Mark A. Lemley
Partner

In addition to being a partner of Lex Lumina, Mark Lemley is the William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and is affiliated faculty in the Symbolic Systems Program. He teaches intellectual property, patent law, trademark law, antitrust, the law of robotics and AI, video game law, and remedies.

Mark litigates and counsels clients in all areas of intellectual property, antitrust, and internet law. He has argued 30 federal appellate cases and numerous district court cases as well as before the California Supreme Court. He has participated in more than three dozen cases in the United States Supreme Court as counsel or amici.  His client base is diverse, including Genentech, Dykes on Bikes, video game companies, artists, computer scientists, and nearly every significant Internet company, including Amazon.com, Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

Mark has twice been named California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year. He has been recognized as one of the top 50 litigators in the country under 45 and one of the 25 most influential people in IP by The American Lawyer, one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the nation by the The National Law Journal, and one of the 10 most admired attorneys in IP by IP360. He received the California State Bar’s inaugural IP Vanguard Award. He won the 2018 World Technology Award for Law. In 2017 he received the P.J. Federico Award from the Patent and Trademark Office Society. Back when he was young, he was named a Young Global Leader by the Davos World Economic Forum and Berkeley Law School’s Young Alumnus of the Year. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Law Institute, and the IP Hall of Fame.

Mark is the author of nine books and 201 articles, including the two-volume treatise IP and Antitrust. His works have been cited more than 300 times by courts, including 17 times by the United States Supreme Court, and more than 40,000 times in books and academic articles, making him the most-cited scholar in IP law and one of the ten most cited legal scholars of all time. He has published 9 of the 100 most-cited law review articles of the last twenty years, more than any other scholar, and a 2012 empirical study named him the most relevant law professor in the U.S. His articles have appeared in 24 of the top 25 law reviews, in Nature Biotechnology, in top economic journals such as the American Economic Review and the Review of Economics and Statistics, and in multiple peer-reviewed and specialty journals. They have been reprinted throughout the world, and translated into Chinese, Danish, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. He has taught IP law to federal and state judges at numerous Federal Judicial Center and ABA programs, has testified eight times before Congress, and has filed more than 70 amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and state and federal courts.

Mark co-founded Lex Machina, Inc., a startup company that provides litigation data and analytics to law firms, companies, courts, and policymakers. Lex Machina was acquired by Lexis in December 2015.

In his spare time, Mark enjoys cooking, travel, yoga, and video games (at this writing, God of War: Ragnarok).

Education

Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (J.D.)

  • Graduated #1 in class
  • California Law Review (Articles Editor)
  • Order of the Coif
  • Industrial Relations Law Journal
  • Moot Court Board

Stanford University (A.B. with distinction, Economics and Political Science)

Admissions

The State Bar of California

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Courts of Appeals:

  • Second Circuit

  • Fifth Circuit

  • Seventh Circuit

  • Ninth Circuit

  • Federal Circuit

U.S. District Courts:

  • Central District of California

  • Northern District of California

Representative Matters

LKQ Corp. v. GM Global Technologies, 102 F.4th 1280 (Fed. Cir. 2024)

Arued and won landmark en banc appeal in the Federal Circuit for global auto-parts manufacturer LKQ Corp., where LKQ prevailed and the Federal Circuit reversed more than 40 years of precedent on design patent obviousness.

Clerkships & Prior Affiliations

Clerkships:

  • Hon. Dorothy W. Nelson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Los Angeles, 1991-1992)

** Prior Associations:**

Durie Tangri LLP, San Francisco, California, Founding Partner (2009–2022)

Litigation, dispute resolution/special master work, and client counseling in all aspects of intellectual property, antitrust, and Internet law. District court and appellate practice in patent law, trade secrets, contracts, and software copyright before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Second, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth and Federal U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals. Representive clients included Genentech, Dykes on Bikes, and virtually every significant Internet company, including Amazon.com, Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, California

  • Elizabeth Josselyn Boalt Chair in Law (2003–2004)
  • Professor of Law; co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (2000–2003)
  • Visiting Professor (Fall 1998)
  • Lecturer (1993–1994)
  • Courses: Introduction to Intellectual Property; Electronic Commerce; Computer Law; Intellectual Property and Antitrust; Patent Law; IP Scholarship Seminar

University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas

  • Marrs McLean Professor of Law (1999–2000)
  • Professor (1998–1999)
  • Assistant Professor (1994–1998)
  • Courses: Antitrust Law; Computer Law; Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law; Introduction to Intellectual Property; Law of the Internet; Patent Law; Regulated Industries

Keker & Van Nest, San Francisco, California, Of Counsel (2001–2009)

Litigation, dispute resolution/special master work and client counseling in all aspects of intellectual property, antitrust, and Internet law. Representive clients included Comcast, Genentech, Google, Grokster, Hummer Winblad, Intel, NetFlix, TiVo, and the University of Colorado Foundation.

Fish & Richardson, Menlo Park, California & Austin, Texas, Of Counsel (1995–2001), Attorney (1993–1994)

Litigated, provided expert testimony, counseled clients, and served as a mediator in patent, trade secret, copyright, trademark, and antitrust cases in the fields of computer software and hardware, telecommunications, biotechnology, and physics. Representative clients included Amicus Communications, Genentech, Mentor Graphics, 3M, Mobil Oil, Nassda, NeoForma, Thermolase, Valentis, and Varian.

Brown & Bain, Palo Alto, California, Attorney (1992–1993)

Litigated and counseled clients regarding patent and trade secret law in the fields of telecommunications, semiconductors, and medical devices. Representative clients included EP Technologies and National Semiconductor.

Professional Associations And Community Service

  • Member, Board of Directors, Silicon Valley Urban Debate League, 2022–present
  • Member, Advisory Board, DMinti, Inc. (a private NFT art company), 2021–present
  • Member, Advisory Board, Clairvolex (AI-based legal tech company), 2021–present
  • Member, Advisory Board, Electronic Frontier Foundation, 2004–present
  • Principal Investigator on grants from National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation
  • Co-founder and Member, Board of Directors, Lex Machina, Inc., 2009–2015
  • Member, American Law Institute, 2012–present
  • Obama for America 2008 campaign (fundraiser; served on IP and antitrust policy advisory committees)
  • Member, Boalt Hall Alumni Association Board of Directors, 2007–2010
  • Chair, Association of American Law Schools Section on Antitrust and Economic Regulation, 2006
  • Member, California Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, 2004–2005
  • Advisor, American Law Institute “Principles of the Law of Software Contracts” Project, 2004–2009
  • Master, San Francisco Bay Area Intellectual Property Inns of Court
  • Member, Northern District of California Patent Instructions and Rules Committee, 2000–present
  • Moderator, "CyberProf" Internet listserv
  • Peer reviewer (occasional), American Law and Economics Review; BE Press; California Business Review; Genomics; Information Economics and Policy; Journal of Law, Economics and Organization; Journal of Legal Studies; Jurimetrics Journal; MIT Press; the National Science Foundation; Nature; Oxford University Press; Research Policy; Frontiers; and Science
  • ICANN domain name dispute arbitrator (disputes.org/eresolution.ca), 1999–2001
  • Member, Board of Directors, University Cooperative Society (a private non-profit college bookstore), 1995–1999
  • Member, Panel of Academic Advisors, American Committee for Interoperable Systems, 1995–1999
  • Member, Board of Editors, American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal, 1994–2000
  • Chair, Association of American Law Schools Section on Law and Computers, 1997
  • Founder and Coach, Stanford Debate Team, 1985–1988

Awards

Individual

  • 2019 Ladas Memorial Award for best paper in trademark law, International Trademark Association
  • Winner, World Technology Network’s World Technology Award for Law, 2018 (also finalist 2004, 2011)
  • Best Lawyers in America San Francisco IP Attorney of the Year, 2010 (IP), 2013 (patent litigation), 2017 (trade secrets), 2019 (trade secrets)
  • Managing IP Magazine, Influential Individual of the Year, 2017
  • P.J. Federico Award, Patent and Trademark Office Society, 2017
  • Jerry S. Cohen Memorial Fund Writing Award for outstanding paper on private antitrust enforcement, 2016
  • California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award for Antitrust, 2015
  • Concurrences Antitrust Writing Award for outstanding antitrust paper, 2014
  • Managing IP Magazine, IP Thought Leader of the Year, 2012, 2013
  • Parkway Alumni Association Hall of Fame, 2012
  • California State Bar inaugural IP Vanguard Award, 2009
  • California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award for Intellectual Property, 2005
  • Young Alumnus of the Year, Boalt Hall School of Law, 2002

Group

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, inducted 2018
  • IP Hall of Fame, inducted 2014
  • World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, 2007
  • Daily Journal 100 Most Influential Attorneys in California, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
  • Managing IP Magazine, 50 Most Influential People in IP World-wide, 2012, 2018
  • Law360 Icons of IP, 2016
  • Daily Journal Top 75 IP Lawyers in California, every year since 2009
  • Managing IP Magazine, IP Stars 2014, 2016, 2019, 2022
  • National Law Journal, 100 Most Influential Lawyers in the U.S., 2006, 2013
  • Top 100 Lawyers in Northern California, SuperLawyers, 2013, 2014, 2016
  • Intellectual Asset Magazine Global Patent 1000, every year since 2012
  • Intellectual Asset Magazine Global IP Strategy 300, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
  • Parkway Alumni Association Hall of Fame, 2012
  • Best Lawyers in America, recognized as an outstanding lawyer in one or more of antitrust, bet-the-company litigation, IP, patent, and trade secret law every year since 2007
  • San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco’s Top Attorneys 2011
  • Chambers 2016 (Patents); 2016 (Patent: Star Individuals); ranked every year since 2010
  • American Lawyer, The 25 Most Influential People in IP, 2010
  • IP360’s Ten Most Admired IP Attorneys, 2010
  • Who’s Who Legal 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 (Patents), 2016 (Thought Leader)
  • IP Law and Business Magazine, Top 50 Under 45, 2008
  • Daily Journal Top 50 IP Lawyers in California, 2008
  • Corporate Counsel Magazine Top Lawyers, 2007, 2008, 2009
  • American Lawyer’s Young Litigators Fab Fifty, 2007
  • Lawdragon 3000 Leading Lawyers in America 2010
  • Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, 2005, 2006, 2007
  • Northern California SuperLawyers (IP litigation), every year since 2004
  • Daily Journal Top 25 Intellectual Property Attorneys in California, 2003

Academic

  • Thelen Marrin Prize (given to the top student in each graduating class), Boalt Hall School of Law, 1991
  • John G. Sobieski Prize in Economics, Stanford University, 1988
  • Truman Scholar, 1986

Publications

Click here for a bibliography of Mark's publications.