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Mark Chandler

Retired | Executive Vice President

Chief Legal and Compliance Officer

Mark Chandler retired from his role as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Cisco in May 2021. 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. Chandler is a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for Stanford Law School, member of the Governing Council of the American Bar Association Center for Innovation, Board of Directors of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, and the Board of Trustees for Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Mass. He previously served as a member of the Board of the Silicon Valley Law Foundation, 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. In 2018, he received the Burton Legends in Law Award. Chandler received a JD degree from Stanford Law School in 1981 and a BA degree in economics from Harvard College in 1978.

Articles

August 6, 2018

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Joint Statement – Agreement Resolving Litigation

1 min read

The following is a joint statement from Cisco and Arista regarding the existing litigation.

Cisco General Counsel Calls for IPR Improvements to Protect Patentholders

4 min read

Innovation is the life blood of our company.  We invest more than $6 billion annually in research and development, and have over 14,000 issued US patents, reflecting the strength of...

July 21, 2017

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Protecting Innovation: ITC Declines to Suspend Ruling; Orders Remain In Effect

3 min read

The International Trade Commission yesterday sent a strong message to Arista that its “corporate culture of copying”, as the ITC has put it, must stop. By rejecting Arista’s efforts to delay orders that Arista stop importing and selling infringing products in the U.S., it reinforced the protection of intellectual property rights. On May 4, the Commission […]

Protecting Innovation: Presidential Review Period Expires in ‘945 Investigation

2 min read

We learned this morning that the U.S. Trade Representative and the White House have rejected Arista’s “trade policy” pleas, and refused to stop the ITC’s limited exclusion and cease and desist orders from going into effect. The orders were issued in response to Arista’s infringement of two Cisco patents. That means that effective today, Arista […]

June 21, 2017

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Protecting Innovation: ITC Enforcement Action Initial Determination

2 min read

We received word today that an ITC judge has issued a decision that Arista’s redesigned products do not continue to use the Cisco “SysDB” patented technology, which Arista was found to have infringed in the ITC’s “944 Investigation”.  The judge’s order is subject to review by the full Commission, and we plan to request a […]

Update: U.S. Patent and Trade Office Reviews

1 min read

Update (6/01/2017): We disagree with the Patent Office decision regarding the ‘668 patent, particularly since the ITC rejected Arista’s validity challenges and found the patent both valid and infringed. We intend to appeal the Patent Office’s decision, which will be the final determination regarding validity of the ‘668 patent. The Patent Office’s decision here has […]

Enough is Enough – Change Must Begin Now

4 min read

Beginning last week, many organizations around the globe found themselves responding to infected computers in their environments that were hit with new malicious ransomware called “WannaCry.” Most other organizations reacted quickly to protect their network-critical files from being taken hostage by cyber criminals and held for ransom. And we are now seeing new variants of […]

Protecting Innovation: Commission Upholds Judge’s Ruling in ITC ‘945 Investigation

2 min read

This afternoon the International Trade Commission ruled that Arista switches infringe two additional Cisco patents, covering addressable memory and control plane policing, which are core technologies in network switching. By confirming Administrative Law Judge McNamara’s Initial Determination, the Commission brings the total confirmed Arista patent violations to five. Today’s ruling in the “945 Investigation” concludes Commission review of the two cases brought by Cisco in […]

April 4, 2017

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Protecting Innovation: Update on ITC Enforcement Action

2 min read

UPDATE (April 7, 2017): The U.S. CBP agency today decided to allow importation of Arista’s redesigned products into the U.S. while the ITC enforcement proceedings for case ‘944 are underway. The decision was issued after the agency met with counsel for both parties in late February, where our outside counsel expressed concerns about the Arista […]

March 30, 2017

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Legal Services Funding Supports Integrity of our Legal System

2 min read

Our market economy, which produces goods and services and jobs for billions around the world, is built on the foundation of a strong commercial law system – a foundation that promises “a deal is a deal”, that rights and obligations can be enforced through courts offering equal justice under law. For companies like mine, access to […]

March 28, 2017

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Cisco Supports Tech Effort to Help Hate Crime Victims

2 min read

Recently I had the chance to see how smart technology, applied to vexing social problems, can help provide solutions and build a better world. Working with the American Bar Association’s Center for Innovation (ABA), we’re deeply engaged in an effort to create a better path for those who believe they’ve been victimized by a hate […]

January 14, 2017

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Protecting Innovation: CBP Revokes Approval of Arista Redesign

2 min read

Late yesterday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency revoked its November 2016 finding that Arista’s supposedly “redesigned” products don’t infringe a key Cisco patent.  You can read CBP’s letter of revocation here. The revocation covers all Arista products.  This means that Arista has lost the authorization to import or continue selling its products […]

December 14, 2016

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Protecting Innovation: Arista’s Copying of Cisco’s User Interfaces

2 min read

I can’t pretend not to be disappointed that a jury in federal court, having found that Arista copied Cisco’s user interfaces and that the copying was not justified by the fair use doctrine, applied the little known principle of “scènes à faire” to deny Cisco relief for Arista’s action. In laymen’s terms, justification by applying […]

December 9, 2016

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Protecting Innovation: ITC Confirms Arista Products Violate Additional Cisco Patents

3 min read

Cisco has won another important ruling from the ITC in our effort to stop Arista from using our intellectual property. In the Initial Determination for the second ITC investigation (known as ‘945), the judge confirmed that Arista has infringed another two Cisco patents covering critical core networking technology. That brings the total number of Cisco […]

August 22, 2016

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Protecting Innovation: Facing the Facts

3 min read

Today the U.S. Trade Representative concluded that the International Trade Commission's import ban and cease and desist order covering all Arista products will go into effect tomorrow.

July 28, 2016

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Protecting Innovation: ITC Clear on Ruling, Remedy, and Rationale

2 min read

This week the International Trade Commission (ITC) released the public version of its ‘944 ruling, which shows intentionality of Arista’s infringement, confirms that Cisco patents are valid, and rebuffs arguments against a ban

Protecting Innovation: Investors and Customers Deserve Transparency

1 min read

On June 23, the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Arista’s products infringed three Cisco patents. In roughly a week, the ITC will release a public version of the 60-page opinion laying out the full background and rationale for its decision. Given the importance of transparency for the industry, Cisco is asking the Commission to make the entire ruling public.

June 23, 2016

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Protecting Innovation: Final Ruling Confirms Unlawful Infringement

3 min read

Today the International Trade Commission issued a Final Determination that Arista’s products infringe three Cisco patents. Two of the patents cover Cisco’s private VLAN network security technology which Arista included in its switches. The third covers Cisco’s proprietary core SysDB technology misappropriated by Arista, which Arista’s CEO has ironically referred to as Arista’s “secret sauce.” The case, known as “the ‘944 investigation,” is the first […]