Sylvia Fang

Sylvia Fang is a highly experienced patent litigation attorney, serving as Senior Vice President, Legal, General Counsel, and Corporate Governance Officer at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. (TSMC). Her practice is deeply rooted in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, focusing on the protection and enforcement of advanced process technologies. This includes intellectual property and trade secret litigation concerning areas such as FinFET designs, shallow trench isolation techniques, double patterning methods, advanced seal rings and gate structures, and innovative contact etch stop layer designs.

In her role, Ms. Fang primarily represents TSMC, a leading global innovator in semiconductor manufacturing, operating on both the plaintiff and defendant sides of patent disputes. Her tracked case appearances reflect this balanced approach, with two instances as plaintiff (e.g., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. v. Advanced Integrated Circuit Process LLC and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited et al. v. Marlin Semiconductor Ltd) and two as defendant (e.g., Longitude Licensing Limited et al. v. Lenovo Group Limited et al. and an untitled case involving TSMC). She spearheads efforts to protect TSMC's extensive patent portfolio, which by the end of 2024, included over 104,000 patent applications worldwide.

A notable aspect of her practice involved TSMC's multi-jurisdictional patent infringement lawsuits against GlobalFoundries in 2019, where TSMC alleged infringement of 25 patents related to various node processes. Ms. Fang publicly emphasized the decades of investment in innovation reflected in TSMC's patents. This litigation, filed in the United States, Germany, and Singapore, ultimately led to a broad cross-license agreement between the companies. While her role involves managing TSMC's vast IP, direct personal involvement in PTAB or IPR proceedings is not specifically detailed in available public information.

Prior to her tenure as General Counsel, a position she has held since August 2014, Ms. Fang served as Associate General Counsel at TSMC, having joined the company in 1995. Earlier in her career, she developed expertise in general corporate and IP issues at TIPLO, a prominent intellectual property law firm in Taiwan. Ms. Fang is admitted to practice law in Taiwan and holds an LLB degree from National Taiwan University and an MCL from the College of Law, University of Iowa.