Profile Summary
Keith Bergelt is the Chief Executive Officer of Open Invention Network (OIN), the largest patent non-aggression community in history, created to support freedom of action in Linux as a key element of open-source software. Funded by Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Red Hat, Sony, SUSE, and Toyota, OIN has more than 2,200 OIN community members and owns more than 1,200 global patents and applications. In his capacity as CEO, he is directly responsible for enabling, influencing, and defending the integrity of the Linux ecosystem. Central to the achievement of his goals is the acquisition and transfer of patent rights designed to permit members of the Linux ecosystem to operate free of the threat of assertion and litigation from those whose business models are antithetical to innovation and global economic growth in information technology and computing.
Prior to joining the Open Invention Network, Mr. Bergelt served as president and CEO of two Hedge Funds – Paradox Capital and IPI – formed to unlock the considerable asset value of patents, trademarks, and copyrights in middle-market companies. Paradox and IPI were the first Funds of their kind to offer specialty lending products supported exclusively by intellectual property. Driven by Mr. Bergelt’s creativity and entrepreneurial approach, these funds enabled the emergence of patents, trademarks, and copyrights as a viable source of collateral in asset-based loans, forever reshaping the emerging IP Finance landscape.
During Mr. Bergelt’s stewardship of these IP-based lending activities, he raised more than $300 million dollars and financed portfolio companies of private equity firms including Texas Pacific Group, Kelso & Co., JH Whitney, Weston Presidio, Goode Partners, Palladium Capital, and Castanea Partners, among others.
Previously, Mr. Bergelt served as a senior advisor to the technology investment division at Texas Pacific Group. He also headed business development, intellectual property, and licensing for the Kelso & Company portfolio company Cambridge Display Technology in the UK. Additionally, he established and served as General Manager of the Strategic Intellectual Asset Management business unit at Motorola Corporation and served as Motorola’s director of Technology Strategy.
Mr. Bergelt was a co-founder of the IP Advisory Practice within the Electronics and Telecommunications Industry group at SRI Consulting in Menlo Park, California.
Mr. Bergelt holds anArtium Baccalaureusdegree from DukeUniversity, a Jurist Doctorate degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Theseus Institute in France. He is a frequent speaker on corporate strategy, finance, and intellectual property management.
