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 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..
Team Co-Chair
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.
Team Vice-Chair
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.
Team Secretary
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.
MARQUES Council Member
Guido Baumgartner
Coty Beauty Germany GmbH
Germany
Guido is Head of the Department Global Brand Protection at Coty Germany GmbH. His area of responsibility is to enforce selective distribution and brand protection for the whole Coty Group. Guido qualified at the Universities of Heidelberg and Lausanne. He is a member in various industry associations and chairs the working group on Selective Distribution and Law of the German Brand Association.
Karin Becks
Labels B.V.
Netherlands
After 32 years IP experience of which the last 11 years as a partner, Karin started her own trademark and design firm April 2023. Labels is a small agile team which with 65 years of IP experience in total is a starter, but for sure no beginner!. Labels offers the full package of trademark and design services in a practical and personal way. With these activities Labels aligns with the new needs of the clients like price differentiation based on the complexity of the work.
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.
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.
Hui Huang
Wanhuida Intellectual Property
China
Huang Hui has been a senior partner at Wanhuida IP since 2002. Before joining the firm he served for 12 years at the State Administration for Industry and Commerce(SAIC), where he gained an understanding of the lifecycle of trademark proceedings. Huang has represented clients in the food, beverages, electronic, and electrical equipment industries. He is a member of AIPPI,INTA and Marques. He has received a Chinese and a French doctoral degree of Law, both on the protection of trademark, from China Academy of Social Science in 2000 and Strasbourg University in 2018 respectively.
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,
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
Simonne Moodie
Von Seidels
South Africa
Simonne is an admitted Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. She has a BCom (Hons) (1998) and LLB (2001), achieving honours in marketing management, which motivated her interest in marketing, brands and trade mark law. Simonne is a Partner at Von Seidels in South Africa. She specialises in trade mark filing and prosecution, infringement and litigation matters. She also deals with general copyright queries, domain name and contractual IP issues.
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.
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.
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.
Lian Yunze
Jadong IP Law Firm
China
Yunze LIAN is founder of Jadong IP Law Firm. He started his legal practice in 1982 and has been practicing in IP field for 38 years with extensive experience in trademark prosecution and enforcement. He is a committee member of INTA Internet Committee, ECTA Internet Committee, MARQUES China Team and Trademark Committee of AIPPI China Group. He is a panelist of several domain name dispute resolution centers. He is recognized as a leading IP lawyer by MIP, WTR, Chambers Asia, Asia Law, Asia IP.
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.
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.