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Currently based in Hong Kong with The Coca-Cola Company’s Pacific Group (which covers more than thirty countries), Dan Greif has legal responsibility for The Coca-Cola Company’s trademark, and other intellectual property, matters throughout the Asia Pacific. Previously, he was based in the United States, Tokyo, Bangkok, Sydney, and Vienna and he has travelled extensively to numerous countries around the world working to protect trademark and other intellectual property rights. At The Coca-Cola Company, he has set up and implemented numerous effective and successful intellectual property enforcement programs in countries with significant trademark infringement and counterfeiting issues and he has been instrumental in getting the “Coca-Cola Contour Bottle” configuration registered as a trademark in many countries and in furthering the well-known status of one of the world’s most famous and valuable trademark: “COCA-COLA”.

Before joining The Coca-Cola Company, Mr. Greif was Senior Intellectual Property Counsel for Sony Corporation’s Intellectual Property Group in Tokyo, Japan; an attorney with Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garret & Dunner in Washington, D. C.; and a Law Clerk for the Honourable Emory M. Sneeden of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Mr. Greif has published many articles on intellectual property and is a frequent speaker on intellectual property matters. He has participated in the activities of, among other organizations, the International Trademark Association, the American Intellectual Property Association, the United Nations Advisory Group on the Protection and Implementation of Intellectual Property Rights for Investment, the Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights, and the Global Business Leaders Alliance Against Counterfeiting.

Mr. Greif is a member of the bars of South Carolina, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and the U. S. Court for Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He received his JD in 1985 from the University of South Carolina and completed his undergraduate studies at Tulane University in 1979.

Zaheera Hashim is currently a Senior Counsel with Procter & Gamble and has been with the company for 10 years. She is the Regional Trademark Leader for Asia Pacific and leads a team of 8 out of the Singapore office. Prior to joining Procter & Gamble she was in private practice for 3 years in an IP firm.

She read philosophy and political science at the National University of Singapore where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and subsequently read law, graduating with an LLB Honours degree from the University of London. She is a regular member of INTA and is currently on INTA’s Board of Directors.

Richard Heath has been managing intellectual property in-house for over 20 years. He is currently Vice President Legal - Global Anti-Counterfeiting Counsel in the Legal Group at Unilever PLC based in London, United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for anti-counterfeiting initiatives within the business. Prior to his latest appointment he was Head of Corporate Trade Marks and General Trade Mark Counsel at Unilever from 1996- 2005.

He is currently President Elect of the International Trade Mark Association and will assume the Presidency for the year 2009. He is a Member of the UK Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, a UK Registered Trade Mark Attorney and a Member of The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, again in the United Kingdom. In addition to his work with INTA, he is also Vice-Chairman and Director of the UK Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG) and Vice-Chairman and Director of the Pharmaceutical Trade Marks Group. He was a founder member of the Global Business Leaders Alliance Against Counterfeiting (GBLAAC) which merged with The International Chamber of Commerce’s BASCAP initiative in 2007 where he now serves as Co-Chair of the steering committee. He Co-Chaired the World Customs Organization Global Strategic Task Force on IP Protection in 2006 and is now a member of the successor WCO SECURE Group. He has been named as one of the top 50 most influential people in intellectual property by Managing Intellectual Property magazine for each of the past four years. He is also a member of and works closely with various other IP groups and associations including AIM, ECTA, AIPPI, Business Europe and TMPDF.

Steven joined eBay’s Government Relations (“GR”) Department in June 2006 as its Head of South East Asia region.

On January 1, 2007, Steven was promoted to his current position of Director & Legal Counsel of eBay’s Asia Pacific Region GR Department. He now leads a team of GR professionals and Legal Counsels based in Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Delhi, Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore.

Steven has spent more than a decade working in intellectual property rights (“IPR”) policy and enforcement. He was previously responsible for Nokia Corporation’s Brand Protection Department in the Asia Pacific region and more recently the Anti-Counterfeiting Department for Louis Vuitton Malletier in the Greater China region. In both roles, Steven has developed and executed successful IPR programs in the region.

Steven started his IPR career as a solicitor at Baker & McKenzie, Hong Kong. In that role, he serviced the IPR needs of multinational brand owners in Asia. His work included counselling clients on IPR issues, enforcing his clients’ IPR and conducting extensive government lobbying on IPR policy in the region.

Midway through his legal career, Steven took a 3 year hiatus and pursued his childhood dream of becoming a police officer. He still holds the reserve rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police in the Singapore Police Force. In his reserve role, Steven commands a team of forensic investigators responsible for identifying victims of large-scale disasters.

Tony Piotrowski is the General Manager for Philips Intellectual Property & Standards (IP&S) organization in Singapore. In this role, he is responsible for regional Intellectual Property (IP) activities and enforcement in Asia Pacific, as well as coordinating several global licensing programs and patent pools for Philips. In previous positions within Philips, he managed a department of European Patent Attorneys while working in The Netherlands. He has also worked as litigator in a New York IP law firm that specialized in IP creation, licensing and litigation.

He is on the board of directors for the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), on the advisory board of the Singapore branch of AIPPI, and participates in various IP organizations such as LES and IPO. He has also been active in various standards organizations where he helped to formulate IPR policies. He has also given lectures on advanced IP topics at Renmin and Tsing Hua Universities in Beijing.

Mr. M.R. Prasanna, a native of Mysore, holds a masters degree and is a gold medallist.

After being an independent Counsel for about 7 years he worked for over 28 years with different organizations like Alfa Laval, Brooke Bond India Limited (now part of Hindustan Unilever) and Larsen & Toubro Limited.

Since October 1998 Mr. Prasanna has been the General Counsel of the Aditya Birla Group, spearheading mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Prasanna is also a Director in many of the Aditya Birla Group Companies.

He was the Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry and is currently Advisor to the Managing Committee of Bombay Chamber.

He is presently the Co-Chairperson of the Legal Affairs Committee of ASSOCHAM, a member of the Corporate Laws Committee of FICCI, a Member of the IBA and is on the Editorial Board of the India Business Law Journal, Hong Kong.

Mr. Prasanna was awarded the “Best In House Counsel” award by Asia Law, Hong Kong in 2005 and 2007, and in November 2006, Mr. Prasanna was conferred the “National Law Day” Awards by Honourable Prime Minister of India.

Frank Rittman is the Vice President, General Counsel & Deputy Managing Director, Asia-Pacific for the Motion Picture Association.

Mr. Rittman joined the MPA in 2001 as its Far East & Australasia Director for commercial and legislative affairs and was promoted to Vice President in 2003. Following the amalgamation of MPA's regional operations in 2004 and prior to his appointment as Counsel, he was also responsible for anti-piracy operations in a number of key designated markets.

Mr. Rittman has represented MPA throughout the region in a number of legislative and commercial initiatives by providing governments with written and oral testimony on a variety of issues. Mr. Rittman also supervises MPA’s civil litigation and coordinates support for criminal prosecutions throughout Asia. Based in Singapore, he works closely with the association’s President and Managing Director on the determination and execution of regional strategic policy and associated objectives.

Mr. Rittman was previously Vice President for International Affairs at the National Music Publishers’ Association and The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. During his twelve year tenure at NMPA/HFA he represented the American songwriting and music publishing industry in a variety of international constituencies and industry negotiations throughout the world.

A native New Yorker, Rittman also served as the Director of Contracts and Copyrights for the Macmillan Publishing Company. An attorney admitted to practice before the New York State and Federal District courts, he is a graduate of New York Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Denver.

Dr. Anindya Sircar is working with the Biocon Group – a premiere biotechnology company in Bangalore, India. He graduated with a major in Chemistry from St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata and did his post-graduation in Biochemistry for the University of Calcutta. He then moved to Hyderabad to do his Ph.D. in Microbiology and joined Biocon Limited, Bangalore at the active pharmaceutical wing of the R&D department in 1997. His research tenure has resulted in several publications in international journals and a large number of patents filed in different countries. He then turned toward the amazing world of IPR and was instrumental in setting up an IPR department for the Biocon Group where he still continues to work. He has also completed his Ph.D. in Law from NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad in 2007.

He takes active participation in patent awareness programs and other programs involving search techniques for patent and commercial information. Besides, he is also a registered patent agent. Dr. Anindya Sircar is a Visiting Faculty on IP at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, PEXA, Mumbai and IBAB, Bangalore. He has been a resource person for numerous workshops and conferences on IP, also a member of Special Interest Group on IP of ABLE; member of the CII National Committee on Technology and IPR and National Committee of Intellectual Property Owners. He is also an Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Dialog-Thompson, UK. He is also a member of the Expert Committee on “Intellectual Property Rights” of the Karnataka Biodiversity Board.

Dr. Richard Thurston was appointed as Vice President and General Counsel of TSMC from January, 2002, and is responsible for legal and intellectual property management.

Dr. Thurston is well-known for his global experience in commercial, technology and international law.

Prior to joining TSMC, Dr. Thurston was a Partner at Kelt Capital Partners, LP, Addison, Texas and the Dallas, Texas law firm Haynes and Boone since 1996. His practice covered general corporate matters, technology-related transactions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures, venture capital investments, foreign trade and investment, and the global protection of intellectual property rights. Before Dr. Thurston joined Haynes and Boone, he served as the Regional Counsel, Asia Pacific and Vice President, Corporate Staff, Assistant General Counsel for 12 years at Texas Instruments, where he spent time in both their Dallas headquarters and Tokyo. He was responsible for both the legal activities of Texas Instruments throughout the Asia Pacific region and merger and acquisition activities. The scope of his legal experiences included foreign trade and investment, technology transfer, general corporate matters, intellectual property rights issues, management of corporate entity affairs, contracts, strategic alliances, and dispute resolution for 40 different subsidiaries. Prior to his post at Texas Instruments, Dr. Thurston was an Associate at Duane, Morris & Heckscher, Philadelphia, PA., U.S.A.

Dr. Thurston graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. degree in History from Alma College, and an M.A. degree and a Ph.D. degree in East Asian Studies from University of Virginia in the U.S. He received a J.D. degree from Rutgers School of Law at Camden, New Jersey in the U.S. in 1980. Dr. Thurston also studied R.O.C. Law at Soochow University, 1975-1976, while researching his Ph.D. dissertation: Civil Law Reform in China, 1906-1930. As a bilingual professional, Dr. Thurston is fluent both in English and in Mandarin. He also taught courses in Entrepreneurism at the Southern Methodist School of Law and the School of Management, University of Texas, both in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. Since September, 2002, Dr. Thurston teaches law courses in Soochow University and National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.