Presenters

Mark Summerfield, IP and Technology Consultant, Patentology
Dr Mark Summerfield is a registered Trans-Tasman Patent Attorney, specialising in patent law and practice in the fields of digital and computer systems, information and communications technologies, and computer software. Mark provides consultancy services on patents (including drafting and prosecution), IP strategy, and related matters in his specialist technology fields. He is also currently a PhD candidate at the Melbourne Law School where he is investigating applications of natural language processing technologies to the analysis of patent claims with application to patent law and policy. He worked for over a decade with one of Australia’s leading boutique IP firms advising individuals, companies and research institutions on management and protection of their intellectual assets. Since 2010 Mark has maintained a blog (patentology.com.au), where he writes regularly on local and international issues relating to innovation, patents, law, policy and the IP profession. He speaks regularly on topics related to patents, IP and digital technology, and lectures on Australian patent practice at the University of Melbourne.


Jane Perrier, Executive Consultant Davies Collison Cave & DCC Ventures
Jane leads Davies Collison Cave’s IP Consultancy practice and supports DCC Ventures’ Commercialisation practice.  In those roles Jane helps clients develop enterprise level approaches to the governance and management of intangible assets, and helps clients transform ideas into market ready solutions.  As the former General Counsel Intellectual Property and Special Counsel Technology, Innovation & Intellectual Property for Telstra Limited, Jane led teams for over 20 years advising on IP, innovation, technology, data and commercialisation.  After leaving Telstra, she co-founded an IP advisory start up, as a joint venture with DCC’s then ASX listed parent company.  The start-up was subsequently rolled into DCC.  Jane is a member of the Law Council of Australia’s IP Committee, and a former appointee to the federal government’s former advisory council on intellectual property (ACIP).  She’s a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a former director and company secretary of Crime Stoppers Victoria, and a former advisor to the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police on the board of the Blue Ribbon Foundation.  Jane is currently a non-executive director and audit & risk committee member on the board of Agriculture Victoria Services, a commercial arm of the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).  Jane is a lawyer and registered trade mark attorney, and holds a master’s degree in business administration.