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Mark Chandler

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer

General Counsel

Mark Chandler is Executive Vice President, Legal Services, and General Counsel for Cisco, and is also Cisco's Chief Compliance Officer. In these roles, he oversees Cisco's global legal activities and policies, as well as ethics, compliance and regulatory affairs, employee relations, investigations, and brand protection. He has been General Counsel since 2001.

Previously, he was Managing Attorney for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, based in Paris. A primary part of his focus is developing solutions to simplify the support for Cisco's sales and services transactions, including process automation and anticipation of future transactional needs.

Chandler joined Cisco in 1996, when Cisco acquired StrataCom, Inc., where he had been general counsel. Prior to StrataCom, he served for six years as vice president of corporate development and general counsel for Maxtor Corporation, a Fortune 500 hard disk drive manufacturer. From 1986-1988 he worked in the marketing department of Siemens AG, Munich, and in 1985-1986 lived in Germany as part of the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program.

Chandler is a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for Stanford Law School, the Board of Directors of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, and the Board of Trustees for Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Mass. He previously served as a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce Manufacturing Council, member and chairman of the City of Palo Alto Planning Commission, and member of the Palo Alto Utilities Advisory Commission. In spring 2016, he was a Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School. In 2010, The National Law Journal named him one of the 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Decade, and in 2013, American Lawyer numbered him among the Top 50 Big Law Innovators of the Last 50 Years.

Chandler received a JD degree from Stanford Law School in 1981 and a BA degree in economics from Harvard College in 1978.

You can also follow Mark on the German Blog site, and on the Cisco Newsroom.

Articles

February 20, 2014

HIGH TECH POLICY

Statement of Mark Chandler on Need for Patent System that Rewards Innovation and Discourages Speculation

I’ve commented here about the imperative to return to a patent system that incents and rewards innovation and discourages the speculators and opportunists who are using litigation leverage and bad patents to extract money from the productive elements of the economy.  That’s why we urge the Sen…

February 6, 2014

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EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Innovatio Case: Victory for Cisco Customers Makes the Case for Patent Reform

We’re pleased to announce today that we’ve achieved full protection for millions of Cisco customers from the overblown and specious claims of a very aggressive patent assertion entity. Once upon a time a company called “Innovatio” set out to force retailers and small business…

December 5, 2013

HIGH TECH POLICY

Statement by Cisco General Counsel Mark Chandler on House Passage of the “Innovation Act”

“The House of Representatives today took measured and reasonable steps against the misuse of the legal system by patent assertion entities, by passing legislation to dry up the financial incentives that allow patent assertion entities to thrive. As a company that has a portfolio of over 10,000 US pa…

November 20, 2013

HIGH TECH POLICY

Statement by Cisco General Counsel Mark Chandler on House Judiciary Committee Passage of the “Innovation Act”

“For years, patent assertion entities – otherwise known as patent trolls – have been targeting businesses large and small with frivolous lawsuits, threat letters, and intimidation tactics.  Lately, the problem has been getting worse, with 60% of new lawsuits filed by patent assertion entities, up fr…

October 23, 2013

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HIGH TECH POLICY

Statement by Cisco General Counsel Mark Chandler on Introduction of the “Innovation Act”

“Cisco applauds introduction of the Innovation Act,  legislation which aims to address the growing problem of patent assertion entities, often called patent trolls. “According to a new study released this week, the problem is getting worse.  Nearly 60 percent of new patent lawsuits are being filed b…

June 5, 2013

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

A Tipping Point in Rebalancing Our Patent System

President Obama yesterday provided executive leadership on an issue that is of critical importance to American businesses, consumers and the U.S. economy. The U.S. patent system has long been held up as a model for promoting ingenuity and encouraging our national history of invention and entrepreneu…

October 17, 2012

1

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Cisco Submits Letter to the Washington Post

Cisco submitted the following Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post: October 17, 2012 Washington Post Letter to the Editor, In a page one article last Thursday entitled, “US rivals lobby against Chinese firm,” the Post implies that Cisco engaged in a lobbying campaign against Huawei on Capitol…

October 11, 2012

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EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Huawei and Cisco’s Source Code: Correcting the Record

Last week, I wrote about statements made by Charles Ding, Huawei’s Senior Vice President and Chief Representative in the U.S., Mr. Ding explained the 2003-2004 intellectual property litigation between Cisco and Huawei as follows: “Huawei provided our source code of our products to Cisco for review a…

October 1, 2012

1

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Cisco Suggests Huawei Release Court Report on Intellectual Property Misuse

Recently,  Mr. Charles Ding, Huawei Corporate Senior Vice President and Chief Representative in the United States spoke publicly about Huawei’s use of Cisco’s intellectual property. While Huawei’s statements were in a context unrelated to the competitive relationship that Cisco and Huawe…