SIPS, also known as Simone Intellectual Property Services, has joined forces with teams from three well-established Chinese IP firms to form East IP.
The first two are Beijing East IP Limited and East IP Law Firm, while the third is a team of six partners led by China trademark veteran Jimmy Huang. Huang and his team of 36 professionals and staff began arriving in stages at East IP beginning April 1.
SIPS was established in 2012 in Hong Kong with a primary focus on trademark prosecution, IP investigations and enforcement. Since then, the team has grown to more than 90 professionals and staff operating in four cities in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Aside from our greater resources and depth, the will now be able to assist with patent prosecution and advisory work, as well as enforcement involving all types of IP rights in China through East IP Law Firm, which operates in Beijing and Shanghai.
The new East IP Group is co-chaired by SIPS founder Joe Simone and the head of the firm’s patent practice, Xiaodong Li. The trademark prosecution team is led by former Zhong Lun partner Jimmy Huang.
The firm notes that women comprise half of its partners partners and 72 percent of its trademark team. The partners of East IP are Joe Simone, Dan Plane and Helen Tang, who were SIPS founding partners, and Joann Chan, Joshua Miller and Mai Lin.
Thomas Treutler, a former partner and managing director at Tilleke & Gibbins in Vietnam, and a former head of the Vietnam IP practice group at Baker McKenzie in Vietnam, joined East IP in Hong Kong in June as a senior consultant.