CHINA TEAM
The Team will be in charge of providing information and business tools to protect and enforce IPR in China and to guide Chinese brand owners on any European IP issues they may have.
Responsibilities/Mission:
China is the factory of the world, and brand owners face unique challenges there, including IP infringement, domain name piracy and unprecedented growth in trade mark filings. Meanwhile, Chinese brand owners are rapidly expanding internationally. The China Team works with officials in both regions, and other international partners, to develop best practices, share information and support brand owners whether they are based in China or Europe.
Members
Minutes
Publications
Team Co-Chair
Mirjam de Werd
Abcor BV
Netherlands
Mirjam de Werd
Abcor BV
Netherlands
Mirjam is a global Intellectual Property professional with 14 years of expertise. She started at a trademark agency (NLO) and after that worked a as trademark manager for 7 years at Danone, where she was responsible for the Asia Pacific portfolio. She then worked for 2 years as an in-house IP Legal Counsel at a new TV channel in Hilversum. As a result, she has expanded her knowledge in the field of IP in the media. By 2015 she completed the BBMM program and officially became a Benelux trademark attorney. Since 2017, she started as a trade attorney at Abcor B.V..
Postbus 2134 Leiden 2301 CC Netherlands |
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Team Co-Chair
Julia Hongbo Zhong
Lee and Li - Leaven IPR Agency Ltd
China
Julia Hongbo Zhong
Lee and Li - Leaven IPR Agency Ltd
China
Julia worked at China Patent Agent (HK) Ltd. between 1995 and 2004 as trademark attorney and attorney at law. From 2004, as one of the founders of Lee and Li – Leaven IPR Agency Ltd., she is Vice President and Head of Trademark and Copyright Department. Julia has excellent experience in handling legal matters relating to trademark prosecution, litigation and enforcement, trademark strategy, copyright protection, software registration, domain name registration and dispute resolution. She has represented multinational companies for their IP protection in China.
Unit 2202, Tower A, Beijing Marriott Center No. 7, Jian Guo men South Avenue Beijing 100005 China |
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Team Vice-Chair
Reinout van Malenstein
HFG Law Firm & IP Agency
China
Reinout van Malenstein
HFG Law Firm & IP Agency
China
Reinout is Partner at HFG Law & IP in Shanghai and advises companies on trademarks, copyright, patents, trade secrets, technology transfer, IT and corporate law in China. He works on IP for the European Commission in Greater China. He is the former National Vice-Chair of the IP Working Group of the European Chamber of Commerce in China. He holds a Bachelor and Master of Laws degree in EU IP law and a Master of Laws degree in Chinese IP law from Peking University. He is fluent in Chinese.
14/F, Hua Qi Building No.969, Wuding Road Shanghai 200040 China |
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Team Secretary
Hens J. Koning-Ghijsen
Heineken International B.V.
Netherlands
Hens J. Koning-Ghijsen
Heineken International B.V.
Netherlands
Hens graduated in French literature and law, started her career in private practice, and joined HEINEKEN as a legal counsel where she specialised in IP and marketing. Hens works in the Global HEINEKEN IP team responsible for the protection of the Global and International brands, and innovations (ex. patents) of the HEINEKEN company). Further, Hens works together with the HEINEKEN international marketing department on advertising, sponsoring and Consumer Marketing Intelligence projects.
PO Box 28 1000 AA Amsterdam Netherlands |
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Shelagh Carnegie
Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP
Canada
Shelagh is a partner in the Toronto office of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP and a member of the Intellectual Property Group.
Her intellectual property practice focuses on all levels of trade-mark prosecution, including clearing, obtaining and protecting trade-mark rights; trade-mark oppositions and licensing. Her practice includes the management and enforcement of national and international portfolios, intellectual property enforcement including trade-mark and copyright disputes and advertising and marketing law.
1 First Canadian Place 100 King Street West M5X 1G5 Toronto Ontario Canada |
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Iris Chao
Johnson & Johnson Trademark Law Department
China
Iris is a qualified lawyer with a Ph.D. degree in Law. She joined Johnson & Johnson in 2011 serving as legal director - trademark for Greater China. She provides legal support across consumer, medical device and pharmaceutical industries. Iris has over 25 years experience in IP area and was a committee member of the China Global Advisory Council of INTA in 2016. She also won the Managing IP In-House Award in 2016 and be named as one of the “Corporate IP STARS” of 2017, 2018 & 2019 and WTR300
c/o Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd. 21F, No.1 XinYan Building, 65 Qing Road, Xuhui, Shanghai, 200233 200245 China |
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Claus Christiansen
Bech-Bruun
Denmark
Claus specialises in intellectual property, marketing and technology embracing legal issues concerning trademarks, designs, marketing and global IP strategy, international injunctions and seizure of evidence, IP oppositions, revocations, cancellations and filing strategies. He is co-founder of Bech-Bruun’s Chinese Desk and has advised Danish corporations on Chinese IP and enforcement for more than 10 years and he has been teaching IP in China. Furthermore, he advises and represents Chinese corporations in IP matters in the Nordic region. Claus is a seasoned litigator before the Danish and European courts He has lecturing experience within his fields of expertise, giving classes in International Trademarks Law, International Copyright Law, Marketing Law and Business Law at Aarhus University and Aarhus School of Business.
Vaerkmestergade 2 Aarhus 8000 Denmark |
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Franco de Barba
MERX IP
Spain
Franco is partner with MERX IP in Spain. He counsels and advises clients on trademarks and industrial design issues from both an International, European and Spanish perspective. He develops strategies for acquiring, enforcing and assigning IP rights, and litigates national and international conflicts. He also focuses on strategic counselling in the course of trademark development, name finding processes and prosecution before IP Offices. Franco practises in both English, French and Spanish.
Calle Pinar 5 28006 Madrid Spain |
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Niklas Fridman
Thomsen Trampedach GmbH
Switzerland
Niklas Fridman is a business development and operations coordinator at Thomsen Trampedach. Before moving to Denmark in 2014, Niklas spent close to four years in Asia, two of them in China studying Mandarin Chinese. Niklas is responsible for the coordination of Thomsen Trampedach’s online brand protection services, hiring, and on-boarding. He also manages the China brand protection team, and together with his team, they have over the years developed a complete online brand protection solution for brands facing abuse in China
Grundstrasse 22a 6343 Rotkreuz 6343 Switzerland |
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Tingxi Huo
Chofn IP
China
Tingxi Huo, graduated from Henan University with a bachelor degree of arts in 1989 and studied law at China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL). He passed the Trademark Attorney Bar in 1998, and joined Chofn IP as managing partner in 2010. He edited and translated the Classification of Similar Goods and Services for Registration of Marks in the People’s Republic of China, used by trademark professionals in and outside China. He published many articles and made presentations on the Chinese trademark law and practice. He was elected as WTR 1000, WIPR Leaders, and Asia IP Experts for many years.
703, 7th Floor, Glory Star Financial Tower Building 3, No.16 Lize Road, Fengtai District Beijing 100073 China |
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William Lobelson
Germain & Maureau
France
William graduated from the Law Faculty of Exeter (UK), the McGill University in Montreal (Canada) and the Panthéon Sorbonne Law Faculty (Paris) and is now a partner at GERMAIN & MAUREAU and a Trademark and Design Attorney in the OHIM, the French INPI and the Swiss IPI. He is also an expert with the WIPO Arbitration Center and the Czech Arbitration Court for domain name disputes. William practices Trademark and Design prosecution and out of court litigation, as well as cases related to trademark protection on the Internet, Copyright, Computer Law, Unfair Competition,
12 rue Boileau Lyon 69006 France |
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Jean-Pierre Maeder
IP-PORTUNITY
USA
Co-Founder at IP-Portunity, a brain trust of IP experience from former IP Dep. Heads of world's leading companies. Our unique array of services is provided to in-house IP dep., law firms and consulting companies. He helps corporations achieve cost-effective and business aligned management of IP assets, law firms with training and support consulting companies with the IP aspects of their projects. He was group Head of Brand IP at Nestlé with worldwide responsibilities for trademarks, designs, copyright, internet/domain names/social media and counterfeits. Before that he was Director IP at Kraft Foods. He holds a Law Degree from the University of Berne, Switzerland and is a qualified attorney admitted to the bar.JP was also VP of the Supervisory Board of the Swiss IPO and is Of-Counsel at the Swiss IP/Law firm Troller Hitz Troller
150 Second Avenue Pelham 10803 New York USA |
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Alicia Martin
PVH Europe B.V.
Netherlands
IP in-house counsel for Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein (PVH Corp) based in Amsterdam. Before that, I spent five years as IP counsel in Shanghai, China.
Qualified for practice in France (Paris Bar) and Spain (Madrid Bar) and official Trademark and Patent Agent (Spain). WTR 300 World Leading Trademark Professional
Danzigerkade 165 1013 AP Amsterdam Netherlands |
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Felice Meli
Ferrante Intellectual Property
China
Felice holds two Law Degrees from the University of Bologna in Italy and from the University of Glasgow's School of Law in Scotland. With his legal background and experience in both civil and common law jurisdictions, Felice has built through the years extensive experience assisting enterprises from a wide range of industries in assessing and enhancing their intellectual property rights portfolios, providing strategies on registration and prosecution actions in China and south-east Asia. His experience extends also to enforcement of IP rights in China, from fighting the sale of counterfeits both online and in the marketplace to enforcement at trade fairs as well as customs border brand protection. Besides his native language Italian, Felice also speaks English, as well as advanced Spanish and basic Mandarin.
A608, Tian Yuan Gang Center Dongsanhuan North Road, Chaoyang District Beijing 100027 China |
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Simonne Moodie
Von Seidels
South Africa
Simonne is an admitted Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. She obtained a BCom (Hons) (1998) and a LLB (2001), achieving honours in marketing management, which in turn motivated her interest in marketing, brands and trade mark law. Simonne is currently a Partner at Von Seidels Intellectual Property Attorneys in Cape Town, South Africa. She specialises in the filing and prosecution of local and foreign trade mark applications, trade mark infringement and litigation matters, as well as trade mark licensing. She also deals with general copyright queries, domain name and contractual IP issues.
P O Box 440 Century City Cape Town 7446 South Africa |
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Dan Plane
Simone Intellectual Property Services Asia Limited
Hong Kong
Dan is experienced in all facets of IP, trademark prosecution, anti-counterfeiting and enforcement of IP. He also assists clients with management of IP security, commercial issues and trade secrets protection in supply and distribution chains.
Dan acts for clients in a wide range of industries, including electronics and computer manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, cosmetics, and luxury goods. He is experienced in designing and managing regional IP programs and IP security programs in supply chain and distribution contexts. Fluent in Chinese Mandarin, Dan has practiced as a China IP specialist for over 20 years.
Dan acts for clients in a wide range of industries, including electronics and computer manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, cosmetics, and luxury goods. He is experienced in designing and managing regional IP programs and IP security programs in supply chain and distribution contexts. Fluent in Chinese Mandarin, Dan has practiced as a China IP specialist for over 20 years.
25th Floor, 3 Lockhart Road Wanchai Hong Kong Hong Kong |
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Bernard Volken
Troller Hitz Troller
Switzerland
Bernard worked from 1994 to 2000 at the Swiss Trademark Office as head of the trademark opposition proceeding. From 2000 to 2021 he was partner in an IP law firm. Since 2022 he is partner at the law firm Troller Hitz Troller. Bernard holds several IP lectures in Switzerland as well as at Tongji University in Shanghai. He acts as an expert speaker for the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) and he regularly speaks at IP seminars and publishes in the field of IP.
Münstergasse 38 CH-3011 Bern Switzerland |
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Betty Wang
Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd
China
Worked for Tencent since 2009. The main areas of work include worldwide legal work such as rights prosecution as well as protection of trademarks, domain names and copyrights;covering legal advice; contract review and negotiations,IP strategy planning, IP dispute cases, IP authorization, managing internal team as well as kinds of external supportive or cooperative teams, and the other legal related work. A committee for INTA and Marques, active on IP areas.
Tencent Binhai Tower No.33 Haitian 2nd Road Nanshan District Shenzhen 518000 China |
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Lian Yunze
Jadong IP Law Firm
China
Lian specializes in trademark, copyright, unfair-competition, domain name and litigation in IP Group of Beijing Office. he practiced for 11 years in CCPIT Patent and Trademark Law Office. He is strong in anti-counterfeiting and a frequent speaker on this subject in International conferences. He participated in revising the China Trademark Law and its implementing regulations. He is a Arbitrator of China Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center.
Unit 2705, Full Tower No. 9 Dongsanhuan Zhong Road Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020 China |
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Ling Zhao
CCPIT Patent and Trademark Law Offices
China
Ling ZHAO is an experienced trademark attorney and qualified as attorney-at-law. Her practice focuses on trademark prosecution, litigation and strategy. She obtained well-known trademark protection for some esteemed foreign entities. One of the cases was selected as Excellent Trademark Case of 2018~2019 by the China Trademark Association. She was awarded as “Trademark Attorney of the Year” by the China Trademark Association in 2019, and ranked TOP50 China IP Lawyers in 2020.
10F, Ocean Plaza 158 Fuxingmennei Street Beijing 100031 China |
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Lei Zhao
Unitalen Attorneys at Law
China
Lei joined UNITALEN in 2002 as a trademark attorney, attorney at law and director of the Law Department of UNITALEN, he have been active in trademark prosecution and IP enforcement and accumulated extensive practical experience. I He successfully dealt with large number of prosecution and litigation cases. He also counsel clients on IP strategy and IP infringement issues. I have been actively engaged in trademark theory and practice research and published many articles in influential IP magazines and newspapers, such as "World Trademark Review", “China Intellectual Property”, "China Industry & Commerce News" and China Invention & Patent. I am the co-author of many academic books published by UNITALEN
7/8Th Floor, Scietech Plaza, 22 Jian Guo Men Wai Ave. Beijing 100004 China |
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Melanie Zhu
Rouse International Limited
China
Melanie is a qualified Chinese trademark attorney and P.R.C. Lawyer with 16 years’ experience in the field of trademark portfolio management. Joining Rouse in 2009 and becoming a Principal in 2017, she leads the trademark team in Shanghai. She has rich experience in handling trademark prosecution, dispute resolution and enforcement, in particular, devising a comprehensive strategy for building, defending and exploiting trademark rights in China, for US and EU companies and Chinese companies.
Room 2701, Park Place 1601 Nanjing Road (West) Shanghai 200040 China |
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Zhigang Zhu
Wandhuida Intellectual Property
China
Zhigang is a Senior Partner at Wanhuida Peksung where he has started practice since 2005. He is also attorney-at-law admitted to practice in China since 2007. His practice covers the judicial and administrative protection of IPRs in China, counseling on trademark, copyright, design and domain name registration and protection. Zhigang has taken a keen interest in researching and analysing the frontier IP matters like parallel import, fair use of trademark, trademark co-existence, infringement liability of online trading platform, super well-known trademark status as well as conflicts of rights and has managed to put his theoretical research into practice.
Yiyuan Office Building, Friendship Hotel, No.1 Zhongguancun St. South Haidian District, Beijing, China 100873 China |
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