US Patent Attorney
Idea Intellectual Property Ltd.

Ms. Margaret BURKE graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Engineering in 1986, focusing on semiconductors and other materials for electronic applications. She also undertook substantial coursework in mechanical engineering. She completed her Juris Doctor and Master of Laws in Intellectual Property degrees at George Mason University in 1992 and 2003, respectively. She also completed her bachelor’s degree in electrical communications technology in 2014 from the Open University of Hong Kong.

Margaret has served at the USPTO as both a Chemical Patent Examiner and as an Electrical Patent Examiner. She also has extensive experience working in-house as a Patent Attorney and as Intellectual Property Counsel in private technological institutions such as AT&T Bell Laboratories, Ciena Corporation, and Seneca Networks. From 1991- 1994, she had worked for NIH and as a patent attorney in a US law firm, which represented the largest US surgical device manufacturing company at that time. She also has international experience as a patent attorney for six years at a Tokyo IP law firm, Taiyo, Nakajima, & Kato. Before establishing Idea Intellectual Limited, Margaret was the lead US Attorney in Ella Cheong (Hong Kong) from 2009 to 2013, and worked as a solo practitioner from 2013 to 2015. Since 2009, she has worked closely with many Hong Kong research institutes, including NAMI and ASTRI, universities, including HKUST, HKBU, CityU, and PolyU, commercial entities, and individual inventors.

Her patent prosecution experience and opinion work covers a wide range of technologies including the technical fields of displays, photographic materials, imaging devices, telecommunications, mobile networks, printers, cameras, semiconductors, microelectronic devices, fiber optic systems, and biomedical devices. She has also engaged in intellectual property strategies, patent portfolio developments, product design reviews, freedom-to-operate and infringement opinions, and IP enforcement cases.

US Patent Attorney
Principal of Spruson & Ferguson (Hong Kong) Limited

Mr. Robert JACKSON is a Principal of Spruson & Ferguson (Hong Kong) Limited. His practice primarily involves the drafting and prosecution of patent applications, advising clients with regards to patent validity and enforcement, patent strategy, including global filing strategy, and patent infringement advice, predominantly in the chemical arts with an emphasis in organic chemistry, pharmaceuticals, polymers, materials, and other chemical inventions.

Prior to joining Spruson and Ferguson, Robert had a diverse career. He worked as a synthetic organic chemist at a Cambridge, Massachusetts based biotechnology startup before transitioning to the field of intellectual property where he worked in an in-house position for a biotechnology startup and at US and Singapore based patent law firms.

Robert later worked at the National University of Singapore Industry Liaison Office where he worked closely with university researchers to manage the evaluation, drafting, and prosecution of a diverse patent portfolio, including small molecule and biologic-based therapeutics, assays, stem cell, and immunology based technologies.

Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from San Jose State University with a specialization in chemistry and undertook his postgraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was awarded a Master of Science for research focused on the development of nickel-mediated organic asymmetric catalytic methodology. He later went on to earn his Juris Doctorate at Suffolk University Law School and was admitted to the California Bar in 2009.

Country Manager, China
Spruson & Ferguson (Asia) - Beijing

Dr. Oliver LUTZE received a doctoral degree in Chemistry from the University of Muenster in 1997 and then was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan, U.S.A.

In 1998, he joined Bayer in the Patents and Licensing function as an IP Counsel being involved in numerous patent and licensing activities including the development of corporate IP strategies for the Bayer Group.

In January 2008, he relocated to Shanghai and headed the IPR function of the Corporate Legal Department for all Bayer Group Companies in Greater China. In this function, he was responsible for patent, trademark and copyright matters. He has a special expertise in life sciences patents and their licensing, employee's remuneration law as well as IP laws and regulations of the P.R. China.

Since September 2013, Oliver joined the IP Law Firm of Spruson & Ferguson where he advises clients on global IP related matters with a focus on China and the Asia-Pacific region. He founded the Shanghai office of the firm in January 2014 and took the Country Manager role in 2018 when moving to Beijing where he heads a team of 15 patent attorneys.

Oliver is qualified to practice as a European and German Patent Attorney & IAM 1000 recognized China patent strategist. His specialties are in Life Science Patents, Patent Prosecution China, China IP strategy, R&D Contracts, German Patent and Trademark Law, European Patent Law, and Inventor Remuneration (DE&CN).