Joe Chernesky, vice president and general manager of global licensing sales at Intellectual Ventures, has left the firm to become senior vice president of intellectual property at the Kudelski group, the world’s leading independent provider of media content protection and value-added service technology. Chernesky will be reporting directly to the company’s CEO André Kudelski and has been given a brief which includes expanding collaborative and licensing operations based on a 4,000-strong patent portfolio. Notably, in making the appointment Kudelski becomes one of the few European-based companies in which a non-lawyer runs the IP organisation. 

By my count, Chernesky is at least the sixth senior executive to leave IV in the last year or so: some of them in more friendly circumstances than others. Cassius Elston, the former director of acquisitions at the firm, had his consultancy terminated at end of April last year; while in July 2011 it was reported that Andre Lee, who had helped to run IV’s Invention Development Fund had “abruptly left” a few months earlier “after posting some poor financial returns”. Less controversially, IV also said goodbye to Vincent Pluvinage, head of strategic acquisitions & private equity, last April. Earlier this month, Mario Obeidat, head of telecoms licensing, joined Pendrell as VP of patent licensing; and Michael Pierantozzi, director of global licensing marketing, will be leaving IV this Friday to return full-time to his consulting company Andiamo Associates.

Sectors

Licensing, Patents, IP business