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Viola T. Kung

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Profile photo for Viola T. Kung
Partner

Viola T. Kung

  • Palo Alto
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Viola is skilled at patent prosecution and patent counseling in the chemical, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, biotechnology, and small molecule arenas.

A seasoned inventor herself, Viola Kung assists chemical, pharmaceutical, biotech, and life science clients with their patent needs. She is experienced in patent prosecution, reexamination, and appeal proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Viola's other counseling activities include opinion work, freedom-to-operate, validity, and due diligence evaluation.

Viola's practice has spanned industries and products, including methods for treating cancer, inflammatory diseases, ophthalmic diseases, neurological diseases, neuropsychiatric diseases, pulmonary diseases, autoimmune diseases, and pain. She has also worked on matters involving immunotherapy, CAR T-cells, checkpoint inhibitors, pharmaceutical formulations, new chemical entities, chemical processes, medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, next-generation sequencing, gene expression, tumor suppressor genes, fusion proteins, CRISPR/Cas9, and carbon nanotubes.

Viola is a scientist by training and worked in research and development labs for more than 15 years. Through her extensive research and industrial training as a development director and research scientist, Viola has broad research and development experience in pharmaceutical formulation, assay development, in vitro diagnostics, protein and DNA interaction, lipid bilayer membrane, conjugation chemistry, and molecular biology.

Viola is an inventor of a total of 21 U.S. patents in the areas of immunoassay, conjugation chemistry, liposome formulation, DNA detection methods, and medical devices. Her scientific work has been published in many scientific journals.

Education & Credentials

Education

  • Santa Clara University School of Law, J.D., 2000
  • University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D., Chemistry/Biochemistry, 1978
  • National Taiwan University, B.S., Chemistry, 1974

Bar and Court Admissions

  • California
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Related Employment

  • Howrey LLP, Palo Alto, CA, Partner, Intellectual Property
  • Rae-Venter Law Group, PC, Palo Alto, CA, Patent Agent, Intellectual Property
  • Metra Biosystems, Inc., Development Director
  • Molecular Devices Corp., Senior Scientist
  • Liposome Technology, Inc., Senior Scientist
  • International Immunoassay Laboratories, Scientist
  • Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, Research Scientist

Professional Recognition

  • Ranked by Chambers USA as "America's Leading Lawyer" for Life Sciences; IP/Patent Litigation 2016-2024

  • Recommended in Intellectual Asset Management Patent 1000, 2016-2024

  • Named as one of the "Best Performing Attorneys" by Patexia’s Patent Intelligence Report, 2023

  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America: Patent Law, 2016-2023

  • Recognized by Managing IP as an IP Star, 2013-2014, 2016-2024

  • Recognized by Managing IP as a Top 250 Women in IP, 2013, 2014

  • Named by the Daily Journal as a "Top 25 Intellectual Property Portfolio Managers" in 2010, 2012

Impact

Professional Leadership

  • American Bar Association, Member
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