Larry Schroepfer
LS Technology Law Associates
Philadelphia, PA, U.S.
Current position: Licensing Executive and Intellectual Property Lawyer

Previous industry positions: Director of licensing for AMP Incorporated (now TE Connectivity); senior director, patent licensing for InterDigital Communications (wireless and telecommunications industry); vice president of Intellectual Property Transactions for BTG International (technology transfer company)

Industry affiliations or organizations: Licensing Executives Society; American Intellectual Property Law Association

Accomplishments you’re proud of: Starting a licensing program from scratch while at AMP/TE Connectivity. Taking the plunge last year to start up my own business helping people manage and leverage their intellectual property.

First job: Lawyer in a small town law firm in Wisconsin—a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away!

Favorite website: LinkedIn. It’s amazing how many people you know and how many people they know! I call it Facebook for Grownups.

The last book I read: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin—I’m a sci-fi junkie. I know I should spend more time reading management and other business books, but sci-fi is just too much fun.

Why did you choose this industry for your profession? It’s really fun to see how inventive people bring their innovations to market, and I enjoy being a part of that process by helping them through licensing and intellectual property issues.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have: Probably got an MBA in addition to a law degree. I’ve learned a lot about how business works over the years and always try to put intellectual property and licensing issues in a business perspective, but it would have been better to have learned some of this up front.

The best advice anyone ever gave me was: It’s always better to seek forgiveness rather than ask permission.

What trend in the industry is affecting your job and what would you like to do about it? The emergence of China as a force in the industry. The Chinese are starting to get “savvy” when it comes to intellectual property. You’re seeing more and more Chinese companies filing patents and licensing technology from outside China. This same thing happened in Taiwan in the 1990s, and it’s a good thing for all companies that have their own Intellectual Property portfolio that IP rights are respected and taken seriously.