Mark Blake oversees all litigation for anything related to intellectual property for Medtronic, one of the world’s largest medical device makers.
Medtronic’s portfolio includes more than 43,000 active patents. Blake’s responsibilities involve defending Medtronic’s innovations or handing patent assentions and licensing against parties ranging from copycats in China and India to large competitors.
“It takes an enormous amount of time and investment to get through regulatory approval,” Blake, who works in Irvine, told the Business Journal. “Intellectual property is extremely important to help protect the investment you have in coming to market.”
Despite arriving less than two years ago, Blake already has significant wins under his belt, such as the successful reversal of a $125 million judgment awarded to Colorado-based competitor Colibri Heart Valve LLC.
Blake and his legal team not only overturned the patent infringement decision but also convinced the Federal Circuit to order a finding of non-infringement, effectively ending the case.
Blake won the Business Journal’s General Counsel Awards in the Specialty Counsel category for his success in high-stakes litigation defending Medtronic’s business.
Also based in Irvine is Medtronic’s neuroscience portfolio, a $10 billion unit, overseen by Brett Wall. Two months ago, Wall received the Business Journal’s Innovator of the Year Award for leading the business.
Medtronic also has its cardiovascular unit in Santa Ana. These are just some of the indicators of Medtronic’s increasing investment in the region, according to Blake.
“Brett Wall is such an important leader,” Blake said.
“The fact that he and some of our most important products are here in Orange County rather than in Minnesota, it’s rare.”
Minnesota-based Medtronic is valued at $119 billion and has more than 95,000 employees across 150 countries worldwide. Last year, it generated $32.3 billion in revenue, a 3.6% increase year-over-year.
Former Litigator at Edwards
Blake has in-house legal experience at Orange County’s largest medtech companies.
He came to Medtronic from competitor Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp., where he served as director of IP, litigation and strategy for three years.
During his tenure, Blake said that they had more than 60 cases in 19 different countries, including some of the very first cases in Europe’s newly created Unified Patent Court, which was created by participating European Union countries for more centralized and efficient litigation.
Coincidentally, he happened to be in the gallery at the 2023 jury trial between Medtronic and Colibri while working for Edwards.
The case centered on Medtronic’s Evolut replacement heart valves and their implantation method. Colibri sued Medtronic, alleging that the Medtronic device infringed on a patented method of pushing the valve out from a sheath.
“When I viewed it at the time, I actually thought that Medtronic had a better-than-average chance of winning,” Blake said.
Shortly after the jury ruled in Colibri’s favor, Blake was recruited by Medtronic when the case was appealed to an appellate court. Blake said that he and the team spent a long time preparing for the appeal and the oral arguments.
Colibri canceled one of its patent claims covering a “retraction” method, preventing Colibri from asserting that Medtronic’s retracting method was equivalent to its patented pushing method.
“It was a big deal for the company because it showed what we thought all along that we had developed this long before Colibri had come along,” Blake said.
Before joining Edwards, Blake worked at Masimo Corp., a medical device maker in Irvine, for a short time.
Blake said that he joined the company as it began filing cases that are currently pending against Apple Inc.
The Art of Negotiation
Another significant part of Blake’s job is negotiating deals, ranging from mergers and acquisitions to licensing and service contracts—a favorite part of the gig.
“I like the art of negotiation,” Blake said.
Blake managed simultaneous proceedings against competitor Axonics Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the International Trade Commission.
Medtronic and Axonics have been involved in a patent infringement dispute starting in 2019 when Medtronic sued Axonics for infringing on its sacral neuromodulation technologies.
Last September, the California federal court sided with Axonics, two months before Boston Scientific completed its $3.7 billion acquisition of Axonics.
The dispute was recently resolved through a settlement negotiated by Blake between Medtronic and Boston Scientific, with a confidential payment made to Medtronic, thereby resolving all outstanding litigation.
Problem Solver
Blake grew up as one of six children in Ogden, Utah.
He described himself as the black sheep of the family, a majority of whom are chief executives or are in marketing.
“I’m the only lawyer of the family,” he said.
Blake received a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Brigham Young University before becoming interested in law after realizing he could apply his love for problem-solving.
“I could mix my engineering and math background with the problem solving and strategy of law while also being around people,” he said. “It just seemed like a really nice for me.”
Blake attended law school at the University of California, San Diego.
During law school, Blake interned at San Diego-based chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. in the middle of its patent infringement and antitrust battle with Broadcom Corp., then based in Irvine.
He then spent the next 10 years at local law firms Howrey, Sheppard Mullin and Jones Day before taking on an in-house litigation role at Broadcom.
“It was funny,” Blake said. “I went from working as an intern at Qualcomm to then working with Broadcom.”
Blake called his time at Broadcom “fascinating” due to its licensing model.
“They had a nearly $100 million revenue goal to achieve year-over-year based on their IP portfolio, so they were aggressive in getting IP but also aggressive in creating revenue from it,” Blake said.
