Erich Andersen

Erich Andersen is Corporate Vice President and Chief IP Counsel for Microsoft. He is responsible for leading the Company’s Intellectual Property Group, as part of Microsoft’s Corporate, External and Legal Affairs team. His group handles all the company’s patent filings, external engagement with government leaders, academics and associations on legal policy matters related to intellectual property, and intellectual property licensing. Andersen joined Microsoft in 1995 and has worked very closely with the business groups over the years on legal, regulatory, technical and policy issues. He has led many negotiations with the Company’s partners and has worked with government leaders to resolve legal and regulatory concerns related to the Company’s business affairs. In 2016, Andersen was named the most influential player in global intellectual property by Intellectual Asset Management Magazine. Andersen has traveled extensively during his time with the company and was based in Paris, France from 2006 – 2009, where he led the EMEA legal and government affairs team. He previously held the positions of Vice President & Deputy General Counsel for the Office and Windows product divisions.

Before coming to Microsoft, Andersen served as a law clerk for Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Honorable James P. Churchill of the United States District Court. He began his law practice with Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle, Washington.

Andersen graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1986 where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was a University of California Regents’ Scholar. He then graduated in 1989 from the UCLA School of Law, where he served as Chief Managing Editor of the law review.