Oscar C. Au, Ph.D.

Prior to joining Finnegan, Oscar led IP and standardization initiatives for a wireless sensing technology company, where he directed patent filing, licensing, and protection strategies. He developed and drafted over 100 patent applications covering artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Wi-Fi sensing and digital health technologies, including motion, proximity, presence, breathing, fall, gait, sleep, activity, localization, and tracking applications. Oscar collaborated with patent counsels on the prosecution and management of global patent portfolios, and negotiated commercial agreements. He contributed to multiple standardization activities, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 Wi-Fi wireless standard (802.11bf); the International Standard Organization (ISO)/IEC Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) video coding standards (MPEG-4); the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) video coding standards (H.264 AVC, H.265 HEVC); and the China Audio Video Coding (AVS) standards. Oscar previously drafted and prosecuted U.S. patent applications involving electrical and computer engineering technologies at another IP law firm. 

Oscar brings a distinguished academic and research background in wireless communications; video compression and coding; image, audio, speech and signal processing; detection, recognition, and sensing,; AI; machine learning (ML);semiconductors; light-emitting diode (LED) rendering and display; software and hardware co-design; chip architecture; cryptography; and digital media security and watermarking. For more than two decades on the engineering faculty of a leading research university in Asia, he conducted internationally recognized research, participated in global telecommunications and multimedia standards organizations, directed research centers, supervised more than 70 graduate students, and collaborated on industry and government-funded projects.

Oscar has contributed as an inventor or coinventor to more than 200 patent filings, including more than 100 granted U.S. patents, and authored over 450 journal and conference papers. He is an IEEE Fellow, served as an associate editor for over ten journal papers, and chaired multiple technical committees. In several instances, Oscar functioned as an expert witness.