Biography

Mr. Schaffer focuses his practice on intellectual property counseling, patent prosecution, pre-litigation infringement and validity analyses, technology licensing and due diligence with an emphasis in the areas of telecommunications, power electronics, semiconductors, electronics packaging, advanced materials, thermal management, mechanics, and software.

Mr. Schaffer represents a broad range of companies ranging in size from one of the top 5 Fortune 500 companies to sole-proprietorships. With Mr. Schaffer’s extensive hands-on engineering experience he’s able to rapidly understand client’s inventions as well as the value of the invention to the business and provide judicious advice.

Mr. Schaffer also does significant pro bono work. Mr. Schaffer is a Panel Attorney for the California Lawyers for the Arts program which assists financially under-resourced independent inventors and small businesses. Mr. Schaffer also works with the San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program to secure guardianship for minors and children who do not have an able parent.

Mr. Schaffer was recognized as a San Diego “Rising Star” in 2022 and 2023 for Intellectual Property by Super Lawyers magazine.

Corporate Experience

  • Prior to practicing law, Mr. Schaffer was a practicing scientist who obtained 10 patents, authored numerous technical articles and served on the technical committee for several conferences.
  • From 2005 to 2012, Mr. Schaffer was the Director of Engineering at Pulse Electronics in San Diego where he led a worldwide engineering team in the research and development of LAN (Local Area Network) and Telecommunications components for the electronics industry. Products consisted of Ethernet transformers, RF filters, high-speed connectors and central office splitters.
  • From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Schaffer was a Design Center Manager at International Rectifier in Los Angeles where he led a multi-disciplinary engineering team in the development of advanced multi-chip power conversion modules for consumer, telecom and industrial applications. The modules included customized state-of-the-art MOSFETs, ASICs and integrated passives.
  • From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Schaffer was a Research Engineer at Boeing where he led the research and development of advanced materials such as chemically vapor deposited diamond and carbon-carbon composites for use in spacecraft electronics. He also designed and tested RF electronics subassemblies for military spacecraft programs.
Representative Transactions
  • Filed and successfully prosecuted over 1000 patents in the United States and in numerous foreign countries including China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada and Australia.
  • Developed and managed a successful portfolio for a client’s key product that included a single patent family having over 150 patents distributed across thirteen countries.
  • Represented a publicly traded semiconductor company in a cross-licensing negotiation with one of the ten largest semiconductor companies in the world.
  • Represented a publicly traded semiconductor company in a licensing negotiation with a research university.
  • Litigation Counsel for a large cellphone and electronics company in a patent infringement litigation in the Western District of Texas. The suit involved six patents related to wireless charging.
  • Litigation Counsel for a large cellphone and electronics company in a patent infringement litigation in the Northern District of California. The suit involved three patents related to charging portable electronic devices.
  • Litigation Counsel for a mid-size company in a patent infringement litigation in the Central District of California. The suit involved one patent related to computer software interfacing with an electronic device.
Presentations & Teaching
  • EvoNexus Technology Incubator, Board Member
  • California Layers for the Arts, Panel Attorney
  • Virginia Tech Center for Power Electronics Systems Steering Committee, Technical Director
  • National Technical Committee for International Conference on MCM’s and High Density Packaging (IEEE, IMAPS, CPMT), Member
  • Thermal Management Session, International Conference on MCM’s and High Density Packaging (IEEE, IMAPS, CPMT), Chairman
  • Thermal Management Session, ISHM Advanced Packaging Technology Workshop, Chairman
  • San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association (SDIPLA), Member

vCard

Christopher Schaffer

Partner

[email protected]
+1.858.220.5965

Credentials

Admissions

  • Washington
  • California
  • U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO)

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (2024)

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (2023)

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (2022)

 

Education

University of San Diego School of Law, J.D., (2012)

California State University M.S. Mechanical Engineering, (2002)

University of Southern California M.S. Materials Science, (2001)

School of Mines and Technology B.S. Mechanical Engineering, (1994)

Prior Law Firm Experience

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP

Practice Areas