Trademark Registration Strategy for China – Practical tips to navigate the complexities in the trademark system

Hank Leung, Partner and Co-Head of China IP practice at Bird & Bird

Hank is a Partner and Co-Head of the China IP Practice at Bird & Bird. He specialises in brand protection and transactional IP matters with a focus on trade mark, product design and copyright for clients in the consumer & retail, and media, entertainment & sports sectors. He regularly advise clients on all aspects of identification, protection, registration and enforcement of their IP rights. He also advises clients on legal issues relating to the commercialisation and internationalisation of IP/IT assets including management of IP portfolios, advising on licensing and franchising strategies across Asia. Hank is a trusted advisor to many retail & consumer clients and regularly advises them on regulatory compliance for online advertising and marketing regulations.

Stephanie Ning, Senior Managing Associate at Bird & Bird

Stephanie is a senior associate in our intellectual property team based in Hong Kong. She has been handling contentious and non-contentious China, Hong Kong and foreign intellectual property matters for almost 10 years. Stephanie’s practice focuses on brand protection, enforcement and commercialisation of IP rights. She advises clients on strategies to better protect their IP rights by adopting a holistic approach, including trademark prosecution, portfolio management and anti-counterfeiting. She has also assisted international clients to acquire well-known trademark recognition in China. Her practice also includes advising on licensing, conducting IP due diligence in merger and acquisition projects and IPOs, etc.

Chair – Katharine Stephens, Two Birds

I am fascinated by IP and the challenge of helping my clients protect, exploit and defend their IP rights to further their business objectives.

I have a broad IP practice, mostly focused on litigation of patents, trade marks and designs. I have considerable experience of coordinating and running patent litigation in more than one jurisdiction and in designing and implementing pan-European protection and enforcement programs, running one such program for a consumer electronics client for almost 10 years.

I am lucky enough to be able to make use of my engineering background and over the years have done a lot of work in the engineering and tech & comms sectors, advising clients such as Nokia, BAE Systems, Semtech and InterDigital. More recently, I have been advising on AI issues – something which I find of particular interest since my final year dissertation for my Masters degree was in robotics.

I also enjoy the strategic and tactical nature of my work, whether it be in relation to advising on the protection, exploitation or the defence of my client’s IP rights. I am very focused on getting the best result for my clients, be it through litigation, negotiation or other forms of dispute resolution.

For 18 years I was co-head of the London IP department and, for many of those years, had a role in the running of the international IP group. As a consequence, I know the international IP group very well and enjoy helping clients find the best person or team to assist them.

I am very focused on training and mentoring the next generation of IP lawyers. I write and speak regularly at industry events and am an active member of the IP Federation and the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

My Admissions
Law Society of England & Wales in 1992
Higher Courts (Civil Advocacy) Qualification in 2019