IP strategy
For Investors and Startups
SERVICES
licensing
Torvents IP has negotiated and concluded numerous in- and out-licenses and research collaborations, including with small patent owners, large companies, and university tech transfer offices.
IP Diligence
We provide comprehensive IP portfolio analysis for investors and startups. Developed especially for early-stage investors, our diligence review process provides a brief overview of the strengths and weaknesses of a company’s IP portfolio to aid in making sensible investment decisions.
Patent Strategy
We have 20 years of experience building, evaluating, and enforcing patent portfolios. This includes all stages from original idea to exit, including patentability reviews, filing strategies, and FTO analyses. For startups and hands-on investors, we provide a strategic view and usable advice to maximize the value of a company’s IP position, including patents, licenses, trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights.
Darren Cooke
Biography
UPDATE: I’ve taken a full-time position at the University of California, Berkeley as the Executive Director of the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center. I am no longer accepting new clients. If you are a Berkeley scientist, engineer or business student interested in biotech startups, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Formerly a mechanical engineer at UCSF, Darren has been a life sciences patent attorney for the last 22 years, with experience in litigation, prosecution, and licensing matters.
From 2005-2015 Darren led the IP legal team for Bio-Rad Laboratories’ Life Science Group, a $700+M/year life science research tools business. At Bio-Rad he oversaw IP diligence on dozens of deals, including Quantalife (digital PCR), GnuBIO (droplet sequencing), and Propel (cell sorter). He chaired Bio-Rad’s invention review committee, and led a team of in-house and outside patent counsel in the filing and prosecution of over 400 new patent applications. In doing so, he saw over 250 US patents issue, as well as numerous foreign equivalents. He was also responsible for patent licenses, IP-related collaboration agreements, and all trademark and copyright matters affecting the business.
Darren now spends much of his time as an investor in and advisor to life science startups, and teaches entrepreneurship.
From 2017-2018 he chaired the Medical Device and Digital Health Committee of Life Science Angels, and is currently on the board of LSA. Life Science Angels is the nation’s largest life science focused angel investment group, which has invested over $50M in more than 60 companies at a seed stage since 2005.
He was the Advisory Chair of the Bio Track at Berkeley SkyDeck - Powered by QB3. Berkeley SkyDeck is UC Berkeley's premier startup accelerator, which now invests $100k in each company selected for its six-month cohort program.
Darren is a faculty member for the National Science Foundation's I-Corps program, which uses the Lean Launchpad curriculum for scientific founders to validate product-market fit. He also a faculty member for the Haas School of Business’s LAUNCH Startup Accelerator.
Before Bio-Rad, Darren was a patent litigator with Covington & Burling, and before law school, a mechanical engineer developing cochlear implants and surgical tools in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at UCSF.
Education
JD, Columbia Law School, 1999
MS in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1996
BS in Mechanical Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, 1993
Bar Admissions
Admitted to practice law in California (Cal Bar 224,851)
Admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Reg No 55,084)
Contact
Please let us know how I can help. Always happy to discuss your particular situation and questions. I am in Berkeley, California, and can meet in person anywhere in the Bay Area.
Email to info@torvents.com, or complete the form below.
