Craig A. Gelfound

Managing patent portfolios both nationally and internationally, Gelfound works with a wide array of technology companies and products — Qualcomm Inc.’s wireless broadband, Divergent Technologies Inc.’s 3-D printed auto chassis, and Scosche Industries’ audio accessories, to name a few.

It’s diverse from a technology standpoint, he said, but from a strategy standpoint, it’s the same. Gelfound’s strategy is to monetize the intellectual property portfolio and maximize the return on its value, and in high-tech Fortune 500 companies, IP can represent more than half of a company’s worth.

That’s a fairly new phenomenon — 20 years ago, that wasn’t the case, Gelfound noted.

In a past life, Gelfound was an engineer and spent 10 years in a radar research and design facility. The company was a government contractor during the Cold War era, which he called “an engineer’s dream — you could design the best of the best, the most sophisticated, state-of-the-art equipment.”

But after defense budgets dried up, in 1991 Gelfound switched gears and went to Southwestern Law School. He’s still with the school today, now as an adjunct professor in patent law.

For his clients, Gelfound helps them keep an eye on the competition and scan for areas where legal battles may lie ahead. A good lawyer doesn’t just litigate, he said, but works to keep a company out of litigation. That can be achieved offensively, and defensively, but Gelfound makes sure he pays plenty of attention to the defense.

With patents, he said, “You want the scope to be very definite, to be understood by the industry. If it’s too ambiguous and big, you invite litigation — if I’m a competitor, I’m going to infringe. If it’s clear, a competitor can know how to avoid infringing the patent, and that tends to cause less conflict.”

Gelfound said he most enjoys being able to create an IP portfolio that is tightly coupled to the business objectives of the company. “I really enjoy when you have a seat at the table, when I’m there from the beginning and I have a voice about how we should develop the portfolio. I’m creating an asset — I like that.”

— L.J. Williamson