ABOUT US

Karl Maersch has over 20 years of experience in IP strategy, licensing, monetization, litigation, and management in large law firm, corporate, and service provider settings. 

A native of Kohler, Wisconsin, Karl went to undergrad at Bradley University where he majored in seeing Grateful Dead shows and then Purdue University where he graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.  For law school, attended the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law and graduated magna cum laude with a certificate in IP law.  While at UIC law, he and Adam (along with a group of friends) founded the UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law (https://ripl.law.uic.edu), one of the first online journals dedicated to IP issues.

Blissfully living in Chicago, Karl made the mistake of road tripping to Cleveland to catch a World Series game and sat next to a cute girl from Pepper Pike and yadda yadda yadda, he is now serving a life sentence in a Cleveland suburb.  

Karl started his career as a patent litigator at Jones Day in Cleveland and was on litigation teams in US district court, the ITC and the Federal Circuit.  While at Jones Day, Karl coordinated discovery on the Kodak v. Sony lawsuit which involved 57 patents and is believed to have the largest number of patents-in-suit in US history.  

After Jones Day, Karl held in-house roles at two companies.  He first served as Associate General Counsel at Eastman Kodak where he managed a team that supported the company’s IP and monetization strategy.  While at Kodak, Karl was the company’s board representative to Allied Security Trust a defensive patent aggregator.  After handling various IP aspects of Kodak’s bankruptcy, Karl moved to Dow Chemical Company where he was the head of IP litigation worldwide.  While at Dow, Karl directed the filing of the company’s first-ever ITC complaint, which resulted in a 25-year exclusion order believed to be the longest exclusion order in the history of the ITC.

Karl left Dow to start his own advisory firm, West Four IP, which provided IP strategy and patent monetization services to clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 companies.

Three years ago, Karl folded his advisory firm into Hilco Streambank and he is currently a Senior Vice President and heads the patent advisory and monetization team.  Hilco Streambank is a global advisory firm that helps companies monetize intangible assets.  

Karl lives in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and has 5 daughters.  In his spare time enjoys trail runs, bike rides, ski trips, happy hour, and seeing jam bands.  

Adam Kelly has counseled clients on a wide range of intellectual property-related matters arising from business transactions, intangible asset procurement, and federal litigation.  He has first-chaired numerous substantive hearings, bench and jury trials, and appeals before the Federal Circuit, as well helped quarterback litigation strategies globally.  

Adam is a native Hoosier from Indianapolis.  He attended Indiana University to earn his bachelors degree and Purdue University to earn his masters degree, both in the biological sciences.  For law school, Adam earned his juris doctorate from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.  There, he and Karl—along with a group of friends—founded the Review of Intellectual Property Law, one of the first online journals dedicated to intellectual property issues.  Then, Adam paired with Jacqueline Cohen to win the national championship of the AIPLA-sponsored Giles S. Rich moot court competition by arguing before the Federal Circuit.  Individually, Adam won the national best oralist award.  Lastly, he externed with the Honorable Ronald Guzman in the Northern District of Illinois, clerked for a nationally-prominent intellectual property law firm, and interned for the legal department of a Chicago-area Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company.  

During his second year of law school, Adam elected to take evidence law with a different section.  There, he frequently noticed a beautiful, red-headed young lady sitting in the front row.  One day, she missed class.  So before the next class, Adam introduced himself, handed her his typed class notes, and offered to study with her for final exams.  Their first date was attending a Buddy Guy concert; they have been married for nearly two decades.    

He started his career as a patent practitioner at Marshall, O’Toole, Gerstein, Murray, and Borun in Chicago—now known as Marshall, Gerstein & Borun.  While at MGB, Adam immersed himself into anything involving intellectual property.  But his desire for more federal trials and appeals led him briefly to a Hatch-Waxman trial boutique, and then to Loeb & Loeb LLP.    

During his nearly seventeen-year tenure at Loeb & Loeb, Adam served as a first-chair trial and appellate counsel on numerous high-profile cases across divergent industries.  Many of his cases resulted in precedential Federal Circuit opinions involving important issues addressing appellate jurisdiction, claim construction, design patent infringement, patent-ineligible subject matter, and preliminary injunctions.  To be sure, Adam also “earned” a Rule 36 affirmance.  Among other cases, he also first-chaired one of the most complex patent infringement trials in the history of the Northern District of Illinois.  Following years of scorched-earth discovery, a bench trial on patent ineligibility, and a three-week jury trial on liability and damages, his team secured a defensive jury verdict that saved the company and vindicated his client.          

Following the pandemic in 2023, Adam joined the new office of Venable LLP.  There, he has continued his intellectual property practice and often serves as an outside general counsel to small and medium sized companies alike.  Life is good.  

Away from the office, Adam has actively served the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (Past President 2018); served the Richard Linn Inn chapter of the American Inns of Court (Past President 2019 – 2021); co-authored/co-edited Patent Claim Construction in the Federal Circuit (West Publishing); and founded the Illinois Intellectual Property Alliance (Chair Emeritus).  Presently, Adam serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Inns of Court as its Secretary under Judge Consuela Callahan from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  In 2021, at the Federal Circuit Bar Association annual judicial conference, Judge Barbara Lynn (N.D. Tex.) presented Adam with the AIC Professionalism Award for the Federal Circuit; Don Dunner and Adam are the only two practitioners to have received this recognition.  He frequently guest lectures at several U.S. law schools and authors articles on a variety of topics.  But, somehow, Karl convinced him to launch a podcast.    

Adam lives in Winnetka with his wife, three children, and an Australian labradoodle named Bogey.  In any given month, he is likely traveling with one of his kids around the country for girls ice hockey, girls lacrosse, and boys junior golf.  Assuming he has any free time, Adam enjoys golfing with friends in the U.S. and abroad, or just watching The Golf Channel on repeat.