November 18, 2008 was a big day for Bernard J. ''Barney'' Cassidy, as Tessera Technologies, Inc. announced that, effective immediately, he had been appointed their new senior vice president and general counsel. Cassidy succeeds Scot Griffin as GC at Tessera. Griffin was promoted to executive vice president of Micro-electronics and remains responsible for Tessera's current legal efforts to protect its chip scale packaging (CSP) intellectual property.
Tessera, a leading provider of miniaturization technologies for the booming electronic industry, has been fighting some major court battles, suing several different companies in both district courts and before the ITC (International Trade Commission), struggling to protect its patents from infringements on all sides. Tessera licenses its innovations and delivers its products based on these innovations, striving to encourage the development of the supply chain infrastructure. This enables manufacturers to get the right products to market at the right time. The battles Tessera is now fighting to protect intellectual property (IP) rights are especially important for the company because so much of its revenue comes from royalties and licensing. Last year a total of 81%, equaling $159 million, came from this; now that revenue is being threatened.
A lot of responsibility lies ahead for Cassidy, as Laura Peter pointed out. Peter previously served as GC at Immersion Corp., a company to whom it is also essential to enforce IP rights to ensure a large portion of their revenue. She commented on the atmosphere of a position like the one Cassidy has accepted. ''It's very different than other product or service companies because you are really part of the company's revenue generation,'' said Peter, ''It's a huge responsibility because you really are responsible for bringing in the money.''
Cassidy recognizes the special challenges that the future holds in store. ''Any GC role is interesting and demanding, but when the enforcement of IP is a key part of a company's future success, it gets far more challenging and interesting.'' Cassidy is looking forward to these challenges, however, and is well prepared for the fight. Tessera CEO Henry Nothhaft said in a press release, ''[Barney] brings to Tessera more than twenty years of legal experience, including intellectual property management, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and public company regulatory compliance. His solid legal background makes him an ideal fit for Tessera.''
Cassidy's twenty years of legal experience includes nine years at Tumbleweed Communications Corp., an enterprise software company where he served as senior vice president and general counsel. Cassidy practiced law at both Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati in Palo Alto, California, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom in San Francisco, California. Cassidy received a J.D. from Harvard Law School. While at Harvard he also worked as an editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review and as a research assistant to Professor Arthur R. Miller. After completing law school, Cassidy served as a law clerk to the Honorable John T. Noonan, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, California. His other degrees include an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto and a B.A. in Philosophy from Loyola University.
With all of this experience, Cassidy is ready and excited to face new challenges. ''Tessera has industry-leading expertise in licensing and protecting its valuable intellectual property, and developing and acquiring complementary technologies,'' said Cassidy. ''I look forward to working with the team to help further expand Tessera's innovation worldwide.''
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