Horacio Gutiérrez is Microsoft Corporation’s Vice President and Deputy General Counsel in charge of the company’s worldwide Intellectual Property & Licensing Group, including the patent, trademark, copyright, trade secrets, licensing, IP investments and IP Policy groups. Prior to his current position, Mr. Gutiérrez was based in Paris, France, where he managed Microsoft’s legal department for Europe, Middle East and Africa, overseeing all legal, regulatory and government affairs matters in that region.

Mr. Gutiérrez is a frequent lecturer on intellectual property, competition and electronic commerce policy issues, and has provided advice to several Governments on proposed legislation on the subject of e-signatures. He was selected by the U.S. Department of Commerce to represent the United States in the FTAA Joint Government-Private Sector Committee of Experts on Electronic Commerce. He is a board member of the American Bar Association’s Latin America and Caribbean Law Initiative as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade.

Before joining Microsoft in 1998, Mr. Gutiérrez was a member of the international practice group at the Miami office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where he focused on international intellectual property, international commercial transactions and corporate finance.

Mr. Gutiérrez is trained and has practiced law both in civil law and common law jurisdictions. He holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar; a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University Of Miami School Of Law; an LL.B. from Catholic University (Caracas, Venezuela); and a Specialization in Corporate and Commercial Law from the same institution.

Mr. Gutiérrez is a member of the New York, Florida, American, International and Federal District (Venezuela) Bar Associations and is fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.