Biography

    Marla Hoehn has over 25 years experience in advising clients on technology/intellectual property licensing and commercial transactions.  Prior to starting her own practice in 2009, she practiced at one of the nation’s leading law firms, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, for more than 13 years and served as leader of its technology licensing practice.

    Marla regularly advises and represents clients on the following types of transactions:

    • SaaS subscription agreements for vendors as well as customers
    • SLAs (service level agreements)
    • software license agreements
    • technology development agreements
    • statements of work, consulting, professional and technical services agreements
    • data processing agreements (DPAs), business associate addenda (BAAs), information security (InfoSec) addenda, and other privacy/data protection agreements
    • channel (OEM/distributor/reseller/sales rep) agreements
    • terms of service, terms of use, and privacy policies
    • strategic alliance, marketing and referral agreements
    • manufacturing and supply agreements
    • product sale and purchase terms and conditions
    • other commercial agreements, including non-disclosure, early adopter, proof of concept and evaluation agreements

    She also counsels technology clients on intellectual property and commercial issues, including ownership of intellectual property rights and trade secret and copyright issues, open source, as well as privacy and data protection issues. She has helped numerous clients draft template technology licensing and commercial agreements as well as successfully negotiated

    Marla’s clients have included the following:

    • artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) platform providers,
    • integrated circuits for a variety of applications including wireless audio and optical networking and wireless networking equipment,
    • software (such as equipment finance software, engineering intelligence platform, cloud optimization software, risk management platform, image sharing platform, and business intelligence and analytics software)

    While her practice has emphasized the representation of emerging growth technology companies, she has also represented Fortune 500 companies and major institutional clients in technology licensing transactions and other technology-related commercial transactions.

    Education

    J.D., University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, cum laude, 1992
    B.A. and B.S., Mankato State University, Mankato, Minnesota, summa cum laude, 1988

    Bar Admissions

    State of California

    Affiliations

    American Bar Association, member of Science & Technology Law and Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division

    State Bar of California (served as co-chair and vice-chair of the Cyberspace Law Committee of the Business Law Section from 2004-2006)

    Member of California Lawyers Association (CLA), Intellectual Property Law and Privacy Law Sections

    Member of International Association of Privacy Professionals (since 2023)