Craig Gelfound

As head of ArentFox Schiff LLP's IP practice in California, Craig A. Gelfound has been a driving force in the group's expansion. He launched the practice in San Francisco and has grown the firm's California IP group from one when he joined ArentFox in 2007 to more than 35 lawyers and professionals today.

"I was the first IP lawyer at ArentFox," he said. "Today, I have quite a docket, and I'm fortunate to have built an outstanding team." Among his leading clients is Qualcomm Inc., the San Diego-based wireless technology multinational currently developing new 5G communications systems. In 2022, ArentFox reached 20,000 patent applications prepared or prosecuted for Qualcomm under Gelfound's supervision.

"We're up to about a thousand a year now," he noted, "and now that I say it, it sounds like a lot."

Gelfound graduated magna cum laude from Southwestern Law School in 1994. He currently teaches patent law there as an adjunct professor. Before law school, with an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, he worked as a design engineer for a telecommunications company as it built signal processors for military radar applications.

"I spent ten years as an engineer and I loved it," Gelfound said. "The Cold War was on, Ronald Reagan was in power and there were unlimited government defense budgets. That background absolutely helps me today to understand the stuff I file patents and litigate on."

Other clients include Western Digital Corp. and its SanDisk LLC acquisition; Munchkin, which makes products for babies and children; Power Integrations; Advanced Battery Concepts LLC; the Alfred Mann Foundations; Scosche Industries Inc., a maker of iPhone and other accessories; and Divergent Technologies, a leader in 3-D printed automobile technology.

"Divergent is going to radically transform the automaking industry through 3-D printed vehicle structures," Gelfound said. "You can build custom cars through software. This company has expanded astronomically, and I really enjoy watching and participating as client companies grow."

Gelfound and his team continue to file hundreds of patent applications for Divergent annually as his role expands into licensing strategies and monetization efforts for Divergent's global patent portfolio.

For Scosche, whose electronic accessories are sold by large retailers like Best Buy Co. and Walmart Inc., Gelfound has litigated several matters. He's currently defending Schosche in a patent infringement suit by a patent monetization entity in connection with automotive dashboard cameras. The case is at the pleading stage. Fleet Connect Solutions LLC v. Scosche Industries Inc., 2:23-cv-09324 (C.D. Cal., filed Nov. 3, 2023).

"I am busy and enjoying the work," Gelfound said. "Do I love it? I love kayaking in Hawaii. But this is a really good way to make a living."

-- John Roemer