Senior Intellectual Property Counsel

About Us

At Cloudflare, we have our eyes set on an ambitious goal: to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world’s largest networks that powers approximately 25 million Internet properties, for customers ranging from individual bloggers to SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare all have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. 

We realize people do not fit into neat boxes. We are looking for curious and empathetic individuals who are committed to developing themselves and learning new skills, and we are ready to help you do that. We cannot complete our mission without building a diverse and inclusive team. We hire the best people based on an evaluation of their potential and support them throughout their time at Cloudflare. Come join us! 

About the job

Cloudflare is looking for a Senior Intellectual Property (IP) Counsel to join the legal team. You’ll report to Cloudflare’s Senior Associate General Counsel for Product & IP and work closely with our legal, product, engineering teams. 

We are looking for an intellectually curious, creative, and process-driven individual to build on Cloudflare’s existing IP program and help it scale as we grow as a company. 

The ideal candidate has an ability to manage large, diversified patent and trademark portfolios in a fast-paced environment and can develop and execute strategies for maturing Cloudflare’s IP program. The ideal candidate also has experience with brand enforcement efforts. Having a computer science degree, being a member in good standing of the patent bar, and having prior experience working as an IP attorney at a technology company are strongly desired.

What you'll do

As Cloudflare’s IP specialist, you will be asked to manage Cloudflare’s IP program and advise on a wide range of legal issues related to the program. For example, in this role you will:

• Patent Harvesting – Encourage employees to submit ideas; work with employee inventors to evaluate inventions and assess patentability; and manage day to day operation of the patent filing program.
• Patent Prosecution – Provide strategic input and manage external counsel in preparing, filing, and prosecuting applications involving new inventions with the USPTO.
• Trademark – Manage all aspects of Cloudflare’s trademark portfolio, including performing trademark searches, managing the prosecution of trademark applications (foreign and domestic), and managing opposition/cancellation actions (foreign and domestic). 
• Brand Enforcement  - Manage brand enforcement matters in coordination with our program manager and Trust & Safety team, including the drafting of cease and desist templates, UDRPs, and other brand enforcement matters.
• Open Source - Help manage Cloudflare’s open source program, including inbound open source license review requests and bill of materials generation for distributable software. Review open source licenses and inbound IP licensing arrangements.
• Employee matters - Provide strategic guidance on, draft, and update IP provisions in Cloudflare’s global employment forms. Partner with the Cloudflare’s People, Product, and Engineering teams to develop or advise on IP policies across different global jurisdictions.
• Patent Litigation - Evaluate patent infringement claims in support of Cloudflare’s litigation team. Assist the litigation team in identifying appropriate engineers and subject matter experts at Cloudflare for support in answering interrogatories and other questions related to litigation matters.
• M&A - Conduct IP due diligence for potential M&A transactions.

Examples of desirable skills, knowledge and experience

• JD degree and admitted to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• 5+ years of law firm and/or in-house experience as an IP attorney, preferably with technology companies.
• Technical background / expertise is required (preferably with networking and/or cybersecurity technologies). 
• Experience with patent and trademark portfolio management is required. Prior experience with prosecuting patent and trademark applications in front of the USPTO is desired.
• Experience with open source software licensing and compliance is desired.
• Ability to work independently and autonomously.
• Attention to detail.
• Strong communication s