An Ottawa intellectual property firm has tapped a Silicon Valley veteran to lead the company as it looks to build on the momentum of several technology licensing legal battles.
On Monday, Conversant Intellectual Property Management said Boris Teksler would be taking over as president and CEO of the 41-year-old firm, formerly known as Mosaid Technologies. He replaces John Lindgren, who spent roughly a decade leading the firm, including navigating it through a hostile takeover bid by fellow Ottawa IP licensing firm WiLAN that led to Mosaid’s acquisition by a U.S. private equity firm and eventual rebranding.
Mr. Lindgren will move to a non-executive role and continue to sit on the company’s board of directors.
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Conversant manages a portfolio of thousands of patents. It charges other companies licensing fees and sues firms that use intellectual property covered by its patents.
In an interview with OBJ, Mr. Teksler said he would be visiting the Conversant office in Ottawa monthly but does not plan to relocate to Canada’s capital.
He said Conversant is “on a fantastic track.”
“The company has a very rich history of being both an inventive company and as a prominent intellectual licensing company,” Mr. Teksler said. “It is incredibly rational and fair-minded. This is an industry that requires that type of approach and the transparency that goes along with it.”
Prior to joining Conversant, Mr. Teksler held several positions in the intellectual property industry, including serving as head of Apple’s patent licensing and strategy division.
By coincidence, a U.S. jury awarded a subsidiary of Conversant $7.3 million in damages last week after finding that Apple infringed two smartphone patents, according to the Ottawa-based firm.
Mr. Teksler also served as senior executive vice-president and president of the technology business group at Technicolor and previously co-founded the intellectual property licensing business at Hewlett-Packard.
