Managing Director Laurie Yoler Participates in Panel Discussion at The 10th Annual Bench & Bar Conference

Conference Addresses Innovation, Change, and the Rule of Law

PALO ALTO — June 25, 2008 — GrowthPoint Technology Partners Managing Director Laurie Yoler participated at The Federal Circuit Bar Association 10th Annual Bench and Bar Conference, “Innovation, Change, and the Rule of Law” as a panelist. The conference is an annual gathering of lawyers, students, professors, and judges from the Federal Circuit community. This year’s conference took place Wednesday, June 25th through Saturday, June 28th in Monterey, California and addressed the topics of technology, trade and innovation.

Ms. Yoler spoke on the panel “The Beginning Stage of Innovation: VC & Invention.” The panel was moderated by Michelle K. Lee, Associate General Counsel & Head of Patents and Patent Strategy at Google, Inc. Also contributing to the panel were Michael Hunkapiller, General Partner at Alloy Ventures and founder of Celera Genomics; Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA Research & Development; and Katharine Ku, Director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Stanford University. The panel addressed the following:

Silicon Valley is the envy of the world for spawning high technology companies responsible for creating innovations and technologies used worldwide. What are the drivers of this engine of innovation and to what extent do intellectual property rights play a role in encouraging innovation? This panel, composed of an inventor and serial entrepreneur, venture capitalists, investment banker, university licensing director, and high technology lawyer, explored the following:

• Why is Silicon Valley the hotbed for so many innovative companies?
• How important are intellectual property rights to entrepreneurs, inventors, investors, companies, and universities, and to getting a company funded by venture capitalists or bought by another company?
• From the perspective of an entrepreneur, inventor, investor, company, and university, do intellectual property rights encourage or discourage innovation?

For more information regarding this annual conference, visit www.fedcirbar.org.

About Laurie Yoler

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