Almanac IP Advisors LLP 

Agile IP law firm for strategic Patent matters

Mark Spolyar is Managing Partner of Almanac IP Advisors. Mark brings over 20 years of legal experience to a practice that includes:


  • Technology transactions
    • IP licensing
    • Patent acquisitions
    • IP-focused joint development and collaboration
  • Patent monetization and valuation
  • Strategic patent counseling and patent portfolio development
  • Patent litigation management and support
  • Adversarial licensing


Mr. Spolyar is an IP strategist and attorney with a wide range of experience valuable to technology companies that face complex challenges in the IP marketplace. Mark’s practice focuses on the intersection of patents, business strategy and finance. Mark has a thorough understanding of the technology and IP marketplace, and comprehensive knowledge of the critical role that intellectual property plays in technology-driven companies from both legal and strategic standpoints.

Mr. Spolyar’s experience spans the range of intellectual property matters, including: setting up invention harvesting and disclosure programs for a Fortune 500 technology company, running adversarial patent licensing engagements, establishing patent licensing programs, valuing patent portfolios, assisting with strategic patent prosecution and litigation, and counseling on joint technology development and collaboration agreements. Mark has also managed large, multi-disciplinary teams in connection with complex patent matters, such as inbound and outbound patent licensing, large 9- and 10-figure patent acquisitions, patent monetization, and patent litigation.

Prior to Almanac, Mr. Spolyar was Vice President of IP Strategy and Transactions at Pendrell Corporation and a Managing Director at the Ovidian Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pendrell. At Pendrell, Mark was responsible for inbound patent acquisitions, partnering with patent rights holders to establish monetization programs, licensing program development, and outbound licensing transactions. As a Managing Director of Ovidian, Mark assisted clients with strategic IP transactions, including patent buying programs and patent valuation.

Before joining Pendrell, Mr. Spolyar was a partner at Baker Botts, LLP, specializing in all aspects of intellectual property strategy, patent acquisitions, and licensing.  Earlier in his career, Mark was the principal and founder of a technology law practice that served clients ranging from independent inventors and venture-funded start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to founding his own practice, Mr. Spolyar gained substantial litigation and patent-related experience as a law clerk to The Honorable Ronald M. Whyte of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a Federal Court Judge nationally-recognized for his contributions to patent law. As Judge Whyte's law clerk, Mark was involved in high profile and complex intellectual property cases, including the Sun v. Microsoft case, a licensing dispute concerning Microsoft's use of Sun's Java technology, which he handled from inception to settlement of the litigation. Mark also served as a court-appointed Patent Law Expert assisting a Federal Court Judge in Verizon California, Inc. v. Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P., a complex, multi-patent litigation.

Mr. Spolyar is widely recognized as a global thought leader in IP, with broad experience spanning IP strategy, transactions, licensing, analysis, and litigation. The Daily Journal named him a “Top 25 IP Attorney” from 2009 through 2011, and IAM Magazine named him one of the world’s “Top 250 Patent and Technology Licensing Practitioners” and as one of the world’s “Top 300 IP Strategists.” Since 2008, he has served as an adjunct professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law, focusing on intellectual property licensing and transactions.


Mr. Spolyar is a member of the State Bar of California, and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Prior to his legal career, Mark was a biomedical engineer at Alza Corporation in Palo Alto, California. He received his law degree with honors from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering with honors from Duke University.

 
Honors/Recognition:
Named a "Top 25 IP Attorney" by the Daily Journal, 2009 – 2011
Listed in Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Magazine’s “IAM Licensing 250 – The World’s Leading Patent and Technology Licensing Practitioners,” 2011
Listed in IAM Magazine’s “IAM Strategy 300 – The World’s Leading IP Strategists,” 2011-2018

Mark Spolyar

Managing Partner


​email:  mark@almanacip.legal