Biography
Director, Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology; Director, LLM Program in Law, Science & Technology; Faculty Co-Director, Transatlantic Technology Law Forum
Mark A. Lemley is the William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, the Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology, and the Director of Stanford's LLM Program in Law, Science and Technology. He teaches intellectual property, computer and Internet law, patent law, and antitrust. He is the author of seven books (most in multiple editions) and 119 articles on these and related subjects, including the two-volume treatise IP and Antitrust. His works have been reprinted throughout the world, and translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Italian, and Danish. He has taught intellectual property law to federal and state judges at numerous Federal Judicial Center and ABA programs, has testified seven times before Congress and numerous times before the California legislature, the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Modernization Commission on patent, trade secret, antitrust and constitutional law matters, and has filed numerous amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and the federal circuit courts of appeals. He has been named California Lawyer's Attorney of the Year (2005), Best Lawyers’ San Francisco IP Lawyer of the Year (2010), and a Young Global Leader by the Davos World Economic Forum (2007). In 2009 he received the California State Bar’s inaugural IP Vanguard award. In 2002 he was chosen Boalt's Young Alumnus of the Year. He has been recognized as one of the top 50 litigators in the country under 45 by The American Lawyer (2007), one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the nation by The National Law Journal (2006), one of the 10 most admired attorneys in IP (2010) by IP360, one of the 25 most influential people in IP (2010) by The American Lawyer, one of the top intellectual property lawyers in California (2003, 2007, 2009, 2010), and one of the 100 most influential lawyers in California (2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008) by the The Daily Journal, among other honors.
Mark is a founding partner of Durie Tangri LLP. He litigates and counsels clients in all areas of intellectual property, antitrust, and Internet law. He has argued six Federal appellate cases and numerous district court cases, and represented clients including Comcast, Genentech, Google, Grokster, Hummer Winblad, Impax, Intel, NetFlix, Palm, TiVo, and the University of Colorado Foundation in 75 cases in nearly two decades as as lawyer.
After graduating from law school, Mark clerked for Judge Dorothy Nelson on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and has practiced law in Silicon Valley with Brown & Bain and with Fish & Richardson and in San Francisco with Keker & Van Nest. Until January 2000, he was the Marrs McLean Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law, and until June 2004 he was the Elizabeth Josslyn Boalt Professor of Law at the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley.
Key Works
- Mark A. Lemley and Carl Shapiro, Patent Holdup and Royalty Stacking, 85 Texas Law Review 1991 (2007).
- Mark A. Lemley and Douglas Lichtman, Rethinking Patent Law's Presumption of Validity, 60 Stanford Law Review 45 (2007).
- Mark A. Lemley, Property, Intellectual Property, and Free Riding, 83 Texas Law Review 1031 (2005).
- Barbara H. Fried, 'If You Don't Like It, Leave It': The Problem of Exit in Social Contractarian Arguments, 31 Philosophy & Public Affairs 40-70 (Winter 2003). 31 pages.
- Dan L. Burk and Mark A. Lemley, Policy Levers in Patent Law, 89 Virginia Law Review 1575 (2003).
- Mark A. Lemley, Rational Ignorance at the Patent Office, 95 Northwestern University Law Review 1495 (2001).
- Mark A. Lemley and David McGowan, Legal Implications of Network Economic Effects, 86 California Law Review 479-611 (1998).
- Mark A. Lemley, The Economics of Improvement in Intellectual Property Law, 75 Texas Law Review 989-1084 (1997).
In the News
Courses & Programs
Courses
Programs
- Center for Law and the Biosciences, William H. Neukom Professor of Law
- CodeX: Stanford Center for Computers and Law, William H. Neukom Professor of Law
- John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics, William H. Neukom Professor of Law
- Stanford IP Litigation Clearinghouse, Faculty Director
- Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology, William H. Neukom Professor of Law
- Transatlantic Technology Law Forum, William H. Neukom Professor of Law
Publications & Cases
Recent Publications View All
- Dan L. Burk and Mark A. Lemley, Tailoring Patents to Different Industries, in Biotechnology and Software Patent Law: A Comparative Review of New Developments, edited by Emanuela Arezzo, Gustavo Ghidini, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2011.
- Mark Lemley, David S. Levine, and David G. Post, Don't Break the Internet, Huffington Post, December 21, 2011.
- Mark Lemley, David S. Levine, and David G. Post, Don't Break the Internet, 64 Stanford Law Review Online 34 (2011).
- Colleen V. Chen and Mark A. Lemley, Patents, Smartphones, and the Public Interest, New York Times, December 13, 2011.
- Mark A. Lemley, Industry-Specific Antitrust Policy for Innovation, 2011 Columbia Business Law Review 637 (2011). (Previously Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Papers No. 397.)
- Mark A. Lemley, Protect Innovators, Not Lawyers, National Law Journal, October 19, 2011.
- Dan L. Burk and Mark A. Lemley, The Patent Crisis and How Courts Can Solve It, Paperback edition, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011.
- Mark A. Lemley, Things You Should Care About in the New Patent Statute, Working Paper Series (2011).
- Mark A. Lemley, Michael Risch, Ted M. Sichelman, R. Polk Wagner, Life After Bilski, 63 Stanford Law Review 1315 (2011).
- Mark A. Lemley, Contracting Around Liability Rules, Stanford Law & Economics Olin Paper Series, paper no. 415, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Law School, 2011.
Affiliations & Honors
Professional Affiliations
- Advisor (2004-Present), Principles of the Law of Software Contracts Project, American Law Institute
- Arbitrator (1999-2001), Domain Name Disputes, Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers
- Chair, Association of American Law Schools Section on Law and Computers, 1997
- Master, San Francisco Bay Area Intellectual Property Inns of Court
- Member (2004-Present), Advisory Board, Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Member (2000-Present), Northern District of California Working Committee on Model Patent Jury Instructions
- Member (1995-Present), Panel of Academic Advisors, American Committee for Interoperable Systems
- Member (1995-1999), Board of Directors, University Cooperative Society
- Member (1994-2000), Board of Editors, American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal
- Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association and American Law and Economics Association
- Moderator, "CyberProf" Internet listserv
Honors and Awards
- Honoree, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, 2007
- Honoree, American Lawyer’s Young Litigators Fab Fifty, 2007
- Recipient, Best Lawyers in America, 2007 (IP, antitrust)
- Honoree, National Law Journal's "100 Most Influential Lawyers," 2006
- Recipient, California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award, 2005
- Honoree, Lawdragon 500: New Stars, New Worlds, 2006
- Honoree, Lawdragon Leading Lawyers in America, 2005, 2006
- Honoree, Daily Journal 100 Most Influential Attorneys in California, 2004, 2005, 2006
- Honoree, San Francisco Magazine, Northern California Super Lawyers (IP litigation), 2004, 2005, 2006
- Honoree, Marquis Who’s Who in America, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
- Finalist, World Technology Network’s World Technology Award for Law, 2004
- Honoree, Daily Journal Top 25 Intellectual Property Attorneys in California, 2003
- Recipient, Young Alumnus of the Year, UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), 2002
- Recipient, Order of the Coif, UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall)
- Recipient, Thelen Marrin Prize, UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall)
- Recipient, John G. Sobieski Prize in Economics, Stanford University, 1988

- mlemley@law.stanford.edu
- 650 723.4605
- Curriculum Vitae
Education
- BA (with distinction), Stanford University, 1988
- JD, University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), 1991
Expertise
- Antitrust
- Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks, Copyright)
- Technology and the Law