John McGaraghan

Practice Areas

John McGaraghan advises companies at all stages of growth on complex intellectual property transactions, with a particular focus on the software, semiconductor, and AI sectors.

John draws on deep industry knowledge and hands-on technology experience to guide public and private companies through a full range of high-stakes matters involving:

- Corporate and strategic transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investments, and divestitures

- Intellectual property counseling and licensing

- Complex commercial and product-related agreements

- Open-source software licensing and compliance

- Capital markets and financing matters

He regularly helps technology companies structure, draft, and negotiate agreements that build and protect enterprise value. John’s practice spans a broad range of technology-driven industries, including SaaS, hardware, automation, and big data. He also counsels chip companies and IP vendors on all aspects of their technology licensing operations, from development to core licensing to manufacture and supply.

In the open-source arena, John advises companies on implementing ingestion and contribution policies, audits and remediation in connection with corporate transactions, and establishing and managing open source software projects.

A recognized thought leader, John is a member of the American Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section and the American Society of Composers and Producers. He also teaches a course on intellectual property licensing at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. John is certified as a Black Duck Legal Professional.

Before joining Latham, John was a partner at another global law firm, where he led a technology transactions practice in the Bay Area. Prior to law school, he worked as a software developer and as a singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, producer, and performer.