SOUTH-EAST ASIA IP SME HELPDESK - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Founding Partner of GH IP
Alex Garmon is founding partner of GH IP&Legal Service in Shanghai. Since 2007 he has developed substantive experience on Intellectual Property in China, from protection to enforcement, as well as on foreign direct investment.
His practice has a special focus on the exploitation and commercialization of IP assets (trademarks, copyrights and patents) in the retail or media & entertainment industry and has participated in numerous operations related to Licensing, Franchising and Technology Transfer.
He also advises clients on designing strategies for the protection of Intellectual Property. From a preliminary stage advising on the registration and management of trademark and copyright portfolios to a later stage advising and executing enforcement actions related to anti-counterfeiting and IP infringement (online and offline).
Alex holds a Global EMBA by China Europe International School which gives him the ability to understand and speak "business language" with his clients, which enables him to align legal advice with business strategic goals aiming to obtain the maximization of corporations and IP assets value. He has been speaker in numerous conferences on IP protection and foreign investment. He can speak Spanish, English and Chinese.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner of Lawjay Partners
Dr. James Luo, managing partner of Lawjay Partners, is counsel of choice for international clients. He is consistently ranked by Legalband as a band-one leading individual in IP litigation and by MIP as a Trademark Star, and is recognised as among China's leading IP lawyers by Chambers and Partners, WTR1000, and Who's Who Legal, among others. Every year, James represents various top luxury brands and world-famous marks in over a hundred lawsuits for trademark and copyright infringement.
Job Titles:
- Partner at EY Studio Legale Tributario IP
Giovanni F. Casucci is a partner at EY Studio Legale Tributario IP Department. Prior to joining EY Legal, he worked as a partner and Head of Intellectual Property and Technology group of Dentons Europe studio legale tributario. IP litigator in Italy since 1992. From 1999 to 2005 director of a Master program in IP Management at the Politecnico of Milano University. Since 2008, director of the Master program of ICE (Italian Trade Commission) on IP and China ("Ideacina") and member of the faculty of the MBA programs of MIP Politecnico of Milano.
Heather Hsiao is a partner at Eiger, a Greater China-based law firm. Focusing her practice on IP counseling and employment issues, Heather has overseen litigation regarding a variety of trademark, copyright and trade secret-related matters. Heather also regularly speaks to international audiences on a number of timely legal issues.
Job Titles:
- Founding and Managing Partner of FERRANTE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Michele Ferrante is founding and Managing Partner of FERRANTE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Michele is a lawyer admitted to the Milan Bar: he started his career in the same city practicing corporate law and intellectual property law. He also practiced in the UK and France in different fields. Since 1999, the main focus of Michele's practice is advising high-profile foreign companies in the protection of their IP rights and design tailor made anti-counterfeit strategies in China. He assists Fortune 500 companies in developing and enforcing brand protection strategies in PRC. Michele regularly speaks at international IP conferences and has written articles on IP issues published in different international magazines. He speaks Italian, English, French and Spanish.
Job Titles:
- Head of International Business Department
Mr. Feng is the Head of International Business Department and a Senior Partner of Tahota (Beijing) Law Firm. Mr. Feng is a reputable IP and cyber law expert with substantial experience on intellectual property law, data protection law and anti-trust law with reputable international law firm and Chinese law firms, focusing on IP litigation, enforcement trademark and patent portfolio management, as well as cyber law related legal matters. Mr. Feng has represented numerous foreign clients from US, EU and Japan at various levels of courts as well as administrative organs in China. Mr. Feng is particularly experienced in addressing clients' commercial needs in the areas of IP litigation, arbitration and prosecution, including patent, copyright, trademark, and domain names, unfair competition, trade secrets. In addition to his work in the courtrooms, he has been involved in IP transactional work, including the drafting, negotiation and enforcement of IP assignment or licensing agreements. Besides, Mr. Feng and his team also represented a number of multinationals in dealing with their legal matters in relation to cyber security, privacy and data protection.
Mr. Feng and his team are highly acclaimed in the Chinese IP and Cyber law practice. For four consecutive years since 2015, Mr. Feng has been ranked by World Trademark Review, an influential IP magazine as Top trademark lawyer in 2020, consecutively listed in LegalBand as excellent IP lawyer from 2015 through 2020, excellent Cyber Security and Data Protection lawyer from 2017 through 2020 as well as listed by Asian Legal Business as Top 15 IP Lawyer in 2015.
A sought-after authority on IP protection and litigation in China, Paolo manages the trademark, copyright and design portfolios of European and US clients, conceives and implements IP litigation strategies, regularly appears in Chinese courts and attends IPR administrative and police raids on counterfeiters. His record of success in patent and trademark infringement lawsuits includes landmark cases designated "case of the year" by several IP journals. He leads business intelligence teams that pursue evidence of counterfeiting operations, particularly concerning automotive, fashion and consumer goods.
Paolo is frequently invited to speak at conferences devoted to the growing field of Chinese IP, and has been actively involved in field projects, including trademark and patent enforcement training programs for Chinese civil servants. Paolo is regularly interviewed on China IP matters by media around the world such as The Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC, The Times, Bloomberg, La Tribune and Il Sole24 Ore, to name a few.
In China, where intellectual property disputes routinely involve multiple cultures, Paolo's fluency in five languages, including Mandarin, helps him navigate international borders and creates confidence in his clients. Paolo represents US and European clients in confronting the myriad cross-cultural challenges - legal, commercial and political - that threaten patent and trademark assets.
Sai CHEN is an Partner, Deputy President, Attorney-at-law at Wei Chixue Law Firm. She has significant experience in IP infringement litigation, administrative proceedings, anti-counterfeiting, border seizure, copyright works protection, domain name disputes, IP right licensing and technology transferring. Sai frequently delivers speeches and publishes articles in Europe, US and Japan on enforcing IP right in China. Sai has represented clients from medium sized companies to Fortune 500 from Japan, US, Germany and around the world. She helped Bridgestone Corporation win a favorable decision enforcing its design patent in the Supreme People's Court in the retrial. She helped a world leader in soldering machinery in a patent invalidation administrative lawsuit, securing the invalidation of a competitor's patent from first instance throughout retrial. She also represented a major consumer electronics company as the plaintiff in an infringement lawsuit, where it was awarded Rmb3.2 million compensation and listed by the Supreme People's Court of China among the Top Ten IP Cases ruled by Chinese courts in 2016. In a recent case she successfully established indirect infringement in court for patent owner, which is still uncommon in China.
Job Titles:
- Team Leader of the China IPR SME Helpdesk
Simon Cheetham is the Team Leader of the China IPR SME Helpdesk. He is a China IPR Enforcement expert with over 30 years' experience in commercial investigations, due diligence and IPR enforcement in China and internationally. He has lived and worked in China and South-East Asia for over 17 years. He is also the Managing Director of ERINYES INTERNATIONAL LTD, a firm he founded to capitalise on his extensive experience of international investigations, loss prevention and enforcement work. He manages and directs the operations of the Company from Europe to the Far East.
Tom Carver is a partner at White & Black who specialises in intellectual property and has substantial experience in multiple-jurisdiction patent and design right litigation in the UK and in China. Tom is now based in London, having previously spent three years living in China, and advises clients on the enforcement of intellectual property rights in China as well as other China-related issues, including commercial law. Tom also advises Chinese companies on UK law. He is a regular speaker on the topic of IPR in China and has published several articles on this subject.