Macau will play an important role in the forthcoming Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. “Macau [will become] a hub for commerce and trade that can facilitate relations between China and Portuguese speaking countries,” Jiang Yi Sheng, chairman of ICBC (Macau) wrote in World Finance in July 2019. “This will help promote the region’s economic diversification while also creating a base that allows a diverse array of people to coexist. Macau can make a unique contribution to the Greater Bay Area’s transformation into a first-class region for trade and tourism.”

Intellectual property will play an important role in the growth of the Greater Bay Area, and Macau’s law firms are ready to play their role. The special administrative region (SAR) has a number of wellrespected full-service law firms, and a growing cadre of IP specialists. In fact, 12 different firms are represented in our inaugural list of Macau’s IP Experts.

Macau’s IP regime does have some interesting quirks, lawyers at MdME Lawyers note in “10 things you probably do not know about IP in Macau,” published on their website. Trademarks are
published before examination, for example, and use of a trademark for less than six months can support a priority claim.

Despite having its own patent registration system, Macau does not have a local examinationoffice, due, the MdME lawyers say, to the relatively low number of patent application that are filed in Macau. Instead, there’s a protocol in place with China’s National Intellectual Property Adminstration (CNIPA) to conduct examination of Macau patents in mainland China by experienced professionals.

And, perhaps not surprisingly, patents relating to gaming can be protected in Macau. As a special administrative region of China, the firm notes, Macau is relatively autonomous, and the only jurisdiction in China where gambling is allowed. “Mainland Chinabased examiners are sometimes called to examine such subject matter despite not being allowed registration in China,” they say.

Three different firms landed two lawyers each on our list: BN Intellectual Property Services (Bruno Nunes and Mauro Nunes), Manuela António Lawyers and Notaries (Tiago Assunção and Daniel da Silva e Melo) and RPmacau Intellectual Property Services (Alice Leong and Luís Reigadas).

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.

All of them have something in common: they are experts in their fields and, in one way or another, they provide extra value for their clients. They are Asia IP’s Macau IP Experts.

Top 15 Macau IP Experts 2022