Matthew Karlyn

Partner
Morrison & Foerster LLP

Matthew A. Karlyn has 25 years of experience in working with companies in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, medical device, and technology industries on a wide range of commercial life sciences, licensing, and technology transactions. His clients range from Fortune 100 companies to start-ups, and he regularly advises companies on matters involving IP commercialization, complex collaboration transactions, licensing initiatives, subscription-based economics, and business transactions related to the procurement, development, commercialization, and use of technology and life sciences products. He has also worked with a number of clients on corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, as well as private equity and venture capital financing.

Matt is ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA for Intellectual Property: Licensing in Massachusetts. Clients in Chambers describe Matt as: “accessible and engaged, and he is really focused on getting the right answer for us.”

Life sciences clients, including pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare companies, rely on Matt for his breadth of knowledge in licensing, collaboration, and commercialization strategies across a wide range of transactions designed to strengthen operations and maximize value. Matt’s clients come from sectors across the global economy and include emerging companies, privately held companies, and many of the world’s biggest brands.

Matt regularly advises on the use of technology in business, pricing strategies, and market terms across a wide variety of technology transactions that benefit clients both large and small. He has extensive experience negotiating a wide range of transactions, including:

  • Enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management licensing and implementation transactions
  • Cloud-based transactions including software-as-a-services, platform-as-a-service, and infrastructure-as-a-service.
  • Software licensing
  • Supply chain and procurement deals

Additionally, Matt has worked on many of the largest outsourcing transactions in the United States, representing numerous Fortune 100 companies on information technology, business process, finance and accounting, facilities services, and other outsourcing transactions.

Matt is a frequent author and speaker on topics pertaining to drafting and negotiating commercial technology, outsourcing, and licensing transactions. He has published over 25 articles (including chapters in two books), given over 175 presentations on licensing, technology, outsourcing, and data security, and is the co-author of A Guide to IT Contracting: Checklists, Tools, and Techniques.

Matt is currently co-chair of the Legal and Regulatory policy group at the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. He served as chair of the New England Chapter of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, and served for five years on the board of directors of Julie’s Family Learning Program, a wellness program for mothers and children in South Boston.