The USPTO IP Attaché Program: Structure, Goals, and the Current Situation in China

Piers Blewett is a patent attorney and principal at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner. He is a Global Patent Fellow at the Federal Circuit Bar Association, and a former Chief Patent Counsel, General Counsel, and Vice President at Kimberly Clark Corporation. Piers’ practice includes strategic IP counseling, patent prosecution (US and foreign), patent validity, infringement analysis and opinions, risk assessment, global patent litigation, and IP due diligence work. Piers decided to pursue patent law after working as a mechanical engineer at a platinum mine in South Africa. He explains, “I’m an engineer at heart and have always had an interest in new technology.” He continues, “As a patent attorney, I see lots of new tech. By definition, an invention has to be ‘new’ in order to be patentable so this puts us at the leading edge of technology – and I like that.” Piers enjoys working with inventors and engineers. “They are positive, creative people who think about their world and want to make it a better place.”   

Dominic Keating is the Director of the Intellectual Property (IP) Attaché Program at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He provides legal and policy direction to IP Attaches and IP Specialists based in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, New Delhi, Geneva, Bangkok, Kyiv, Abu Dhabi, Mexico City and Brussels. From 2006 to 2010, he served as the first IP Attaché in the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, where he promoted high standards of IP protection and enforcement in India and other South Asian countries. He was awarded a Silver Medal by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce for his work.

Duncan Willson serves as the intellectual property (IP) counselor at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, China, where he  promotes U.S. stakeholder interests by advocating for improvements in China’s protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. In addition, Mr. Willson serves as a resource for U.S. individuals and businesses in regard to IPR concerns in China.

Representing the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), Conrad Wong is serving his second appointment as Consul and Intellectual Property Rights Officer with the United States Consulate General in Guangzhou, China. He is responsible for American intellectual-property issues in southern and southwestern China as well as the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau.  He also handles intellectual property matters for the United States Consulates General in Shanghai and Wuhan.