Lifang & Partner’s IP expertise has long been heralded in the local market, but with China’s extended efforts on imposing the importance of IP rights the firm has developed greater ambitions. With its extensive experience in IP management for clients, the firm sees an opportune moment to establish related practice areas.

Lifang's traditional strength lies in IP litigation, having been involved in hundreds of cases. In 2008, it obtained a license from the State Intellectual Property Office allowing it to handle patent applications for both foreign and domestic clients - a status that only a limited number of law firms have been granted. Since then, the firm has handled approximately 3,000 new patent applications.

But Lifang & Partners is now moving into other practice areas, specifically cross-border corporate work, and hopes to soon be able to provide a one-stop IP and corporate legal service for its clients. “We are very keen to penetrate into other legal sectors and in work that derives from our profile of clients in industries like new media,” said partner Xie Guanbin. “Cross-border work that involves countries like Japan is one of our focal points.”

Reflective expansion
Lifang has recruited over 30 IP specialists in the past six months, and its success over 2009 is reflective of the firm’s increasing workload. Recently, Lifang & Partners’ Guangzhou office merged with local IP specialist firm Liu and Partners, boosting the office to 12 lawyers and four patent attorneys. The combined office is headed by Roy Liu, managing partner of Liu & Partners which was one of the leading firms in China. It was established in 1994 and enjoyed mandates from major clients like Apple, Microsoft, Midea and Nike.

“Liu & Partners’ business objective is to be the region’s leading IP firm and merging with Lifang, whose ideals are compatible to ours, has propelled us to a much larger platform – especially in IP litigation” said Liu. “We now have stronger resources and are capable of venturing into other practice areas and advising niche market clients.”

Lifang first established its Guangzhou presence in December 2007 with the signing of the city’s leading IP practitioner Deng Yao, previously a partner of Guangzhou Hai Ji Ming and former deputy-director of Guangdong province’s science and technology intellectual property centre. The latest expansion is the firm’s response to the continuous surge in demand for IP legal services in the Pearl River Delta region. The region, specifically Guangdong, has been one of the country’s leading cities by the total number of patent and trademark filings since 2006.

Both the Guangzhou and Beijing offices’ work are closely linked. “IP applications often include a need to consider nationwide factors and structures so a close working relationship between the offices is very important, and we have done well in our cooperation,” said Liu.

Prior to its Guangzhou merger, Lifang had already boosted its IP teams, recruiting a 30-member IP team – including five partners – late last year. The new partners include Ma Tieliang, Ma Youping and Han Linghu, and they all have extensive experience in handling patent filings and prosecutions for foreign and domestic clients, gained from their previous practice in patent agencies such as China Patent Agent (HK), CCPIT Patent & Trademark and China Science Patent & Trademark Agent.

Xie foresaw the extra hiring to bring in a new revenue source in patent filings and strengthen the practice in patent litigation, patent consulting, corporate patent strategy structuring and analysis, evaluation and management of patent portfolio. “A patent drafting and filing practice is of strategic importance to any modern IP law firm. It not only contributes significantly to a firm's revenue but also provides the firm with an opportunity to forge strong, long-term relationships with new clients,” he said.

“When facing IP-related issues, particularly patent matters, corporate clients will, in the first instance, turn to the law firm who helped them obtain their IP rights for advice and solutions.” Lifang & Partners’ IP strength is highlighted by its recent successful representation for Anycall, in one of the country’s most high-profile IP infringement litigation cases.

The firm also advised China Mobile in one of the country’s very first anti-trust legal matters, and litigates on international IP matters. For example, the firm recently represented a domestic company in its defence against a German coach manufacturer Neoplan whose rights claim had been invalidated by SIPO. “We pay close attention to the profile of our clients and monitor the trends of what is to come,” said Xie.

“Lawyers at Lifang must possess IP technical know-how, a strong legal background and international experience. We are an IP specialist firm and everything we do is a professional concoction of technical knowledge and legal expertise – that is criteria that will never be compromised.”

Lifang deal highlights