Experts in every field

Matthew Rappaport founded IP Checkups in 2004 to help companies align their patent strategy with their business objectives. Matthew developed a proprietary methodology for assessing the relationships between competitive patent portfolios. Then, he spearheaded the development of PatentCAM software to categorize, archive, & monitor patent information.

He has managed hundreds of patent landscape analyses, market research, IP strategy, and valuation projects for large and small corporate clients, start-ups and investors.

Matthew serves as the industry liaison to the Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership at the University of California, Berkeley. Since 2010, Matthew has been selected as a member of the IAM Strategy 300, a list of the world’s leading IP strategists.

Irving Rappaport has been a licensed patent attorney for over 40 years. He headed the IP departments of five Fortune 500 companies – Apple, Medtronic, National Semiconductor, Data General and Bally Manufacturing – as well as founding 2 patent analytics startups.

In 1992, Irving co-founded SmartPatents, which later became Aurigin Systems, a pioneer in the field legal software, for patent landscaping and analytics. In 2004, Irv and Matthew co-founded IP Checkups.

Irving serves as an expert witness in IP-related litigation, representing plaintiffs in the i4i v. Microsoft; Wi-LAN v. Acer et al, v. RIM et al, v. Westech et al; and Cornell University v. HP cases. Since 2009, Irving has been selected as a member of the IAM Strategy 300, a list of the world’s leading IP strategists.

Steve Krawczyk joined IPC in 2013. He contributes his experience in R&D, commercialization and IP analytics to provide clients with an understanding of the competitive advantages manifested by their IP portfolios.

Steve started at Gilead Sciences in 1989 as a medicinal chemist and in 2000 moved to Gilead’s IP department as a patent searcher and analyst. In 2006, he became the head of Patent Informatics, managing the patent search group and providing FTO, landscape searches, and design around assessments in support of M&A and partnering diligence.

Steve’s work at Gilead resulted in over 40 peer reviewed publications, patents and presentations. He earned his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Michigan. Later he obtained an MBA through Golden Gate University and a JD from Santa Clara University.

Prior to joining IP Checkups in 2017, Mark Bosse was Vice President, Intellectual Property for Gilead Sciences, Inc. In this role, Mr. Bosse managed all aspects of intellectual property practice at Gilead. Mr. Bosse joined Gilead in 1993, and was promoted to Vice President in 2003, where he was responsible for intellectual property and competitive Intelligence services. In addition, working in partnership with Gilead’s General Counsel, Mr. Bosse worked to open drug access for Gilead’s HIV/AIDS drugs in the least developed world.

Prior to joining Gilead, Mr. Bosse was an attorney at Syntex Corporation. In this role, Mr. Bosse’s practice focus was patent preparation and prosecution for the Syva Diagnostics business unit.

Mr. Bosse received his J.D. from Golden Gate University Law School, his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from University of California at Berkeley and his bachelor’s degree from Lewis and Clark College.

Jesse Hooper joined IP Checkups in 2014 as a patent searcher and project manager. He specializes in patent and non-patent literature searching, patent analytics, and landscaping in the electrical, mechanical, and software engineering areas.

Jesse started in the field of patent analytics in 2009 as a patent searcher and analyst. He is an expert on a variety of commercially available patent search and analytics tools.

Jesse has performed hundreds of freedom-to-operate, validity, and patentability searches.And, he has managed projects related to technology mapping and competitive analysis. Jesse’s technical experience spans a variety of areas including wireless, networking, internet-of-things, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, biomedical devices, batteries, data storage, among others. Jesse earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University in 2008.

Shashank Bhatia brings over 15 years of experience, creating, managing and monetizing High-tech patent portfolios.

Specializing in semiconductors, software, artificial intelligence, communications, augmented and virtual reality technologies, Shashank contributes to multiple aspects of innovation and IP – from invention development, patent prosecution strategy, advisory, expert witnessing, and cross border licensing – to the acquisition and sale of several IP portfolios across industries and platforms.

Shashank studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and Strategic Intellectual Property Management (SIPM) at WIPO Geneva.

An avid theater enthusiast, Shashank is a playwright and a stage actor when he’s away from his desk.

Jennifer has 20+ years of experience writing and prosecuting biotechnology patent applications. Jennifer has a wide range of experience, having worked in law firms and biotech companies on a variety of Patent drafting and prosecution projects. Her experience includes six years as a Patent Agent at Knobbe, Martens, Olsen and Bear and a further four years working for Roche Diagnostics and Genencor.

Jennifer received her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from UCLA and worked for 5 years as a postdoctoral fellow at Childrens Hospital, Los Angeles studying the molecular biology of Ewing’s Sarcoma before changing careers to the patent field. During that time she also enjoyed teaching Microbiology classes for UCLA and Santa Monica College.

Jennifer has extensive patent experience writing and prosecuting biotechnology applications related to virology, vaccine work, enzymology, new PCR techniques, intra ocular lenses, the molecular biology of allergy, plant genetics, gene therapy, antimicrobial proteins, fermentation, immunology, and biofuel production among many others.

Robert Kean joined IP Checkups in 2019. Robert has over 20 years of experience in intellectual asset management, patent searching and analysis, patent drafting, and alignment of R&D with IP strategy. Robert has technical expertise in the areas of chemistry, biochemistry, material/polymer science, process technology, product formulation, food science, and biotechnology.

Prior to joining IP Checkups, Robert held R&D and IP leadership positions at several companies including: Laboratory Director (Cortec Corporation), Biodegradable Technologies and Patents Manager (Cortec Corporation), Intellectual Asset Manager/Principal Chemist (NatureWorks LLC), and Intellectual Asset Manager (Cargill).

Robert has been a registered patent agent since 2001. He has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Michigan State University and conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Minnesota Department of Biochemistry.

Jerry Frenkil is an electrical engineer and entrepreneur with 40 years of experience in semiconductor electronics as a designer, technologist, executive, and industry leader with a particular focus on power and energy issues.

He holds a BSEE from the University of Texas at Austin, has authored over two dozen publications including chapters in four books, and has been awarded a dozen US patents. He is also the lead author of the IEEE 2416 System Modeling standard.

Jerry was the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Sente, Inc. and Sequence Design, Inc., both pioneers in low power design automation, and previously had held positions at VLSI Technology and Mostek in design and manufacturing.

John Shearer is an award-winning international technologist, inventor, educator, serial entrepreneur and former CEO of several tech ventures including Powercast, DarkLight, and Icarus International.

John co-Founded the Early X Foundation, a unique Intellectual Property commercialization process.  In this teaching role, he develops MBA student-founded, innovation-based businesses. Globally, he locates and evaluates cutting-edge technologies with significant commercial value from other universities, national and international research laboratories and within the private sector for commercialization.

John has extensive global experience and a strong network of innovators, executives and educators. He has held executive management positions with numerous start-up and venture backed companies and has successfully commercialized early-stage research and development projects ranging from innovative image conversion systems and output devices to large-scale data collection and network optimization systems for the electric, gas, and telecommunications industry.

He holds degrees in physics and business (M.B.A.) from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Mr. Shearer currently holds multiple worldwide patents, granted and pending, in the wireless power and energy harvesting fields.