With over a billion dollars in patent deals under his belt, Mark Holmes is the founder and CEO of PatentBridge LLC, a privately held technology development firm in Silicon Valley that specializes in bringing to market select patented technologies covering extraordinary software and Internet-related breakthroughs. 

Mr. Holmes is the CEO and Co-Founder of RavenWhite Cybersecurity, Inc. which was selected as one of the top 10 security startups worldwide at the RSA Conference. He is also the Executive of Business Development for the DeCaf Co. which is creating the world’s first consumer instant decaffeination product.

Mr. Holmes has advised such technology savvy entities as Visa, Sony, Applied Materials, University of California at Berkeley as well as many startups startups and has been named every year to the IAM Strategy 300 – The World’s Leading IP Strategists.  He served as co-chair of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) from 2006 to 2011.

He was the co-founder of a successful telecommunications startup which was sold in the late 1990s to a portfolio company of the Alabama state retirement fund (Retirement Systems of Alabama).

He lectures nationally on the pressing issues facing tech startups. In the past few years, he has spoken nationally over 50 times for such bodies as Renaissance Weekend, International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), PLI and other organizations.

He holds an engineering degree from Brown, is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), IEEE Software Society and wrote the book PATENT LICENSING AND SELLING: STRATEGY, NEGOTIATION & FORMS.

Joseph Yang is an IP transactions partner at PatentEsque Law Group, LLP.

Joe specializes in structuring & negotiating tech/IP-centric deals (technology transactions, JVs, patent licensing/sales, standards body issues, IP aspects of M&A) and in the use of IP as strategic business assets. He has led hundreds of deals involving billions of dollars in the computer, electronics, entertainment, consumer goods, healthcare, energy & manufacturing industries. Reflecting these diverse experiences, Joe often helps clients in cross-industry deals (e.g., IoT, SaaS & “big data” deals) with companies outside their own industry.

Joe also serves as an expert witness for high stakes patent & tech licensing disputes.

Joe teaches the "Patent and Technology Licensing" course at Stanford Law School, and has taught the “Patent Law and Policy” course at U.C. Berkeley School of Law. Joe is a long-time 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, on patent & licensing law.

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 CRI’s successful sale in a series of M&A deals (with Macrovision & Rambus) valued at $400+ million.

Before that, 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 has also practiced at other large multinational law firms, and served as an arbitrator.

Joe is recognized as one of the “World’s Leading IP Strategists,” “World’s Leading Patent Professionals” and “World’s Leading IP & Technology Licensing Lawyers” by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) publications. IAM named Joe as 1 of only 10 "highly recommended" IP transactional attorneys in all of California -- and the only one from a boutique (non-AmLaw 100) law firm. IAM states: “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 a creative problem solver who can clearly articulate legal risks and provide effective advice to guide business decision making.” Joe was also profiled in “Marquis Who’s Who in American Law”, “Marquis Who’s Who in America” and “Marquis Who’s Who in the World”.

Joe was originally a research engineer in the aerospace & energy fields. He holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School 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.

Contact Information: Joseph Yang, PatentEsque Law Group, LLP, 2440 Sand Hill Road, Suite 400, Menlo Park, CA 94025, joe@patentesque.com, 650-233-0822