Overview
Charles Dresser is a Partner at Caldwell and a trusted advisor to technology companies looking to build lasting enterprise value. With a practical background in engineering and experience founding and managing technology businesses, Charles works closely with founders, inventors, and investors to align legal strategy and technological innovations with business outcomes. At Caldwell, Charles has helped clients expand their patent portfolios from a few core filings to hundreds of families and thousands of assets, and then, monetize those assets through fundraising, licensing, or enforcement.
His practice areas include:
- Strategic IP portfolio development and management
- Counseling IP and corporate transactions
- U.S., European, and international patent preparation and prosecution
- PTAB proceedings, including IPRs, post-grant reviews, and ex parte appeals
- Patent licensing, monetization, and enforcement
Experience
At Caldwell, Charles has served as a key legal and strategic partner to numerous high-growth companies, including several unicorns with valuations over $1 billion. He has served clients in many industries, notably medical devices, aerospace, and defense. Charles has strategically overseen some of the world’s largest patent portfolios covering electric aircraft, vertical flight, and blended wing body aircraft. He has supported investment rounds, corporate partnerships, and M&A transactions, while advising across a range of industries including autonomous vehicles, commercial and vertical flight aircraft, AI, digital pathology, medical devices, photonics, lasers, and extended reality.
Charles has business, technical, and legal experience with several growth-stage technology companies, serving in many different roles including director, executive, lawyer, and engineer. Charles has co-founded a laser technology company and an augmented reality, company, with a team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He has also invented, developed, and helped receive FDA-clearance on innovative dental laser devices and advanced medical laser systems, with a team from Massachusetts General Hospital.
Charles is a named inventor on more than 200 patents and published applications. He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and earned his J.D. from UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, where he graduated in the top 10% of his class with a focus on intellectual property, technology, and information law.