patent infringement.

Jeffrey Whittle provides over twenty-five years of legal experience to clients in the energy and high tech industries. He advises on strategic and complex technology transactions, licensing, patent protection, portfolio analysis, and other contentious and transactional intellectual property matters including inter partes reexaminations, post-grant reviews, and derivation proceedings, among other disputed cases. Jeffrey leads Womble Bond Dickinson’s International IP Energy Group and serves as Managing Partner of the firm’s Houston office.

Jeffrey has been recognized by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500 United States, WIPR Leaders, and Client Choice, among others, for his outstanding work, career and contributions to law, technology, and intellectual property. Additionallly, he was awarded the Texas Trailblazer Award as aTexas Lawyer in 2019, he was the Frank Barnes Award Winner for LES USA/Canada in 2019, and he was named Global IP Attorney of the Year by Legal Era in 2018.

Jeffrey is the past president and chair of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) for the USA and Canada (2015-2016) and served on the LES Board for over seven years. He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Americas Committee for Licensing Executives Society International (LESI). A Certified Licensing Professional, Jeffrey is a frequent and highly sought-after speaker and author, nationally and internationally, on various intellectual property/licensing/technology topics.

Jeffrey keeps up with the always changing intellectual property field through memberships in various legal and professional associations, including the American Intellectual Property Law Association, Federal Circuit Bar Association, and Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Certified Licensing Professionls, Inc., the Board of Visitors for Wake Forest University School of Law, and the International Advisory Board of the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP). He also has served on M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's Technology Review Committee, IP Law360's Advisory Board, and the Advisory Council for the University of Houston Law Center Intellectual Property Institute, as well as on boards of various charitable organizations. Jeffrey is also a member of the Texas Bar College and the Texas Bar Foundation.

George leads efforts to foster industry participation in and collaboration with Rice Engineering units including the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RCEL) and the Additive Manufacturing, Performance & Tribology Center (AMPT). He also serves as liaison to the Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) board of directors and other constituents, and provides advice on research agreements, intellectual property and related matters. George has a faculty appointment as Lecturer in the School of Engineering and a second appointment as Scholar for Entrepreneurship in the Baker Institute for Public Policy.

George joined the School of Engineering in 2017 after ten-plus years in private practice as a patent attorney, representing technology companies including Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, Lenovo, Acer, Amkor, and AnologicTech. 

Prior to practicing law, he worked as an engineer at ExxonMobil and as a manager in private business for several years. Even before joining the School of Engineering staff, George was closely affiliated with the university, serving as President of Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) and as a member of the Association of Rice Alumni (ARA) board of directors.

George is licensed to practice before the US Patent & Trademark Office, the International Trade Commission, Texas state and Federal courts, and the US Supreme Court. HIs professional memberships include IEEE, Federal Circuit Bar Association, Houston Intellectual Property Law Association, Engineering Development Forum, and Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers.