The Asian arm of European intellectual property firm Awapatent, AWA Asia, continues its expansion by extending the 120-year-old firm’s patent practice to China. Having established its brand management practice in February 2015 with the launch of AWA Asia in Hong Kong and Beijing, the firm is responding to clients’ demands for patent services in China through two senior hires in the form of Xiaofan Chen as partner and Yuanyuan Chu as senior patent attorney in Beijing as of August 28, 2017. Through this offering, the firm’s clients can now benefit from the firm’s full-service IP offering covering patents as well as non-patent IP rights in China.
Chen joins the firm as a partner from Liu Shen & Associates. Chen has both contentious and non-contentious experience in patent rights management. He regularly advises on patent validity, infringement and freedom-to-operate analysis cases, and has successfully represented clients on civil and administrative patent disputes. His experience in contentious patent cases brings a dimension to the prosecution and advisory work he undertakes. He covers a wide range of technical fields, including mechanical engineering, manufacturing, laser imaging, printing/packaging technology, computer science, internet technology, e-commerce, and business methods. Chen was one of the first patent litigators registered with China’s Supreme Court.
Chu’s patent practice focuses on computer science, electrical engineering, electronics, microelectronics, semiconductor devices and processes. Apart from assisting international MNCs on their patent prosecution and disputes in China for the last 13 years while at her last two firms, China Patent Agent (HK) and Liu, Shen & Associates, Chu also has considerable experience in coordinating US patent matters. She has been qualified as an attorney at law in China since 2007.