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Terry Fokas

is the General Counsel for U.S. Inventor, LLC, a nation-wide inventor advocacy organization which lobbies Congress, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, private trade organizations and the public for strong patent protection in order to foster and protect American innovation and American inventors. U.S. Inventor has over 13,000 members including, independent inventors, early-stage businesses, venture capital firms, research organizations, emerging technology companies, and patent-dependent enterprises. Terry is also the managing partner of Parallel Networks, LLC, a patent licensing and technology company based in Dallas, Texas. Terry received his Juris Doctorate cum laude from St. John’s University School of Law in 1997 and his Master of Laws (LLM) with merit in banking and finance law from The London School of Economics and Political Science at the University of London in 1999 and he is admitted to practice law in Connecticut, New York and Texas as well as in the federal district courts in the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas.

Recent Articles by Terry Fokas

The U.S. Patent System, not China’s IP Policies, is the Reason Behind America’s Decline in Global Competitiveness

Several months ago, the Trump Administration launched an investigation into Chinese trade policies that are responsible for expropriating American intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyrights).  This investigation is premised upon Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 which gives the President the authority to take all appropriate action, including retaliatory action, against China if the U.S. concludes that China’s policies on…

The PTAB lacks authority to decide the applicability of tribal sovereign immunity

Native American tribes possess and exercise inherent sovereign immunity. It is also undisputable that such power may be abrogated, limited or qualified only by the express and unequivocal action of Congress. In Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v Manufacturing Technologies, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court explicitly affirmed that no court or administrative agency may interfere with that power absent Congressional legislation… The Court again in Bay Mills reiterated that absent congressional limitations, tribes exercise unqualified immunity. The Court even went so far as to note that “a fundamental commitment of Indian law is judicial respect for Congress’s primary role in defining the contours of tribal sovereignty.”