Workshops & Webinars on IP for Plants

Stephany G. Small, Ph.D., is a Patent Agent at CIOPORA lawyer member Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel LLP (USA). Stephany works with clients ranging from large life science companies to individual inventors to protect their valued Intellectual Property. She prepares and prosecutes the U.S. and foreign patent applications for inventions related to all aspects of life science. She is involved in FDA Orange Book submissions and Patent Term Extension Applications and also assists clients with preparing opinions relating to patentability and freedom to operate. Stephany collaborates in patent interferences and inter partes review proceedings before the U.S. Patent Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

Dr. Travis Bliss counsels a variety of clients ranging from individual inventors to small businesses to Fortune 500 companies in nearly all aspects of Intellectual Property law. Travis prepares and prosecutes patent applications; litigates patent, Trademark, and other IP disputes in federal and state courts; represents clients before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board; counsels clients in a variety of IP issues, including due diligence, FTO, infringement, and patentability; and prepares and negotiates IP licenses. From a technology standpoint, Travis’s practice falls largely within the life sciences field and also includes a large focus on novel plant varieties in the agriculture, horticulture, and cannabis/hemp industries. Travis has been a lawyer member of CIOPORA since 2014.

Rossella Pola obtained her Law Degree at the Università degli Studi di Torino in 2000. In 2003, she was admitted to the Lawyer Register of the City of Turin, followed by her admission to the Counsels for Defense in the Italian Supreme Court in 2017. In relation to Intellectual Property right enforcement, Rossella has recently represented several seed breeding companies (Clause S.p.A and Rijk Zwaan) in a civil action against illegal propagators of their plant varieties.

Nicola Novaro obtained his Law Degree in 1996 from the University of Pavia. In 2000, he became a lawyer after enrolling at the Law Society of Imperia. During the same year, he obtained a Master’s Degree in Intellectual Property organized by the IP Centre in Verona. Over the past twenty years, Nicola has been representing numerous international breeding companies in filing for Trademark, Plant Variety Right, and industrial designs before national, regional, and international offices. Currently, Nicola manages a portfolio of over 3,000 Trademarks and PVRs.

In the past decade, Nicola has become an expert on PVR and other IP right enforcement in Italy. He has extensive experience in representing clients in IP right-related civil and criminal proceedings before Italian Courts. Nicola also permanently represents CIOPORA in The European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights at EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office).