Kevin D. DeBré is the Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property & Technology Transactions Practice group. Entrepreneurs and innovators rely on Kevin for guidance when using intellectual property to build their businesses. Kevin has been a “tech lawyer” since the mid-90’s when he was an attorney for a top Silicon Valley law firm and handled technology deals for “startups” such as Cisco systems, Broadcom and Geocities. Today, Kevin DeBré represents companies of all sizes – from pre-formation to middle market – and a broad spectrum of industries – from AI to VR.
Kevin is both a business lawyer and an intellectual property lawyer. As a business lawyer, he structures and negotiates technology commercialization deals and IP license agreements. These include strategic alliances, research and development collaborations, trademark licensing and brand merchandising agreements and manufacturing, distribution and marketing arrangements. Kevin DeBré has extensive experience in handling technology transfer agreements, having negotiated patent license deals with numerous universities across the country. As an intellectual property lawyer (and a registered patent attorney), Kevin designs and helps clients implement effective strategies for aligning intellectual property protection efforts with a company’s business objectives. And, having been the first call from clients that have experienced a data breach, Kevin helps companies navigate the ever-increasingly complex landscape of data security and privacy laws and regulations.
Kevin is a frequent guest lecturer in undergraduate and graduate level entrepreneurship courses at UCLA Anderson School of Management, UCLA School of Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, USC Marshall School of Business, and Pepperdine University. He has been quoted in numerous high-tech industry publications and has appeared on Bloomberg TV. Kevin is often a speaker at conferences on technology commercialization and intellectual property licensing and he has published several articles on IP licensing. Between 2011-2014, Kevin served as chairman of the Caltech entrepreneurs forum, an organization that promotes the growth and success of technology-based entrepreneurial ventures in Southern California.
Kevin DeBré has been recognized by his peers for excellence in his practice, having been honored with Best Lawyers' Lawyer of the Year 2023 for Southern California Technology Law, and selected for Southern California Super Lawyers multiple times, and is the founder and chair of the licensing interest group of the California State Bar intellectual property section.