Protecting Your IP in China-Early-Stage IP Strategy Planning and Litigation

Over the past year, China has made robust progress concerning its legal protection of IP. The introduction of punitive damages for IP infringement, the Copyright Law amendment which came into effect on June 1, and CNIPA’s nationwide campaign to implement administrative measures for IP protection have caught attention as developments that may impact foreign companies in China. In addition, many companies have ascertained that many IP issues can be avoided if appropriate protective measures are taken at an earlier stage, especially in this quickly evolving regulatory environment.

Please join us to gain some perspectives on recent legislative developments in China’s IPR space, best practices of building an enforceable IP portfolio in the early stage of business planning, and practical litigation strategies for foreign companies in China with two legal experts: Sue ZHONG, a senior associate at Perkins Coie, and Yan ZHANG, a partner at the Trademark Department at Beijing East IP Law Firm. Q&A session will be provided after the presentation.

This call will take place on Thursday, June 17, 9:30am (China); or Wednesday, June 16, 9:30pm EDT (US).

This event is exclusive to USCBC member companies and invited guests only. Registration is required. Dial-in and Zoom info will be sent out by June 16 at 5:00pm China time. This event will be conducted in Mandarin Chinese only without simultaneous interpretation.

See the speakers’ bios:

Shujun (Sue) Zhong

Sue Zhong is a senior associate in the Trademark, Copyright, Internet & Advertising practice. Her practice is focused on trademark registration and prosecution, licensing, administrative enforcement, and administrative and civil litigation. Sue manages the IP portfolios for large multinational companies and SMEs in a variety of industries. She also advises on advertising compliance, IP licensing, and customs recordal and enforcement.

She regularly prosecutes trademark application appeals, trademark oppositions, invalidations, and non-use cancellations. She also handles administrative and civil litigations involving IPRs. Sue recently assisted with a groundbreaking and successful defense to genericide claims filed by a competitor against a famous trademark held by a major US consumer goods company. Sue has assisted leading companies in the apparel, retail, hospitality, mobile gaming software, entertainment, digital media, internet, and life sciences industries on their IP issues.

Sue earned an LL.B. from Minzu University of China and an LL.M. from China University of Political Science and Law.

钟律师是商标、著作权、媒体和品牌保护团队的资深律师，专精于商标注册、行政争议、许可、行政执法以及行政和民事诉讼。钟律师协助诸多行业的大型跨国公司与中小型企业进行知识产权组合管理，同时也针对广告合规，知识产权许可，海关备案和执法等事宜提供咨询服务。

钟律师常年协助客户处理商标驳回复审、商标异议、无效宣告和撤销申请等行政争议事宜，并协助客户处理知识产权行政及民事诉讼事宜。在近期一起具有开创意义的案件中，钟律师成功协助处理由竞争对手针对一家大型美国日用消费品公司持有的知名商标提起的商标通用化撤销争议。钟律师曾为服装、零售、酒店、手机游戏软件、娱乐、数字媒体、互联网及生命科学行业的全球领军企业提供知识产权相关法律咨询服务。

钟律师从中央民族大学获得法学学士学位，并从中国政法大学获得法学硕士学位。

Yan Zhang

Ms. Zhang obtained her Juris master’s degree from China University of Political Science and Law and joined Beijing East IP in 2006. Ms. Zhang leads the trademark team.

Ms. Zhang has more than fifteen years’ experiences in intellectual property fields, and her key practices focus on trademark prosecution, enforcement and litigation, copyright, anti-unfair competition, Customs protection, and domain name disputes. Ms. Zhang has led and participated in more than 300 administrative litigation cases by providing clients with comprehensive and practical solutions. On the civil infringement front, she provides active protecting and enforcing strategies to clients, successfully defended trademark squatters’ infringement lawsuits by applying prior use defense, combined with a series of trademark administrative procedures, such as invalidations and cancellations, and even through mediation and settlement. She has also been advising clients on alternative resolutions to avoid unnecessary litigation cost.

Ms. Zhang has provided trademark services to Fortune 500 companies and multinational corporations for more than a decade, and successfully obtained well-known mark recognitions for Yahoo!, Ritz-Carlton, Adobe (Photoshop), McDonald’s (McDelivery; McFlurry), Cisco, among others, before the China National Intellectual Property Administration, the Beijing First Intermediate Court, the Beijing IP Court, and the Beijing High Court.

张律师毕业于中国政法大学，获得法律硕士学位。于2006年加入北京东方亿思/东权律师事务所，现担任商标部经理和律所主任，负责管理商标团队。

张妍律师在知识产权领域有15年的从业经验，主要从事商标、版权、不正当竞争、海关保护及域名争议等业务领域，主办并参与商标授权确权行政诉讼案件三百余起，踏实深入案件的每一个细节，为客户提供全方位、切实可行的解决方案。除代理客户积极维权外，还代理客户有效应对商标抢注者启动的商标侵权诉讼，运用商标先用权抗辩制度，辅之以无效、撤销等一系列商标行政程序，有效打击恶意抢注行为。除诉讼外，还从专业的角度判断调解以及和解的可能性，并在协议中将客户的权益最大化。

张妍律师服务世界500强企业及跨国公司十余年，带领团队为Yahoo!、Ritz-Carlton、Adobe （Photoshop）、McDonald’s（麦乐送、麦旋风）、Cisco在国家知识产权局、北京市第一中级人民法院、北京知识产权法院和北京高级人民法院审理的商标行政案件中获得驰名商标认定。