THOUGHTLEADER PROFILE
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Steve Henry Steve was the legal architect of the landmark decision won by Signature Financial Group in the precedent-setting State Street Bank and Trust v. Signature Financial Group case. In it, the nation’s top patent court struck down the long-accepted rule that “methods of doing business” can’t be patented and changed the rules on protecting software-based inventions. The 1998 decision upheld the eligibility of most software-implemented systems for patent protection and opened the door to patents for business methods. “Steve is at the cutting edge of intellectual property law,” says Ed Gates, his colleague at Wolf Greenfield. “Almost a decade ago, when everyone was saying you can’t patent software and business methods, Steve was saying you can.” More recently, Steve has gained national recognition for his warnings that using open-source software can cause loss of intellectual-property rights unless handled with care. In the three-volume Internet Encyclopedia published by John Wiley, Steve wrote the chapter on open source development and licensing. He is particularly interested in fostering the growth of technology-based companies, large and small, by developing and executing effective intellectual property strategies for them. Having once served as Managing Partner at his firm for five years, Steve advises his clients as one who appreciates the realities of the business world. His many novel ideas on the subject of technology and IP management have led to his being quoted widely as an expert in the nation’s news media and to publishing articles in such prestigious journals as Law and Policy in International Business, The Yale Journal of Law and Technology and The Banking Law Journal, as well as Patent Cafe, InfoWorld, the Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal and LinuxWorld Magazine. A frequent speaker, he’s addressed the Massachusetts Software & Internet Council, the MIT Enterprise Forum Technology Transfer Conference, the European Technology Roundtable Exhibition, the Israel Export Institute, Massport Export Seminars, the Licensing Executives Society, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and the Boston Patent Law Association (of which he has been president). And as if all that weren’t enough, Steve serves as alumni treasurer for his class at MIT where he earned both a bachelors and masters degree in electrical engineering. In addition, he has taken on the challenge of leading his class’s fund-raising program and is an active participant in MIT’s admissions program. A true thoughtleader, Steve never stops innovating, advocating, volunteering… and thinking. about emerson consulting group Company Website: http://www.thoughtleading.com Ken Lizotte email:
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Software companies, communications enterprises, financial institutions, consultants and Internet companies looking to protect their proprietary business methods—the very core of their companies—turn to patents. It’s arguably the most important development in patent law in the last decade, and its rise has a lot to do with one man—a far-thinking lawyer named Steven J. Henry with Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.