Bill Ragland, Jeffrey Whittle Honored as Leading IP Strategists By Intellectual Asset Magazine

 

In addition, Whittle was named an IAM 300 Global Leader. Click here to read an in-depth interview on his approaches to IP strategy, licensing, IP diligence in energy M&A, and more.

 

The Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) “is the only resource of its kind, acknowledging leaders from across in-house, private practice and service provider roles. A slot in the 300 is the mark of a professional whose approach to intellectual property is regarded by peers as truly strategic in nature.”

 

IAM researchers in the United States, Europe and Asia spoke to a wide range of senior corporate IP managers, as well as third-party IP service providers. Only those individuals nominated multiple times by different parties as outstanding IP strategists are listed in the IAM Strategy 300. The 2026 edition includes professionals in areas such as brokering, defensive patent aggregation, finance, insurance, management consultancy, the law, licensing, mergers and acquisitions, tax, and valuation.

 

In addition, Ragland and Whittle also are ranked in IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Professionals.

 

Bill Ragland is among Womble Bond Dickinson’s most experienced lead intellectual property litigators and strategists. He has successfully litigated more than 80 patent infringement and other patent-related cases in his four-decade career. Ragland also provides strategic advice regarding the structure, negotiation and implementation of intellectual property enforcement and licensing programs and portfolio management services. Ragland founded the Atlanta Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section and served as its first co-chair, is a past president of the Atlanta Bar Association, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia. He is a former member of the Smithsonian National Board and currently serves as co-chair of its board Alumni. Ragland is also a former commissioner of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and is currently the founding chair of its Commissioner alumni group. He recently served as a board director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Arts & Sciences Foundation and was the founding co-chair of its Former Directors Engagement Committee.

 

Jeffrey Whittle provides over 30 years of legal experience to clients in the energy and high-tech industries. He advises on strategic and complex technology merger & acquisition transactions, licensing, patent, trademark, and copyright protection, intellectual property portfolio analysis, and various other contentious and transactional matters, including inter partes reexaminations, post-grant reviews, and derivation proceedings, among other disputed cases. Whittle is Head of Womble Bond Dickinson’s Global Energy and Natural Resources Industry Sector and serves on the firm’s Global Board.