Ken Kumayama

The Daily Journal has recognized Mr. Kumayama several times as one of the leading technology lawyers in California, including as a 2024 and 2023 Top Intellectual Property Lawyer, a 2022 Top Cybersecurity Lawyer and previously as one of the state’s Top Artificial Intelligence Lawyers. He also was honored as a 2023 Technology MVP by Law360 and has been selected as one of Lawdragon’s 100 Leading AI & Legal Tech Advisors, in addition to being named to Chambers USA and The Best Lawyers in America. He was a key member of the deal teams that received California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Awards in recognition of innovative work on behalf of: Livongo Health in its $18.5 billion acquisition by Teladoc Health (2021), Intel Corporation in its $15.3 billion acquisition of Mobileye, N.V. (2018) and Broadcom Corporation in its $37 billion acquisition by Avago Technologies (2016). He represents clients in a range of technology and commercial transactions relating to the ownership, protection and exploitation of intellectual property, including IP monetization strategies, development and license agreements, co-development agreements, pharmaceutical collaboration agreements, patent and other technology license agreements, trademark and copyright license agreements, and patent and other intellectual property asset sales and acquisitions. He also counsels clients in a broad range of industries, such as in adtech, fintech and digital health, on cybersecurity- and privacy-related matters, including with respect to the California Consumer Privacy Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, data rights, and artificial intelligence and machine learning. In addition to his transactional work, Mr. Kumayama has experience in many other types of patent- and IP-related matters, including investigating and rendering freedom-to-operate, validity and non-infringement opinions; engaging in patent landscape analyses and assessing patent infringement risk; evaluating the strength of, and encumbrances on, patent portfolios; and counseling clients on patent and other strategic IP issues. He is a thought leader in patent analytics and regularly presents on the topic. He also regularly speaks on topics such as patent acquisition and M&A due diligence. Mr. Kumayama’s pre-law studies, academic research and job experience included theoretical chemistry, geophysics, bioinformatics and system administration of a Linux network, requiring a comprehensive knowledge of mathematics, computer programming (including in C++, perl and FORTRAN) and the sciences. He is fluent in Japanese and worked for more than four years in Japan, both as an attorney at a Japanese law firm and for a Japanese company. He has written about patent monetization and Internet privacy issues and has spoken, in Japanese and English, on topics such as trends in e-discovery and patent exhaustion. Mr. Kumayama serves as the co-head of the Palo Alto Hiring Committee.