Peter N. Detkin is a managing partner for Intellectual Ventures

Intellectual Ventures

Intellectual Ventures is a private company notable for being one of the top-five owners of U.S. patents, as of 2011. Its business model has a focus on developing a large patent portfolio and licensing these patents to companies. Publicly, it states that a major goal is to assist small inventors...

.

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

, with a B.S.E.E.

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 in 1982 and J.D.

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 in 1985. He worked as a patent attorney

Patent attorney

A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing an opposition...

 for Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati of Palo Alto

Palo Alto, California

Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

, becoming a partner in 1992.

Following this, he worked as Vice President and assistant general counsel

General Counsel

A general counsel is the chief lawyer of a legal department, usually in a corporation or government department. The term is most used in the United States...

 in charge of patents, litigation, licensing and antitrust/competition law

Competition law

Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is law that promotes or maintains market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies....

 for Intel, and later became one of four founders of Intellectual Ventures. This is ironic because Intellectual Ventures has been described as a "patent troll

Patent troll

Patent troll is a pejorative but questioned term used for a person or company who is a non-practicing inventor, and buys and enforces patents against one or more alleged infringers in a manner considered by the target or observers as unduly aggressive or opportunistic, often with no intention to...

", and Detkin helped popularize this as a pejorative term while at Intel. Detkin and Intellectual Ventures were prominently featured in an episode of This American Life

This American Life

This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...

 on patent issues.

He is a member of the bar

Bar association

A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...

s of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, and licensed to represent inventors before the U.S. Patent Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...

.

Detkin serves on the Board of Overseers for University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science

University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science

The School of Engineering and Applied Science, also known as SEAS, is one of the four undergraduate schools of the University of Pennsylvania. The School offers a boutique approach to the study of engineering in that its programs emphasize hands-on study of engineering fundamentals while...

. He provided support for the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering to build a new principle teaching laboratory, The Detkin Lab.

He also contributed a major gift to Penn Law School to establish a leading-edge intellectual property and technology legal clinic, Detkin Intellectual Property and Technology Legal Clinic.

Detkin is active with the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, serving as a Board Member and past-President.

External links