Brian C. Kwok

Brian Kwok helps clients build, manage, and successfully monetize patent portfolios. Brian evaluates patent portfolios and negotiates deals ranging from a few hundred thousand to many billions of dollars. He recently represented an international technology company in a multi-billion dollar patent portfolio acquisition involving thousands of patents related to wireless telecommunications, cellular systems, and consumer electronics.

Brian also counsels clients through pre-litigation conflicts to resolve assertions and licensing disputes before patent litigation ensues. An experienced engineer, he provides clients with insightful and pragmatic advice, based on his ability to understand deeply the technical merit of a case and to explain its intersection with legal strategy. For example, Brian has counseled Fortune 50 technology companies throughout pre-litigation patent negotiations relating to 5G NR/4G LTE telecommunications and video compression standards resulting in favorable settlements.

When patent disputes mature into formal litigations, Brian has significant experience with patent matters before the International Trade Commission and numerous federal district courts. Brian represented Samsung in ITC proceedings related to cellular phones, Intel in a declaratory judgment action against Wi-LAN’s WiMAX and Wi-Fi patents, and a major consumer electronics company in various federal court and ITC actions against its competitors relating to smartphone technologies. Brian is well versed in all aspects of litigation, including deposing expert and fact witnesses, case-dispositive motions practice, and Markman proceedings. Brian’s practice also includes representing clients in inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) proceedings before the U.S. Patent Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board as part of a comprehensive litigation strategy.

Brian’s technical experience includes a wide range of high-tech subject matter, such as standards-essential wireless telecommunications (e.g., 5G NR, 4G LTE, IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth), video compression (e.g. HEVC (H.265), AVC (H.264), MPEG), user experience design, GPS, semi-conductor circuits, mobile payment systems, liquid crystal displays, and other consumer electronics technologies.

Brian was selected for inclusion in Northern California Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition, Thomson Reuters, 2014-2016. He was also named in Lawyers of Color's "Nation's Best" list in 2022 and its "Power List" in 2020, which highlight exceptional professional accomplishments in the legal profession and the nation’s most influential minority attorneys and non-minority diversity advocates respectively.

Brian is a member of the Board of Directors for Leela International, a non-profit that builds playgrounds and art education programs for children in underdeveloped communities around the world.