How the U.S. government can help companies protect and enforce their IP in China

Terri L. Batch is a senior international trade specialist with the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Commercial Service (a division of the International Trade Administration – Global Markets) in West Los Angeles, California. Mrs. Batch has served in many capacities during her 17-year tenure with the organization. She was formerly the leader of the Global Design and Construction Team and the founding team leader for the Global China Team within the organization.

Mrs. Batch manages a client portfolio of Los Angeles–based companies in design and construction-related sectors, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and other emerging new industry sectors. Recently, she served in a temporary detail as part of a team responsible for reviewing tariff exclusion requests under the Section 232 aluminum and steel tariff regulations. During the global health crisis from COVID19, Mrs. Batch developed a program to educate U.S. exporters on trade finance solutions, and advised clients on financing support available from the federal government via the CARES Act. In the current environment, Mrs. Batch advises clients on virtual services available via the U.S. Commercial Service that provide support to expand into international markets for their products and services.

As the leader of the Commercial Service’s Global Design and Construction Team, Mrs. Batch received the Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service. Mrs. Batch has given presentations on panels and served as a featured speaker at numerous conferences, workshops, and events. Mrs. Batch is also skilled at organizing and leading trade missions, having led previous missions to Brazil and China, and providing value-added support services at domestic and international trade shows.

Mrs. Batch received a B.S. in computer science from Spelman College, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. In addition, Mrs. Batch has pursued language training at institutes in Beijing, China, and Taipei, Taiwan, and speaks Mandarin Chinese at an advanced level. She has traveled extensively throughout China and the Asia region.

Mrs. Batch has a professional designation as a Global Logistics Specialist from California State University Long Beach and is a Certified Global Business Professional from NASBITE International.

Laurie Dempsey is the director of the IPR and e-Commerce Division with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Trade, where she leads efforts to develop innovative approaches to enforce intellectual property law at ports of entry and to educate and engage stakeholders to deter the importation of illicit goods.

Ms. Dempsey has over 28 years of international trade experience, including developing trade policy, serving as a subject matter expert for the Automated Commercial Environment, managing quotas and trade agreements, and training foreign governments on CBP regulations and processes. She began her career with U.S. Customs as an import specialist in the Los Angeles seaport.

Ms. Dempsey is married with two children. In her spare time she enjoys running, gardening, and rescuing dogs.

Will Hope is a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State and is currently assigned to the Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement (IPE). His portfolio covers China and Asia IP issues as well as trade secrets and IP-related cybercrime. Will joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014, and his previous tours were the U.S. Consulate General in Recife, Brazil, where he served as the chief of American Citizen Services and, before that, the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines, where he served as a Vice Consul. Prior to his work in the State Department, Will served as an officer in the United States Air Force, where he served in tours as a satellite engineer and flight test engineer. He holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Washington, an M.E. in systems engineering from Cornell University, an M.S. in computer science from the University of Illinois, and a J.D. from Indiana University. He is conversant in Portuguese and licensed to practice law in the State of Washington.

Stevan D. Mitchell is the director of the International Trade Administration’s Office of Standards and Intellectual Property (OSIP) at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

OSIP promotes foreign market opportunities for export of U.S. products and services through advancements in standards and intellectual property trade policy and by promoting business awareness. The office provides direct assistance to companies seeking to protect and enforce intellectual property rights (IPR) in foreign markets, including through the STOPfakes.gov Roadshow program and website.

Previously Mr. Mitchell served as vice president, intellectual property policy, for the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). His responsibilities included leading industry engagement on matters of domestic and international trade, intellectual property, and enforcement policy.

Prior to joining the ESA, Mr. Mitchell served as senior counsel to the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) of the U.S. Department of Justice, and served as a member of the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection (PCCIP). As a PCCIP Commissioner, Mr. Mitchell was responsible for many of the legal studies and recommendations produced by the commission, including Legal Foundations, a 14-volume study of legal issues associated with infrastructure protection.

Previously, as a trial attorney with CCIPS, Mr. Mitchell litigated cases under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and provided oversight, consultation, and guidance on investigations and prosecutions involving illegal uses of technology. He also co-authored the second edition of the Department of Justice’s intellectual property rights prosecution manual.

Mr. Mitchell earned his law degree from the Florida State University College of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Law Review. After completing a clerkship in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, he joined the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice through its Honor Graduate Program.

Evan Williams is serving a long-term detail as U.S. Department of Justice International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (ICHIP) attorney-advisor for Asia. He is based at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong, where he coordinates and delivers prosecutorial and judicial training and technical training on intellectual property (IP) rights and cybercrime throughout Asia to foreign law enforcement partners of the United States. Prior to accepting the ICHIP position, he served as senior counsel with the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), where he specialized in the criminal prosecution of IP and cybercrime offenses. Before joining CCIPS, he served as an assistant United States attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and, before joining the Justice Department, as an assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, where in both offices he prosecuted a wide variety of violent and white-collar crimes. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Harvard College.

Representing the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Conrad Wong is serving his second appointment as consul and intellectual property rights officer with the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou, China. He is responsible for American intellectual property (IP) issues in southern China as well as the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. He also handles IP matters with the U.S. Consulates General in Chengdu, Shanghai, and Wuhan. From 2007 to 2012, he served his first tour as the IP rights officer with the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou.

From 2012 to 2019, he was an attorney-advisor with the China Team of the USPTO’s Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA) where, in addition to IP matters in China generally, he handled enforcement and trade secret issues.

He has 27 years of experience in IP, representing the U.S. government and the private sector. In 1993, he joined the USPTO as a trademark examining attorney, became a senior attorney, and then joined the Office of Policy and International Affairs. Prior experience includes clerking for a Maryland-state trial judge and litigation practice in insurance-defense matters with the Washington, D.C., firm of Jordan Coyne LLP. He has served as a government-relations representative in the Washington, D.C., office of the Specialty Equipment Market Association, a trade association representing the automotive and vehicle aftermarket industry.

A native of Palo Alto, California, Wong is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University Law Center. Fluent in Cantonese, he is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland.

He is an avid classic American automotive enthusiast, focusing on vehicles from the 1960s to the present. He also has been a tenor drummer with the City of Alexandria Pipes and Drums in Alexandria, Virginia where his wife, Ann, is a bagpiper.

Jennifer D. Chicoski is an attorney-advisor in the United States Patent and Trademark Office’ Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA), working toward improvements to the international intellectual property infrastructure. Ms. Chicoski focuses on trademarks and geographical indications, and serves on the Latin America and China Teams of OPIA. Her responsibilities include development and direction of guidance on international and domestic trademark policy, providing technical advice and guidance, and supporting trade and treaty-related activities of the U.S. government. In addition to training and supporting bilateral, multilateral, and international meetings, she consults on a variety of substantive trademark prosecution, maintenance, and operations issues.

Previously, Ms. Chicoski served as administrator for trademark examination policy and procedure in the USPTO’s Office of the Commissioner for Trademarks. She was also the administrator for the USPTO’s Trademark Classification Policy and Practice unit, where she oversaw the work of staff attorney-advisors in the areas of trademark petitions to the director, trademark examination policy and international trademark classification.

Ms. Chicoski has provided technical advice to the USPTO’s delegation to the Legal Development Working Group for the Madrid System at the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. She has attended several sessions of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System, the Standing Committee for Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Industrial Designs, and meetings of the Committee of Experts of the Nice Agreement on Classification of Goods and Services.

Ms. Chicoski holds both a bachelor’s of science in business administration and a juris doctorate from Georgetown University, and is a member of the bars of Maryland, Florida, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Michael joined the USPTO as principal counsel and director for China IP in 2020 after serving one year as senior counsel for China IP and five years as the U.S. IP attaché in Shanghai. Michael leads a team in advocating U.S. IP interests, policies, and initiatives in China and works closely with right holders on IP protection and enforcement issues. He advises and coordinates with U.S. government agencies and China counterparts to resolve IP issues, promote U.S. IP policy, encourage effective IP protection and enforcement in China, and secure high IP standards in trade agreements and China IP laws. Michael joined the public sector after 20 years of experience as a nationally recognized IP practitioner, strategist and former head of the China Practice group and Technology and Intellectual Property group for U.S. law firm Stoel Rives in Salt Lake City; He previously was with Morrison & Foerster in Los Angeles and Hong Kong, and Jones Day in Taiwan. Michael holds a J.D. from Brigham Young University Law School and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, with a U.S. Foreign Service Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) rating of 4/4, full professional proficiency.

Elaine T.L. Wu is the senior counsel for China at the Office of Policy and International Affairs in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In that capacity, Ms. Wu is responsible for leading the USPTO’s China Team, a dedicated group of attorneys with expertise on China’s intellectual property (IP) system. The China Team works with other branches of the U.S. government to develop policy focused on improving China’s IP environment for the benefit of U.S. companies doing business there. The China Team also conducts extensive outreach to U.S. companies to educate them on how to protect and enforce their IP in China.

Prior to coming to the USPTO, Ms. Wu worked as a patent litigation associate at Howrey, Simon, Arnold and White in Washington, D.C. Ms. Wu has also worked at the International Trade Commission’s Office of Unfair Import Investigation, where she handled legal issues relating to Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, and at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office of China Affairs.

Ms. Wu received her law degree from the Washington College of Law at the American University in Washington D.C. She holds a B.S. with honors from the University of Florida. She is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia.