Melville, NY, USA - September 20, 2012, Melville, NY, USA - CopyTele, Inc., a developer of thin flat display technologies, announced the appointment of three former executives from Acacia Research Corporation.
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Robert Berman will be CopyTele's President and CEO; John Roop will be a Senior Vice President of Engineering; and Dr. Amit Kumar will be a strategic advisor to CopyTele.
Mr. Berman, who was at Acacia from 2000-2007, started Acacia's patent assertion business, and as COO and General Counsel, had responsibility for managing all patent monetization activities and related personnel. Mr. Berman has experience in a broad variety of areas including finance, acquisitions, marketing, and the development, licensing, and monetization of intellectual property.
Mr. Berman was recently the CEO of IP Dispute Resolution Corporation, a consulting company focused on patent monetization. Prior to IPDR, Mr. Berman was the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Acacia Research Corporation.
Mr. Berman has been quoted in numerous articles on patent monetization and is a frequent speaker on patent licensing and enforcement including programs at Harvard Law School, and UCLA's Anderson School of Business. Mr. Berman received a B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, and a J. D. from Northwestern Law School.
Mr. Roop, who was at Acacia from 2001-2008, was Senior Vice President of Engineering, where he built and managed the technical group responsible for the evaluation and monetization of patents. Mr. Roop has 18 years of experience analyzing and evaluating patents for acquisition and licensing, and more than 20 years of experience as a Silicon Valley design engineer and engineering executive.
Mr. Roop was Sr. Vice President of Engineering at Acacia Research and was instrumental in developing Acacia's patent acquisition operations. Previously, Mr. Roop was a co-founder and Sr. Vice President of Engineering at StarSight Telecast, a pioneering developer of electronic program guides, and Vice President of Engineering at VSAT Systems, Inc., a satellite telecommunications systems developer. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
Dr. Kumar has been an investor, founder, Director and CEO of several technology enterprises, both public and private. As CEO, he took CombiMatrix Corporation public and ran it for a decade while listed on the NASDAQ Global Market. He has worked in venture capital with OAK Investment Partners, and has been an advisor to investment funds, venture capital firms, and Fortune 500 companies.
Highly relevant to the engagement at CopyTele, Dr. Kumar was on the Board of Directors of Acacia Research Corporation from 2002-2008. Dr. Kumar is currently CEO of Geo Fossil Fuels, an energy company, and he sits on the Board of other public and private companies. ■