Joseph Yang

Partner, PatentEsque Law Group, LLP

Joe specializes in structuring & negotiating tech/IP-centric deals (technology transactions, strategic alliances, patent licensing/sales, etc.) and in corporate IP strategy. He has led hundreds of deals involving billions of dollars across the information technology, electronics, entertainment, consumer goods, healthcare, energy, chemical & manufacturing industries. Joe is often hired to “bridge the gap” in cross-industry deals (e.g., joint ventures, IoT, SaaS & “big data” deals) between industries that historically didn’t interact with each other. Joe is also an expert witness for high stakes licensing disputes.

Joe teaches “Technology and Patent Licensing” at Stanford Law School, and has taught “Patent Law and Policy” at U.C. Berkeley School of Law. Joe is the decades-long chair of the “Advanced Licensing,” “Advanced Patent Licensing” and “Understanding the IP License” courses at the Practising Law Institute in NYC, SF and Chicago. He has written for journals/books, and been cited by courts/treatises.

Joe previously served as VP/General Counsel of Cryptography Research, Inc. (CRI), negotiating deals under which 10+ billion devices/year are made by its licensees in the smart card/phone, semiconductor, pay TV, printer & other fields. He also developed, enforced & defended CRI’s patent portfolio, and played a key role in the acquisition of CRI in a series of M&A deals valued at $400+ million.

Earlier, Joe co-founded and later led the “IP Strategy & Transactions” practice based in the Silicon Valley office of the world’s largest law firm (Skadden, Arps). He also practiced at other large multinational law firms & served as an arbitrator.

Joe has been named a “World’s Leading IP Strategist,” “World’s Leading Patent Professional” and “World’s Leading IP & Technology Licensing Lawyer” by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) publications. IAM has repeatedly ranked him as a leading IP transactional attorney — the only one in California from a boutique (non-AmLaw 100) firm:

“Joseph Yang is a major-league deal maker and licensing authority” as well as “a transactional mastermind” … with arbitration and litigation skills that make him a formidable negotiator.” He “is an authority on the licensing of SEPs and a cross-border deal broker of the highest order.”

Joe is “one of the best expert witnesses you could hope to deal with. He considers all the issues before committing to an opinion, and his positions are always rock solid”.

He is also profiled in the SuperLawyers guide for Northern California, and “Marquis Who’s Who in American Law”, “Marquis Who’s Who in America” and “Marquis Who’s Who in the World.”

Joe also serves on the boards of the Licensing Executives Society (Silicon Valley) and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley.

Joe was originally a research engineer in the aerospace & energy fields. He holds a J.D. from Stanford and a Ph.D. (engineering) from the California Institute of Technology, where he has been a board member of the Caltech Associates & Caltech Alumni Association.

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