Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend
Chris Schaffer focuses his practice on IP counseling, patent prosecution, infringement and validity analyses, technology licensing and due diligence with an emphasis in the areas of telecommunications, power electronics, semiconductors, electronics packaging, advanced materials, thermal management, mechanics, and software. Mr. Schaffer also does significant pro bono work. Mr. Schaffer is a Panel Attorney for the California Lawyers for the Arts program which assists financially under-resourced independent inventors and small businesses. Mr. Schaffer also works with the San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program to secure guardianship for minors and children who do not have an able parent.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Schaffer was a practicing scientist who obtained 10 patents, authored numerous technical articles and served on the technical committee for several conferences.
From 2005 to 2012, Mr. Schaffer was the Director of Engineering at Pulse Electronics in San Diego where he led a worldwide engineering team in the research and development of LAN (Local Area Network) and Telecommunications components for the electronics industry. Products consisted of Ethernet transformers, RF filters, high-speed connectors and central office splitters.
From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Schaffer was a Design Center Manager at International Rectifier in Los Angeles where he led a multi-disciplinary engineering team in the development of advanced multi-chip power conversion modules for consumer, telecom and industrial applications. The modules included customized state-of-the-art MOSFETs, ASICs and integrated passives.
From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Schaffer was a Research Engineer at Boeing where he led the research and development of advanced materials such as chemically vapor deposited diamond and carbon-carbon composites for use in spacecraft electronics. He also designed and tested RF electronics subassemblies for military spacecraft programs.
Mr. Schaffer was recognized as a San Diego “Rising Star” in 2022 and 2023 for Intellectual Property by Super Lawyers magazine.