Director of Patent Transactions, Uber
Kurt Brasch is the director of patent transactions at Uber. Mr. Brasch focuses on reducing patent risk for Uber by leading inbound licensing negotiations, closing all patent transactions and managing cooperative community engagement. He was hired by Uber in 2016 to inorganically grow the patent portfolio to ready the company for the 2019 initial public offering (IPO). He is also the Co-Founder and President of Allied Transportation Association, an organization focused on reducing IP risk in the burgeoning automotive and broader transportation industries.
He is known for his innovative IP programs, having launched and managed Uber’s UP3 Patent Purchase Programme in April 2017, and in September 2018 Mr Brasch was ranked 35th in IAM’s Top 40 Global Market Makers. Before joining Uber in October 2016, Kurt led strategic initiatives and patent divestitures for Google’s patent transactions team in addition to heading up multiple patent licence negotiations. He was named as one of the Top 10 IP Personalities of 2015 by IAM for his work creating and driving Google’s Patent Purchase Promotion and the Patent Starter Programme. Before Google, Mr Brasch had a 22-year career at Motorola in patent management/licensing and product management. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Arizona State University and an MBA from Northern Illinois University.