China

We're here for you

Our journey in China began in 1984 when we opened our Hong Kong office. Our Beijing office was established in 1994 by Lloyd Wise, which merged with Marks & Clerk in 2007. Our Beijing office is one of the oldest local offices of an international firm in China.

We offer high-quality, reliable and commercially wise consulting services related across contentious and non-contentious IP matters in China from patent, trade mark and copyright prosecution to enforcement as well as domain name disputes.

Pet food trade mark squatter defeated

For many years, our US-based client had been selling pet food in China but had not obtained registrations for the Chinese marks. A Chinese company pre-empted the registration and then initiated challenges against the use of the client’s distributors and retailers and then the client itself through complaints and civil lawsuits.

We helped the client adopt a comprehensive strategy in both administrative and litigation proceedings as well as exercising great efforts in coordinating with the e-commerce platform and the client’s distributors and retailers in evidence collection and developing defence arguments for the client. We eventually prevailed in all the actions including the case brought up to the Supreme Peoples’ Court of China and also helped secured the client’s trade mark rights in China. The US client receives circa. 1 billion (CNY) revenue annually in China market alone.

Tech giant trade mark filings

We successfully assisted a Chinese technology company to obtain trade mark registrations in important markets including US, UK, Europe, Japan, Korea, India, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.

"Well-Known Trade Mark" for UK client

We successfully helped a UK luxury automobile brand being formally recognised as a Well-Known Trade Mark in China through establishing the reputation and scope of use of the brand in China with evidence collected from various channels alongside the clarity on the server squatted situation that the brand faces in contentious cases.

The well-known recognition has since broadened the scope of protection and enhanced the strength of protection to the client’s brand and affiliated the client’s battles against trade mark squatters in both administrative and litigation cases. Not many international brands have obtained such recognitions in China.

Offices

Patents

Securing patent rights and making them work commercially is complicated. We help innovators protect, defend, and maximise the value of their inventions.

Commercial IP & contracts

We apply our technical understanding, legal knowledge and broad experience relating to the protection and enforcement of IP rights to assist you in commercialising your IP assets.

Litigation & dispute resolution

Our extensive experience ranges from the strategic and technical excellence needed for complex patent litigation to the tactical insight and commercial acumen involved in branding, designs and copyright disputes.

Brands & trade marks

We’re experts in securing trade mark rights, protecting and enforcing brands and solving legal branding challenges.

Our dedicated China Disputes team comprises attorneys and lawyers, each with years of experience of Chinese IP litigation.

IP disputes in China