MoForever Alumni News - Summer 2018

6 | MoForever lead voice on patent and valuation issues during those negotiations, which led to successful renewals during an especially challenging time when the Alice decision had put the value of patents in doubt. The Technicolor licensing business was larger, having around a half a billion dollars in annual revenue when I joined. Its portfolio included complex standard-essential patents (SEPs) in television signal transmission and video compression technologies, which required special handling due to constant changes in U.S. and European FRAND law. In my role as Head of Strategy and Litigation, I supported the Technicolor licensing business in complex cross-licensing deals, patent transactions, and litigation with the most sophisticated counterparties. I did a lot of international travel for the job at Technicolor, since our HQ was in Paris and we had licensees and litigation around the world. That was quite an adventure as in any given quarter I traveled to Paris for HQ meetings, to Prague to see a licensee, off to Hong Kong to meet with MoFo about a China arbitration, and to Düsseldorf for a hearing in a German patent litigation. I have lots of miles! At Atlassian, I have a new challenge: protecting the IP of a successful product company, while protecting the company from all manner of external IP threats. Atlassian has incredibly successful products, and the company’s core focus is on constantly improving products and market and customer satisfaction. As the IP lawyer to the business, my challenge is to constantly communicate, educate, and convince my colleagues about the value of IP and the risks that Atlassian faces as it scales. So in addition to strategy and “lawyer’s work,” there is a lot of coalition building and education in my day. Not to say that my prior experiences are wasted. Not at all. I spend a lot of my time sitting on the other side of the same tables. And I think that gives me insights into those situations and credibility with our executives. How was the transition to in-house? The transition to in-house was both a boon and a challenge. A boon because I could spend more time with my daughters and have a more flexible schedule. A challenge because success in-house is measured differently. When you’re a law-firm lawyer, your time is money. You go to happy hour but don’t do too much water cooler chat. I didn’t anyway. In-house is more of a political consensus-building experience. You need to regard casual conversations not as a waste of time but as an actual skill. It’s much more important to be aligned with everyone in the organization versus “I did all my work well.” I have to admit this is something I’m still working on and I’m not sure if “MY CHALLENGE IS TO CONSTANTLY COMMUNICATE, EDUCATE, AND CONVINCE MY COLLEAGUES ABOUT THE VALUE OF IP AND THE RISKS THAT ATLASSIAN FACES AS IT SCALES.”