Charles has extensive experience in the electronics, telecommunications and optics industries as a researcher, engineer and inventor, having close to 20 years of industrial experience prior to founding Technology, Patents & Licensing in 1998. Since founding TPL, he has been focused on helping clients obtain and utilize patents by providing services that cover the combined technical, legal, and business aspects of patents.
Charles received a B.S. in Physics from Carnegie Mellon University, and subsequently served as a physicist in the U.S. Air Force, where he was involved in the reverse engineering of integrated circuits. He received an M.S. in Solid State Science and Technology from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Davis, where he performed research in the area of nonlinear optical materials. He obtained registration with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office as a Patent Agent in 1995.
Charles's work at TPL has included the development of patent portfolios for numerous companies in the telecommunications and networking fields. His work with several start-ups was a contributing factor in their ability to obtain multi-billion dollar valuations which lead to acquisition or successful public offerings. When leading strategic patenting efforts, Charles has been able to combine input from marketing and engineering personnel to generate patents that cover the pioneering concepts being developed by the team, rather than simply relying on invention disclosures that are purely a result of R&D efforts and which are focused on narrow inventions or improvements.
In 2000, Charles established Expanse Networks to pursue targeted television technology, and developed a patent portfolio of over 50 pending or issued patents covering various aspects of targeted advertising over traditional broadcast infrastructure, as well as over streaming media and on Personal Video Recorder (PVR) platforms. Expanse sold this portfolio in 2004, with TPL being retained to mature the portfolio and to investigate licensing opportunities.
Through Charles's leadership, TPL has created a mining methodology and proprietary software that allows for rapid and cost-effective mining of patents. Using this methodology and software, TPL has assisted numerous companies in locating patents for acquisition and subsequent use in counter-offensive patent actions, cross-licensing, and revenue generation.
In 2009, Charles was named one of the 250 leading IP Strategists in the world by Intellectual Asset Management magazine, a leading periodical in the field of IP Strategy.
Charles is an inventor on 25 issued and 44 pending patents and has authored numerous articles appearing in journals in the electrical engineering, optical, and legal fields. He is an adjunct fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation, where he is involved in telecommunications and patent reform.