Lars Johnson
Currently in private practice; retired Vice-President, Chief Counsel, Patents and Environmental, PepsiCo Beverages and Quaker Foods.
Primary Areas of Practice: patent licensing and counseling; IP support for M&A and technology acquisition.
Law School/Graduate School: IIT Chicago-Kent
Work History:
Lars is currently in private practice. He retired in 2012 after 20+ years as a senior corporate attorney with extensive leadership expertise in patent law, beginning at Procter & Gamble, then with The Quaker Oats Company, and most recently with PepsiCo. He is particularly effective in creating and implementing optimum solutions to protect a company's innovations and provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Throughout his career he has provided high quality, timely and effective legal counsel to his clients.
- Led and managed patent and trade secret legal services to R&D and business functions worldwide, including preparation and prosecution of patent applications and freedom-to-practice analyses for food and beverage products, manufacturing processes, packaging materials, packaging designs, and vending machines.
- In the last year he practiced in-house, his team: filed over 500 utility patent applications and obtained over 200 patents world-wide; reviewed and managed a portfolio of approximately 3000 patents and applications; and prepared and negotiated over 700 agreements.
- Successfully defended multiple patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation suits and allegations.
- Negotiated numerous license agreements, as well as provided IP legal support for mergers, divestitures and business and technology acquisitions.