Mark Solomon has dedicated his almost 25-year legal career to guiding engineering companies and university engineering centers through the development, management, protection, and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
His practice is focused on obtaining IP rights for clients by drafting and prosecuting patent applications from strategic business or licensing perspectives, as applicable. Mark also assists clients with intellectual property matters relating to patent litigation, written and oral opinions, trademark prosecution and oppositions, copyright law, trade secret law, licensing, domain name disputes, sale and licensing of intellectual property assets, and associated counseling.
Mark’s technical background includes diverse engineering technologies, such as motion control systems, process control systems, robotics, autonomous vehicles, telecommunications, optics and opto-electronics, signal processing, image processing, and voice processing. He also has experience in optical networking and electrical networking, business methods, analog electronics and digital electronics, software, GPS systems, antennas, as well as mobile, medical, and mechanical devices. Additionally, in his career, Mark has worked with nano-materials, additive manufacturing, semiconductors, fuel cells and other renewable energy systems, artificial intelligence such as neural networks, and the Internet of Things.
Mark takes a partnership approach to client matters, often personally serving on patent committees and advising on successful and cost effective U.S. and international patent strategies aimed to support a client’s unique and specific business goals.
Mark is a respected leader in the legal community and has received distinction in The Best Lawyers® in America since 2016 for patent law, trademark law, and trade secrets law. In 2017, Mark was named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers for Trademark Law. Since 2021, Mark has been individually recognized by IAM Patent 1000 for his patent prosecution expertise. Since 2017, he has been ranked by Super Lawyers®, a rating of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. In 2009, he served as the President of the Boston Patent Law Association (BPLA). He served as Chair of the BPLA Task Force for a satellite office of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and continues to serve as founding Chair of the Invented Here! program run by the BPLA since 2011. Mark speaks frequently, addressing a variety of intellectual property topics and audiences. He lectures in legal and business forums, as well as law and business schools and was the first recipient of Suffolk University Law School’s Journal of High Technology Law Award for Excellence in Intellectual Property Law.
Mark’s clients benefit from his personal industry experience. Prior to joining the firm, Mark worked for ten years as an electrical, software, control systems, and opto-electronics engineer in the areas of R&D, design, development, testing, and field integration. He was an electrical/control systems engineer for Xinetics, Inc. (acquired by Northrop Grumman), which was a start-up manufacturer and systems integrator of deformable mirrors (used in the growing field of real-time adaptive optics.) Mark was also a control systems engineer for Itek Optical Systems, a division of Litton Industries; and an electrical and software engineer for Raytheon Company.
Bar Admissions
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Massachusetts
Education
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Tufts University
- M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Colorado
- J.D., Suffolk University Law School
- Electrical Engineering
- Optics & Photonics
- Network Infrastructure
- Telecommunications
- Robotics
- Clean Technology
- Computer Software
- Computer Hardware
- Mobile
- Medical Devices
- Mechanical Engineering
- Materials Science
- Medical Imaging
- Bioinformatics
- Business Methods
- Internet of Things
- Semiconductors
- Autonomous Vehicles
- Artificial Intelligence
- Energy Storage
- "Technology Commercialization Teaming Event," HEROES and UMass Lowell Innovation Hub, panelist, December 4, 2023
- "IP Strategies for a Healthy Software Portfolio:Patents and Copyrights," University of Massachusetts, September 12, 2023
- "Intellectual Property Strategies for Entrepreneurs," Northeastern University CRI, October 12, 2022
- "Innovation in the 5G Era," MIT EForum, September 20, 2022
- "Creating Brand Signals and Protecting Your Start-Up with Trademarks and Patents for Success," MIT eForum Webinar, December 14, 2021
- "IP Advice for Tech Startups," Boston Bar Association Webinar, December 15, 2020
- "Intellectual Property Strategies for Entrepreneurs,” Northeastern University CRI InnoEd Webinar, June 23, 2020
- "2020 Cross-Border Knowledge Exchange: Expert Seminar on Knowledge Mobilization," Cambridge, MA, February 25, 2020
- "Software as a Medical Device (SaMD)," MDG Forum, Regis College Fine Arts Center, Weston, MA, January 8, 2020
- "Sports Rehabilitation – Game Changing Innovations," MIT Enterprise Forum, Cambridge Innovation Center, Cambridge, MA, December 10, 2019
- Presentations at international forums in China on:
- "Pitfalls of U.S. Patent Filings and Litigation," June 28, 2019
- "Open Source Software Risks and Compliance to Avoid U.S. Litigations," June 26, 2019
- "Strategies for Favorable U.S. Trademark Protection and Enforcement," June 26, 2019
- "Industrial Internet-of-Things: Enabling A Surge In Industrial Productivity," LES Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, October 15, 2018
- "Navigate Your Way to a Successful Commercialization of your Invention," MassBio, Cambridge, MA, September 27, 2018
- "Successful Commercialization of your Innovation," UConn Technology Incubation Program, Farmington, CT, August 8, 2018
- Six presentations given during a week in the Guangdong District of China in November 2017, including presenting at a "Summit Forum for Patent Practice in China, EU & US," where U.S. presentations included "Strategic Use of U.S. Patent System Flexibility for Quality Patents" and "Strategic Practices for U.S. Patent Litigation"
- "Gaining A Competitive Advantage Through Patents and Trademarks: Growing IP Assets from Your Existing Business Activities," Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Lecture, Devens, MA, September 14, 2017
- "An Affordable and Critical Patent Strategy for Start-Ups," MIT Enterprise Forum, Cambridge Innovation Center, May 17, 2017
- “Presentation to China State Intellectual Property Office on Topics of U.S. Patent Law," State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China, October 10, 2016
- “Stop IP Theft: Minimizing Risk and Maximizing Value,” MassChallenge Lecture, Boston, MA, July 27, 2016
- “Leveraging Patent Audits for Strategic Negotiations,” Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Webcast, July 13, 2016
- “Strategies for Protecting Your Company through Patents and Trademarks,” Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Lecture, Waltham, MA, September 29, 2015
- "Strategies for Maximizing Value of Intellectual Property," Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Lecture, Lexington, MA, June 9, 2015
- "IP for Your Venture: Licensing Northeastern University Intellectual Property," Northeastern University, Boston, MA, November 20, 2014
- "Getting Your First Investment," The Venture Forum, Worcester, MA, June 10, 2014
- "Chinese Patent Law and Practice," Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Webcast, May 22, 2014
- U.S. Patent Law and Practice and the America Invents Act, State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China, April 22, 2014
- "Stop IP Theft: Minimizing the Risk and Maximizing Value," Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Lecture, Boston, MA, April 9, 2014
- "Monetizing Your Business Assets Through Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights," Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Webcast, November 15, 2012
- "Monetizing Your Business Assets Through Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights," SBANE Lecture, Waltham, MA, October 3, 2012
- “The Latest Development in Intellectual Property Law,” Suffolk University Law School Center for Advanced Legal Studies Program, Boston, MA, February 4, 2011.
- Boston Intellectual Property Law Association
- Chair of the Task Force for a Satellite Office of the USPTO
- Chair of the Invented Here! Program Committee
- Past President (2009)
- Boston IP Inn of Court
- The New England Section of Optica
- Black Duck Certified Open Source Legal Professional