THE COUNTRY’S IP LAWS NEED TO BE BALANCED. IF THEY ARE TOO STRONG, OUR LAWS CAN QUASH INNOVATION; IF TOO WEAK, THEY DON’T CREATE ENOUGH INCENTIVES FOR PEOPLE TO INNOVATE BECAUSE THEIR IDEAS CAN BE STOLEN. – MICHELLE K. LEE
protect their intellectual property (IP) abroad. Nonetheless, much work remains to be done in implementing the most extensive patent-law reform in the past 50 years. Lee is help- ing with that task through her work on the U.S. Patent and Trademark’s Patent Public Advisory Committee to which she was appointed by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in 2011. “T e country’s IP laws need to be balanced,” explains
Lee. “If they are too strong, our laws can quash innovation; if too weak, they don’t create enough incentives for people to innovate because their ideas can be stolen. Striking the right balance is diffi cult but important to any society, especially one that wants to foster an environment of top-notch innovation.” Lee is passionate about the work she does because of its
signifi cance to society. “Intellectual property laws are critical given our current economic situation,” says Lee. “Innovation is how our economy will prosper.” Lee cites examples such as innovations in electrical engineering and physics which launched the semiconductor industry and enabled the subsequent development of the computer, software, and Internet industries. T ese industries account for tremen- dous U.S. economic prosperity as evidenced by the market capitalization, exports, and jobs created by companies such as Hewlett Packard, Cisco, Apple, and Google. She sees this aspect of innovation and the law from a
unique vantage point. Prior to attending Stanford Law School, Lee graduated at the top of her class from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in computer science. While earning her degrees at MIT, Lee did computer science research at the MIT Artifi cial Intelligence Laboratory and the Hewlett Packard Company. In 1988, Apple, Inc. fi led a copyright infringement lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation seeking to prevent Microsoft from using its graphical user interface elements (such as windows, icons, and menu bars), that were similar to those in Apple’s operating systems. Apple lost on most of its claims, but Lee was intrigued by the questions raised in the suit, mainly whether or not copyright protection extended to the visual elements of computer software as described above. T e court ruled that Apple could not get patent-like protection for the “idea” of a graphical user interface, or a desktop metaphor.
MCCA.COM Lee yearned to become a player and not just a spectator in
this legal realm. Stanford Law School welcomed her in 1989. After law school, Lee clerked for Judge Vaughn R. Walker
in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. During that time, she worked on the same prec- edent-setting Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation copyright infringement case (it lasted four years) and never looked back. A native of the Silicon Valley, Lee went on to become a partner in private practice at Fenwick & West LLP where she advised Silicon Valley technology start-ups on a range of intellectual property matters. In 2003, she gave up her partnership at Fenwick to join the yet-to-become-a- household-name Google because she viewed the company as “exceedingly innovative.” Lee loves the challenge of looking at and applying case
law to brand new facts. T e Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation case is one such example. Given the pace of technological innovation it seems she will be able to indulge her passion with few limits well into the future. She is a founder and current board member of ChIPs
(Chief IP Counsels), a local organization dedicated to advancing the careers of women in patent-related fi elds. ChIPs provides an opportunity for leading women IP attor- neys to share their career experiences and lessons learned and mentor young women attorneys starting new careers in IP law. Since 2005, ChIPs has welcomed more than 100 highly loyal members. Lee is a co-founder of the Google legal department
diversity committee, the goal of which is to attract, retain, and promote diverse attorneys. In addition, she persuaded the legal department to join the “Inclusion Initiative,” a collaboration of corporations committed to increasing their annual spend with minority- and women-owned law fi rms. As a result, the combined companies pledged to spend $30 million and actually exceeded the pledge by spending $42.6 million with diverse law fi rms in 2010. Lee is also a board member of a number of organizations including Stanford Law School’s Board of Visitors. T e Board of Visitors plays a critical role in helping the law school respond to challenges facing legal education and defi ne the law school’s long-term plans. Lee, a fi rst-generation Chinese American, is one of a few female and minority board members.
MAY/JUNE 2012 DIVERSITY & THE BAR®
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