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Edward Kwok

is a partner with VLP Law Group‘s Intellectual Property Practice. His practice focuses on patent prosecution and Inter Partes adverse proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and intellectual property litigations in state and federal courts. With more than 25 years as a technology attorney, Mr. Kwok’s in-depth knowledge of technology and science has proven to be a valuable asset to his clients in both patent portfolio development and in the court room. Mr. Kwok has represented clients in patent prosecution, post-grant proceedings, patent and trade secrets litigations, IP portfolio management and disposition, due diligence in M&A transactions, freedom-to-operate, patent infringement, validity and enforceability opinions, and licensing.

Recent Articles by Edward Kwok

Briefs supporting Life Technologies draw battle lines in battle over extraterritorial application of US patent laws

The U.S. government weighs in on Life Technologies’ side because “the application of U.S. patent law to participation by U.S. exporters in foreign markets also raise issues concerning the competiveness of American companies abroad and the respective roles of the United States and other nations’ patent laws.” The government argues that the Federal Circuit has not given a workable definition to determine when a component is sufficiently important or essential as to be “a substantial portion of the components.” The government also argues that, in legislating § 271(f), Congress’s purpose was to outlaw evasion of a U.S. patent by conduct that tantamount to manufacturing the patented invention in the U.S. for export. The government argues that there is no clear expressed Congressional intent for § 271(f) to reach supplying a single staple article: when the product is made abroad except for such a staple article, Congress left that predominantly foreign conduct to be regulated by foreign law. Finally, the government argues that the presumption against extraterritoriality requires the courts to assume both that “legislators take account of the legitimate interests of other nations” and “foreign conduct is generally the domain of foreign law.”