When only the best will do....
SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS OF DR. WARREN SMITH
Highlights
- 41 years experience in translation/interpretation (since 1984), with the last 30 years or so focusing on patent translation (Likely the greatest cumulative work product of any translator in the industry, with approx. 46 million words experience as of 2024)
- Passed the USPTO patent bar exam, and actively practicing patent law for a law firm
- Former semiconductor engineer for Signetics Corp. (US) and Mitsubishi Electric (Japan)
- Former physics and electronics instructor on the university level
- Doctorate (Business: Technology Management) from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business
- Doctoral work in engineering at MIT (as part of my doctoral work at Harvard)
- Crossed the Pacific 101 times as a consulting engineer/auditor on two separate multibillion dollar intercontinental fiberoptic cable projects
- Lead translator/interpreter in two high-profile patent infringement cases (and several other less-famous cases), and participant in hundreds of cases
- Lead translator in localizing one generation of the NEC StarOffice Suite for the US market
- Expert witness in US federal court for Japanese-English patent translation issues
- "Flying Squad" -- Top-level press and VIP interpreter for the Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984
- "Fulbright Scholar" (Fulbright graduate research fellowship) in Japan
- Invited speaker in numerous translation conferences and universities in the US, Japan, and Europe, as a recognized expert in quality and productivity control the translation industry
- Bar Association Continuing Legal Education (CLE) instructor regarding translation issues and international deposition issues
Education:
Harvard University Graduate School of Business, Doctorate 1996
Harvard University Graduate School of Business, Doctorate 1996
Harvard University Graduate School of Business, Doctorate 1996
Department: Technology and Operations Management/Strategy
Thesis: Organizational Learning of Technology and the Dual Roles of Physical Modeling: Paradigmatic Reinforcement and Technical Discontinuities
Research included evaluations of technology development procedures in a variety of American and Japanese firms (including Hitachi, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Sony, NEC, Fujitsu, and Tokyo Electron in Japan, along with Bell Labs, IBM, Applied Science and Technologies, Applied Materials, and LAM Research in the United States) in the fields of supercomputers, flat panel displays, plasma etchers, and multimedia.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994 – 1996
Harvard University Graduate School of Business, Doctorate 1996
Harvard University Graduate School of Business, Doctorate 1996
Took doctoral level courses from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT through cross registration with Harvard during my doctoral studies.
Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management, MBA, 1990
Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management, MBA, 1990
Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management, MBA, 1990
MBA from Brigham Young University, in an executive MBA program. Graduated with distinction (ranked in top 3 in class)
Took a one-year leave from the program to accept the Fulbright Graduate Research Fellowship to research operations management and quality control in Japanese semiconductor factories versus US semiconductor factories.
Brigham Young University, Physics Department, BS, 1986
Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management, MBA, 1990
Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management, MBA, 1990
Graduated with a bachelors degree in physics in 1986. Minors in mathematics and Japanese.
Received outstanding student award (top student from my department).
Activities included VP of astronomy club, marching band, folk dance team, etc.
Employment:
Maine Cernota & Curran (July 2023- Present)
Maine Cernota & Curran (July 2023- Present)
Maine Cernota & Curran (July 2023- Present)
- In 2024, lectured to the Japan Patent Attorney Association (in Japanese) regarding patentability and secrecy under US law.
- In 2024, taught a seminar, sponsored by the largest law firm in Japan regarding patents, secrecy, and national security. The two-hour seminar was presented entirely in Japanese.
- Interviewing inventors for "invention capture"
- Drafting of patent applications
- Handling of all aspects of patent prosecution
- Counselling clients regarding patent prosecution issues
- Director of Market Development: Far-East Asia
- Member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, Japan Delegation, 2024
- Board of Directors of the Association of Intellectual Property Firms
- Voting Member of the Asian Practice Committee of the IPO (Intellectual Property Owner's Association)
- Member of the Japan Practice Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association
- Member of AUTM
JapanesePatentTranslation.com (Aug 1984 - Present)
Maine Cernota & Curran (July 2023- Present)
Maine Cernota & Curran (July 2023- Present)
- Translation of Japanese patents and other technical documentation and interpretation for negotiations, depositions, technical meetings, etc., in areas dealing with semiconductors, electronics, electronics packaging, fiber optics, display technologies, data compression, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, computer science, etc.
- Expert witness work. Analysis and evaluation of existing translations. Impeachment of defective translations. Creation of "bullet-proof" translations through innovative quality control techniques, etc.
- In-office consulting for patent prosecution to identify key documents in Japanese patent case histories, and provision of oral translations or summaries of the documents. As far as I know, I am the only translator in the world offering this service at present.
- Experienced court and deposition interpreter.
Quality Auditor, Investors Quality Services (2000-2002)
Maine Cernota & Curran (July 2023- Present)
Fulbright Graduate Research Fellow, US Dept. of State (Jan 1988 – Jan 1989)
- Representation of consortia of US/European companies in dealing with Japanese suppliers, contractors, customers, etc., in two multibillion-dollar Intercontinental fiber-optic cable projects, especially dealing with semiconductors, electronics, and optoelectronics, and issues involving manufacturing processes, supply, quality, and failure analysis.
- Quality control auditing (based on the ISO-9001 quality standard) of Japanese supplier factories, providing failure analysis assistance as well when required.
- Have performed quality audits at a host of Japanese and American firms, including Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi, Toshiba, Hitachi Cable, Fujikura Cable, Matsushita Electric, etc.
- For the Japanese firms, all auditing work was carried out entirely in Japanese (with reporting in English).
- Conducted over 100 meetings, in Japanese, with management and staff in the Japanese factories.
- Identified and oversaw resolution of over 100 quality issues at the Japanese suppliers.
- Audited performance-to-schedule issues in a broad supplier network as well, and was credited for saving approximately $2 million for a major Japanese firm by early identification and resolution of interfirm capacity bottlenecks.
Fulbright Graduate Research Fellow, US Dept. of State (Jan 1988 – Jan 1989)
Process Engineer, Signetics Corp (1986 – 1988) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (1988-1989)
Fulbright Graduate Research Fellow, US Dept. of State (Jan 1988 – Jan 1989)
Research included a nine-month study of semiconductor manufacturing effectiveness (efficiency and quality) in two Japanese factories.
During the nine-month study I lived with the workers and functioned as a process engineer in a highly efficient Japanese factory (Mitsubishi Electric).
The project included detailed comparative studies of the implementation of JIT, SPC, TQC, TQM, CI, and other approaches to quality/efficiency in a total of 4 Japanese factories and 4 US factories.
Included reporting findings in a global conference of Boston Consulting Group VPs, and to the board of directors of Mitsubishi Electric.
Process Engineer, Signetics Corp (1986 – 1988) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (1988-1989)
Process Engineer, Signetics Corp (1986 – 1988) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (1988-1989)
Process Engineer, Signetics Corp (1986 – 1988) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (1988-1989)
Two years experience as an implant/deposition/diffusion semiconductor process engineer at Signetics Corporation. Responsibilities included implementation of JIT and SPC programs and general quality control in addition to the technological process engineering responsibilities.
I am a certified Nikon aligner technician (for semiconductor manufacturing equipment).
I also performed the same jobs at Mitsubishi Electric in Japan during my time as a Fulbright scholar.