Introduction of Thomas Lin

& Cardinal IP & Law Consulting Department

We are pleased to announce that Thomas J.R. Lin has joined our firm as a department managing partner. Thomas will lead a new department called ¡§Cardinal IP & Law Consulting Department¡¨, which offers IP and legal consulting services to Taiwanese and international companies.

Dual experience at law firms and technology companies

After gaining work experience at the law firms ¡§Taiwan International Patent & Law office¡¨ and ¡§Lee & Li Attorneys at Law¡¨, Thomas joined a transnational technology company as an in-house counsel. Thomas worked for ATEN International, a Taiwanese listed company, as general counsel for more than five years. Prior to this, he was an in-house counsel at another listed technology company, LITE-ON TECH. He has a total of seven years of work experience as an in-house counsel at technology companies. While at various technology companies, Thomas devoted himself to handling overseas cases for seven years.

Ex-General Counsel/ Legal Director at listed technology companies

Thomas worked for ATEN International, a Taiwanese listed company, as general counsel for more than five years. As a general counsel at ATEN, building the legal department allowed him to upgrade his management skills, and proved to be excellent experience for him. At that point, he was supervising a legal department with employees, including corporate legal counsels and patent engineers, and he directly reported to ATEN¡¦s CEO. This also increased his experience dealing with management at various levels.

Successfully collected royalties from U.S.-based companies in California and Chinese companies in Suzhou and Shenzhen

As a seasoned attorney in patent litigation, especially concerning licensing affairs, Thomas has handled a substantial amount of international patent litigation and successfully collected royalties from U.S.-based companies in California and Chinese companies in Suzhou and Shenzhen. As a Taiwanese technology company, instead of paying royalties to U.S.-based companies, the company was able to collect patent royalties, which was a remarkable milestone in Taiwan¡¦s patent licensing field. As a general counsel for a listed technology company, Thomas has handled many lawsuits around the world, including in the U.S., Canada and China. One notable case was a patent lawsuit regarding ITC (International Trade Committee) in the U.S. in 2006, which allowed him to experience a trial in Washington, D.C. for a week. Thomas also cooperated with American law firms, including Fish & Richardson, on patent lawsuits in E.D. Texas Court in 2006 and C.D. California Court in 2009. The experience of going through Markman Hearing with American firms was instrumental to his understanding of Patent Law and US civil procedure. Due to his experience in handling litigation around the world, including patent litigation and labor law litigation in the U.S., Canada and China, Thomas has also gained extensive negotiation experience and has excellent communication skills.

IP Law Master¡¦s degree from Washington University on a Scholarship and studied Physics and Law in Taiwan

Thomas has an IP Law Master¡¦s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and he completed the IP Law Program with a scholarship from WU. He also studied Physics and Law at National Taipei University and Chung Hsing University and has a Master¡¦s degree in Law from Taipei University.

Thomas transferred from the Department of Physics at National Chung Hsing University. He eventually came to the realization that it is a significant advantage to have a basic physics background when handling patent cases. Upon graduation in 1997, he was successfully admitted as the top-ranking student into graduate school at National Taipei University.

Admitted in Taipei Bar and Taiwan Intellectual Property Office

In 1998, Thomas passed the bar examination in Taiwan in the second year of his studies towards his master¡¦s degree. It was difficult enough, under Taiwan¡¦s educational system of that time, for students majoring in law to pass the bar exam after four years of legal education, let alone for a student transferring from the physics department, as in his case.

Trilingual speaker of English, Japanese and Chinese

Thomas has long been interested in learning languages and is trilingual in English, Japanese (1st class) and Chinese. In addition, he played an active role as a youth member of the Rotary Club and was awarded the 2000-2001 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship in 2000, which allowed him to visit Osaka as an ambassadorial visitor of the Osaka Abeno Rotary Club.