Apple patent chief departs amid major ongoing IP lawsuits

The intellectual property expert who has served as Apple's head of Patent Licensing & Strategy, and who played a key role in its patent infringement suit against Samsung, has departed the company.

After four years with Apple, Boris Teksler has left for a new role as president of the Technology Group at French media and entertainment company Technicolor. AppleInsider was tipped to Teksler's departure on Wednesday, and the information was separately confirmed by an official press release from Technicolor issued this week.

Teksler played an increasingly high-profile role at Apple in recent years as lawsuits began to mount. Last year, he testified on Apple's behalf in its patent infringement litigation with Samsung.

In that testimony, Teksler revealed he warned late Apple CEO Steve Jobs and then-COO Tim Cook in 2010 that Samsung's smartphones may infringe on the iPhone's patents. Teksler even created a presentation outlining the patents Samsung was believed to have infringed upon, including inventions related to "rubber-banding," e-mail threading, and gesture heuristics.

The issues pointed out by Teksler proved to be so serious that Jobs and Cook themselves met with Samsung executives to discuss the matter. When an agreement could not be reached, the lawsuits started.

“We didn’t understand how a trusted partner would build a copycat product like that,” he said in his testimony.

AppleInsider attempted to contact Teksler on Wednesday for a comment, but he couldn't be reached.

Prior to joining Apple, Teksler spent 16 years at Hewlett-Packard, where he co-founded HP's Intellectual Property Licensing Business. In his new role at Technicolor, he will serve on the company's Executive Committee, where he will aid in the "exploitation of its IP assets."

"Boris Teksler is a skilled executive with a unique combination of skills including protecting intellectual assets and driving focused innovation to commercial success," said Frederic Rose, Chief Executive Officer at Technicolor. "The Technology Group is tasked with extending our licensing growth and Teksler’s experience in mobile licensing makes him well suited for the position."