“I help clients create strategic patent protection of their innovations that improves the value of their companies.”
Expertise
Edward Van Gieson is a partner at Patent Law Works who has over 25 years preparing and prosecuting patent applications in Silicon Valley law firms for Fortune 500 clients, mid-size clients, and startup clients. Ed’s practice focuses on building strategic patent portfolios for clients with a savvy eye towards increasing company value. Ed’s practice also includes freedom to operate studies; performing patent due diligence investigations; and evaluating patents in licensing negotiations and patent acquisitions. He has represented clients in patent appeals and reexaminations before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Ed was named as a “Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer” for his work with high tech clients. In his career, he was seconded (temporarily assigned) to Nvidia in 2003, where he was acting in-house patent counsel for six months.
He has experience in a wide variety of different technologies including semiconductors; medical devices; business methods; computer software and hardware; security and encryption systems; artificial intelligence, machine learning (AI/ML) and large language models (LLMs) including applications of ChatGPT; image processing; computer vision; data processing; data storage; social networks; autonomous vehicles, and robotics, among others.
Prior to Patent Law Works, Ed’s previous legal employment includes working at two high-tech Silicon Valley Am Law 100 tech law firms, including as a partner at Cooley and an associate at Fenwick & West. At Cooley he developed patent portfolios for startup clients and also worked on patent litigation and licensing matters.
Ed served for several years as an officer of the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association as treasurer and program committee chair.
Ed’s volunteer work includes serving on the Board of Directors of the Asian Law Alliance, a non-profit organization with a mission to provide equal access to the justice system for Asian Pacific Islander and low-income populations in Silicon Valley. In 2009, he was part of a group of attorneys who won a pro bono service award from the California State Bar.
Prior to his legal career, Ed worked as a research scientist at IBM’s Zurich research lab and at Sarnoff labs in Princeton, New Jersey.
- University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco, J.D., 1997.
- Cornell University, Ph.D. in electrical engineering, 1989.
- University of Southern California, B.S. in electrical engineering, 1982.
- Ed is a member of the California State Bar, is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a patent attorney and is a member of the Patent Trial and Appeal (PTAB) Bar.