Charles Duan designs and manages research projects at the intersection of intellectual property and public interest policy. His current research is focusing on the impact of patent law on generic drug availability and scientific research, computer software copyrights, and competition and interoperability in digital markets.

Duan is currently also a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell Tech, and serves as a member of the Patent Public Advisory Committee of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He was previously the director of technology and innovation policy at the R Street Institute, director of the patent reform project at Public Knowledge, a research fellow with Professor Paul Ohm at Colorado Law School, and a patent attorney at the law firm Knobbe Martens. Duan has been published in the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, the Colordo Technology Law Reviwe, the Cardozo Law Review, the Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal, and the Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review. In addition to his academic publications, he has authored over two hundred amicus curiae briefs, policy papers, administrative comments, and media articles, which have been cited in the Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals. He received an A.B. degree in Computer Science from Harvard College, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.