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Mark P. Kesslen, Chair of the Intellectual Property section of the firm's Tech Group and co-chair of the IP Litigation Group, provides strategic guidance to technology-based businesses in patent strategy (licensing, litigation, and prosecution) including venture-backed companies in digital and social media, software, clean-tech and fintech space; research and development entities including Sarnoff Labs and universities and major financial service companies.
Mr. Kesslen serves as IP counsel on numerous venture capital (representing either investors or the companies) and M&A transactions including, for example, recent investments into Twitter, Yext, Crowd Flower and Flat World Knowledge, where issues ranged from assessing litigation, patent scope, open source, creative commons and ownership risks.
Recognition/Press:
- Named among the nation's top 50 IP attorneys under age 45 by IP Law and Business magazine (2008), which highlighted work on behalf of venture-backed companies by “helping the little guy strike a great bargain.”
- Recognized by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in 2006 through 2010 as a leading intellectual property attorney: "Out of the courtroom, practice chair Mark Kesslen provides guidance in patent strategy to technology-based businesses and their investors. 'Mark's pragmatism is key to his practice - he doesn't waste time dealing with theoretical concerns, he just gets issues resolved,' report clients." (2008 edition).
- Quoted and provides commentary on intellectual property issues for various media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, CNN, Red Herring, Dow Jones, TheStreet.com and The Hollywood Reporter.
Mr. Kesslen also serves as a guest lecturer at Columbia University, where he teaches Intellectual Property Law for the Law and Technology class for the Master of Science in Technology Management Program, and at Tufts University where he lectures on the relationship between entrepreneurship and IP.
Prior to joining Lowenstein Sandler, Mr. Kesslen ran JPMorganChase’s Technology, Sourcing & Intellectual Property Practice Group for the Legal Department worldwide. In that role, Mr. Kesslen had more than 30 lawyers at JPMorganChase reporting to him from offices across the U.S., Europe and Asia. In his 8 years at JPMorganChase, Mr. Kesslen served as IP counsel in dozens of venture financings on behalf of Lab Morgan and its predecessor chase.com, incubators of emerging technology and financial service companies. Mr. Kesslen has also served as IP counsel on numerous M&A, IPO and venture capital transactions. Mr. Kesslen chaired the Financial Services Roundtable’s patent working group, has testified before Congress on patent reform, and served as JPMorganChase’s lead internal lawyer on multi-billion dollar outsourcing deals and patent litigation. He also served for five years on the board of directors of the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association. Over the course of Mr. Kesslen’s career, he has prosecuted hundreds of patents and designed and implemented the patent program at JPMorganChase. Mr. Kesslen has handled matters in software, semiconductors, hardware, financial services, business methods and wireless and VoIP communications. Prior to joining JPMorganChase in 1997, Mr. Kesslen was an associate in the IP Group of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.
Professional/Interests:
- Member and Secretary of the Advisory Board of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at Tufts University, 2007-present
- Member of the 2010 Editorial Advisory Board of IP Law360
- Co-Founder and Executive Committee of First Growth Venture Network (a mentorship program for high potential, seed and early stage start-up tech entrepreneurs in and around New York City), 2009-present – covered by WSJ here
- Member, Grape Arbor VC (an angel investor group comprised of 9 friends who spend their professional lives in the tech and start-up space and pool their personal finances to make angel investments), 2006 - present
- Member of the Advisory Board of Pro Bono Partnership, a leading provider of legal services to nonprofit community-based organizations, 2009-present
- National Venture Capital Association, Patent Group Advisory Board Member
- President, Community Chest of Englewood, Englewood Cliffs and Tenafly, (ranking officer of 80+ year old charity serving the area near my home), 2006-present and Member 2002-present
- AngelVineVC, leading group of Venture Capital Funds and Angel Investors looking at deals together in NY, member/leadership team since 2006
- Board Member, Intellectual Property Owner’s Association ("IPO"), 2000-2005.
- Chair, Patents Working Group, Financial Services Roundtable, 1999-2005.
- Testified before Congress on Patent Law Issues in 2003.
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Mark Kesslen comments on Apple Inc.'s attempt to maintain control over their products by suing companies that sell unauthorized electronic accessories such as chargers, speakers and cables for Apple's electronic devices.,
Bloomberg (also published in the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle and SNL Kagan Media & Communications Report), July 28, 2010
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Mark Kesslen comments on NTP's lawsuit against Apple, Google, HTC Corp., LG Electronics Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Motorola Inc. over eight patents related to the wireless delivery of email to cell phones.,
Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2010
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Mark Kesslen comments on HTC Corp's licensing deal to use Microsoft's patents in their Android phone and the impact that deal has on Apple's patent-infringement lawsuit against HTC.,
Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2010
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Case Western Reserve University School of Law
(J.D., 1989)
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Tufts University
(B.S., 1986),
Electrical Engineering
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New York
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New Jersey
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1990,
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
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- Member and Secretary of the Advisory Board of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at Tufts University, 2007-present
- Member of the 2010 Editorial Advisory Board of IP Law360
- Co-Founder and Executive Committee of First Growth Venture Network, 2009-present
- Member, Grape Arbor VC, 2006 - present
- Member of the Advisory Board of Pro Bono Partnership
- National Venture Capital Association, Patent Group Advisory Board Member
- President, Community Chest of Englewood, Englewood Cliffs and Tenafly, 2006-present and Member 2002-present
- AngelVineVC, member/leadership team since 2006
- Board Member, Intellectual Property Owner’s Association ("IPO"), 2000-2005
- Chair, Patents Working Group, Financial Services Roundtable, 1999-2005
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