Standards and Intellectual Property Rights - What NIST Staff Need to Know

Walter G. Copan

Dr. Walter G. Copan was confirmed by Congress as Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director on October 5, 2017. As NIST Director, Dr. Copan provides high-level oversight and direction for NIST. He has had a distinguished and diverse career as a science and technology executive in large and small corporations, U.S.  government, nonprofit and other public-sector settings.

Dr. Copan formerly served as president and CEO of the IP Engineering Group Corporation, providing services in intellectual property strategy, technology commercialization and innovation. Until June 2017, he was founding CEO and chairman of Impact Engineered Wood Corporation, an advanced materials technology company. He also is a founding board member of Rocky Mountain Innovation Partners, where he led technology transfer programs and innovation services on behalf of the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. federal labs and academic institutions and helped foster entrepreneurial businesses in the Rocky Mountain West. He also served with the National Advisory Council to the Federal Laboratory Consortium for more than 5 years, providing industry inputs to advance the U.S. economic impacts of the federal laboratory system.

From 2010–2013, Dr. Copan served as managing director of Technology Commercialization and Partnerships at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Among his accomplishments were leading the creation and implementation of the new DOE technology transfer mechanism, “Agreement for Commercializing Technology” (ACT), to facilitate collaborations between the federal labs and U.S. corporations. He led the “Startup America” initiative on behalf of DOE for entrepreneurial business creation, and he initiated the DOE’s new Small Business Innovation Research – Technology Transfer (SBIR-TT) program, which built upon the experiences of NIST. He served as founding partner and board member of the “Accelerate Long Island” alliance for innovation, economic development and early stage investment. 

From 2005–2010, Dr. Copan was executive vice president and chief technology officer at Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc., an international technology development and licensing firm. He spearheaded the company’s transformation, growth and listing on NASDAQ (CDTI), as well as the company’s subsequent merger. Prior to joining CDTI, Dr. Copan served at the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as Principal Licensing Executive, Technology Transfer. There, he led organizational changes that strengthened relationships with industry and the investment community and led to the more productive commercialization of energy-related technologies.

After earning dual B.S./B.A. degrees in chemistry and music from Case Western Reserve University in 1975, Dr. Copan began his career in chemicals and materials research at the Lubrizol Corporation (now part of the Berkshire Hathaway Group). He earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Case Western in 1982, and subsequently held leadership positions at Lubrizol in research and development, strategy, business unit management, venture capital, and mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances in the U.S. and abroad. As managing director, Technology Transfer and Licensing, from 1999–2003, he was responsible for Lubrizol’s corporate venturing and open innovation, technology strategy, business development, intellectual assets and the technology licensing business.

Dr. Copan is a patent holder, has authored numerous professional publications and presentations, and has served on the boards of many organizations, including the Licensing Executives Society (LES) USA and Canada, where he recently served as regional vice president for LES USA. He has contributed to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Council on Competitiveness, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the United Nations on innovation, technology transfer, energy and economic development matters. 

Michael D. Hogan

With over 40 years of standards experience, Mr. Michael D. Hogan serves as the Standards Liaison for the NIST Information Technology Laboratory. As the Standards Liaison for the NIST Information Technology Laboratory, he represents NIST at national and international fora that advance measurement science, testing, and standards in support of more interoperable, usable, scalable, resilient and secure Information Technology (IT). 

From September 2003 to January 2017, Mr. Hogan served as the Convener of the international standards group: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 37 Working Group 4 – Technical Implementation of Biometric Systems. From February 2007 to November 2012, Mr. Hogan served as the Co-Chair and then Chair of the Standards and Conformity Assessment Working Group of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Biometrics and Identity Management. Mr. Hogan has been a co-author and editor for several publications, including: NISTIR 6025, Metrology for Information Technology [IT]; NIST Journal of Research, Volume 106, Number 1, Information Technology Measurement and Testing Activities at NIST; NISTIR 8074 Volume 1, Interagency Report on Strategic U.S. Government Engagement in International Standardization to Achieve U.S. Objectives for Cybersecurity; and Draft NISTIR 8200, Interagency Report on Status of International Cybersecurity Standardization for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Mr. Hogan has worked as an electronics engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since June 1974. He is a past recipient of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Ed Lohse Information Technology Medal and the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) Lifetime Achievement Award and Chairman’s Award. Mr. Hogan graduated with honors (member of Eta Kappa Nu) with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland in 1973. In 1967, he was a Distinguished Graduate of the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. During 1968 and 1969, Lieutenant Hogan served in Vietnam as an executive officer, an operations officer, and a platoon leader for U.S. Army units attached to the 199th Light Infantry Brigade and to the 1st Infantry Division.

Ajit Jillavenkatesa

Dr. Ajit Jillavenkatesa is the Senior Standards Policy Adviser at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Ajit specializes in standards, technology and digital economy related policy issues and in standardization for emerging technologies such as nanotechnology and digital economy technologies. He also contributes standards-related expertise on issues with South Asia, Asia-Pacific and Europe, with a particular focus on China, Japan, and India. In his role, he provides standards policy and technical expertise to NIST staff and leadership, the U.S. Department of Commerce, other U.S. Government agencies and the private sector. Ajit works closely with the Dept. of Commerce’s Digital Economy Office. An active participant in range of international standards development activities, he also contributes technology standards expertise to intra- and inter- governmental groups, bridging the worlds of standards, technology, international trade and regulatory policy.

Ajit chairs the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) coordinated US Technical Advisor Group to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)’s Technical Committee 229 on Nanotechnologies. In 2017, acting in the role of the US Lead Negotiator for the G20 Digital Economy Taskforce, he coordinated US input into the 2017 G20 Digital Economy Task Force which resulted in the 2017 G20 Digital Economy Ministers Declaration.

He has provided standards policy expertise to the House Committee on Science and Technology during a detail to the Committee in 2010, and was a resource to Committee staff during the development and reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act, signed into law as the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L.111-358).

Dr. Jillavenkatesa is a materials scientist by training, having joined NIST in 1997 as a post-doctoral fellow, with a Ph.D. in Ceramics from Alfred University in New York. He has authored and co-authored books and peer reviewed publications related to physical and chemical characterization of materials. He received the American National Standards Institute's Next Generation Award in 2008, and U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medals in 2009 and 2011, and the Department’s Silver Medal in 2013.
 

Andrew Regenscheid

Andrew Regenscheid is mathematician and project lead within the Computer Security Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  At NIST, Mr. Regenscheid is responsible for leading research and guidelines development activities on the use of roots of trust to support resilient computer system architectures.  This has led to a series of NIST publications on platform and firmware security authored by Mr. Regenscheid, as well as contributions to standards organizations and industry consortia, including ISO/IEC and the Trusted Computing Group.

His 11-year career at NIST has been within the Cryptographic Technology Group, where he has been part of several efforts to create standards and guidelines for using cryptography to protect non-national security systems.  From 2007-2012, Mr. Regenscheid was part of the selection team for the SHA-3 Hash Function Competition and has since worked on standards for public key cryptosystems.  He also led an effort to document and improve NIST’s processes for developing its cryptographic standards, as well as how it engages with national and international standards organizations and academia.  As part of that effort, he coordinated the group’s response to a blue ribbon panel of experts that reviewed the NIST program in 2014.

Mr. Regenscheid has also contributed to other programs within NIST’s Information Technology Lab. Notably, he previously led security research and standards development for NIST’s responsibilities under the Help America Vote Act to support development of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines.

Mr. Regenscheid holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Luther College, and a M.S. in Information Assurance from Iowa State University.

Henry Wixon

Henry Wixon became Chief Counsel for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2009.  The Office of the Chief Counsel for NIST advises the agency in programmatic matters including Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), Interagency Agreements, Material Transfer Agreements, Nondisclosure Agreements and patenting.  In addition, Mr. Wixon’s office has significant responsibility for Department of Commerce regulations implementing the Bayh-Dole and Stevenson-Wydler Acts, and for appeals under Executive Order 10096 of Employee Rights Determinations from all Federal agencies. 

In his role as Chief Counsel, Mr. Wixon is actively involved in issues at the intersection of intellectual property rights and standards, and represents NIST as an ex officio member of the Intellectual Property Rights Policy Committee of the American National Standards Institute.

Prior to joining NIST, Mr. Wixon was a partner with the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in Washington, DC.  In over twenty years in private practice as a registered patent attorney and intellectual property specialist, Mr. Wixon developed and implemented worldwide patent acquisition, defense and enforcement strategies for domestic and international clients.  In addition to extensive patent litigation, he conducted intellectual property due diligence for M&A, IPO, and VC and Angel funding, and counseled industry and academic clients in all aspects of technology transfer.

Mr. Wixon was awarded his J.D. degree from George Washington University, where he was a member of The George Washington Law Review.  He holds a B.S. degree in zoology with a minor in chemistry and a M.S. degree in neuropharmacology from the University of Maryland, College Park.

A Certified Licensing Professional, Mr. Wixon is a past Chair of the Maryland Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society, USA and Canada (LES).  He has been a member of the LES Professional Development Series (PDS) Faculty for many years, teaching fundamental, intermediate and advanced PDS courses.