Cheryl Milone, B.S.E.E.

Cheryl Milone is a co-founder and chief executive officer of Article One Partners (AOP), the world's largest patent validation community.  Article One is a global online community reaching over one million that researches the validity of patents. Ms. Milone created the community to add a crucial level of review to the US patent system - strengthening legitimate patents and reducing unjust patent monopolies.  AOP's successes include 18 of the top 25 targets of NPEs, 16 Fortune 100 clients, 52 of the Forbes Global Fortune 2000 and premier law firms among 150+ clients and 100% community growth in each of 2010 and 2011 with $2.8 million paid in compensation to the community.  Article One now has offices in New York (headquarters), Boston, Palo Alto, Colorado, Chicago and London.

Ms. Milone's early success with Article One led to an invitation in January 2010 to the White House as one of the top 50 most innovative CEOs in the nation to participate in a forum on Modernizing Government. Article One also was recognized as the 2009 Startup of the Year by Business Insider - chosen by an elite judging panel of venture capitalists and top technology industry leaders.  In December 2009, Ms. Milone was included in the Silicon Alley 100 list of New York's digital business community leaders who are driving the most interesting and important work.

Article One presents research requests on behalf of its clients on its website as well as the platforms of international affiliate websites and provides compensation to its community for responding with high quality prior art. AOP has been described as the social media for patents. AOP researchers are from 188 countries and projects are translated into 9 languages to trigger foreign language research in key geographies. The success of the company led Marshall Phelps (former head of IP and licensing at IBM and Microsoft) to join Article One's Board of Directors and resulted in client feedback that in 57% of research projects, AOP provided new and valuable evidence compared to traditional research.

Prior to founding Article One Partners, Ms. Milone practiced as a patent attorney and advocated before the US Patent and Trademark Office with Darby & Darby (until 2006), Clifford Chance and Kenyon & Kenyon.  Ms. Milone is an inventor and patent holder. Her patents include a medical device and, for Article One, an issued patent and numerous pending patent applications. She earned her JD in 1992 from Georgetown University Law Center and holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.