Hogan Lovells

Firm overview:

Hogan Lovells retains its top-tier place in the rankings from 2023, and continues to prove its mettle as a widely respected and trusted firm with a solid IP offering in the China region.

The full-service multinational, with its 40-year history in Greater China, is one of the first and largest global law firms in China.

Its standing is bolstered by Hogan Lovells Fidelity—a strategic partnership established eight years ago with PRC firm Fujian Fidelity in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ). This enables it to be one of the few firms allowed to provide Chinese legal services and represent clients in China’s courts.

Against the backdrop of an evolving economic and regulatory environment and market challenges, which has seen several large international firms closing offices in China, Hogan Lovells is resolute that it is “here to stay”.

With four offices in Greater China (Beijing, Hong Kong Shanghai and the Shanghai FTZ), the firm is noted by clients for its professionalism and reliability, as well as its ability to transcend linguistic and cultural barriers to help clients to navigate China’s complex legal system.

This is illustrated by one US client saying that Hogan Lovells “really helps guide me and helps me understand the local territories better than I've ever understood them before.”

A significant roster of the world’s top 100 brands trust the firm with their trademark matters, including local and multi-jurisdictional trademark enforcement, brand protection, licensing and transactions.

Team overview:

Hogan Lovells “has a great and professional team of lawyers, which provide great legal advice for the best interests of the clients,” according to a major international client.

Primary specialisms for the team’s trademark specialists are consumer goods, fashion and luxury, food and beverage, sports, entertainment and media, and automotive.

Beijing-based Helen Xia heads up the firm’s IPMT Group in Asia and is dual-qualified to practise in the PRC and New York. Xia, whose practice covers all aspects of IP, “is a great lawyer and plays a great leading role in her China IP team”, according to a major global client.

Xia and her team are praised by one US client for their clear, efficient communication and advice, but it’s Xia who is “really driving the bus…it’s as if she is sitting in our New York office. Her understanding of our needs are great.”

Shanghai-based Zhen (Katie) Feng, also PRC and US-qualified, is a strong litigator who has handled numerous IP litigation cases, high-profile criminal and civil actions for major global brands. Notable successes in her 20-plus-year career include a record-breaking outcome in fighting copycats for a global toy company.

Eugene Low is Hogan Lovells’ sole IP partner in Hong Kong, spanning contentious and non-contentious work. His practice covers litigation and arbitration, and has advised on high-stake litigation, data breach incidents and domain-name disputes. Low, who counts gaming giant Tencent among his clients, is a “very important, hands-on player” in the Hong Kong market.

Grace Guo is counsel in Beijing in the Intellectual Property, Media and Technology (IPMT) Practice Group. She advises clients on various contentious and non-contentious matters covering trademark, copyright, domain name, design patent, trade secrets and unfair competition issues. In particular, Guo has strong experience in advising clients in administrative litigation and civil litigation for trademark infringement, design patent infringement and unfair competition cases.

Key matters:

• Caterpillar: Hogan Lovells advises the construction brand on multiple IP prosecution and enforcement matters in mainland China, including representing Caterpillar before the Chinese courts in approximately a dozen ongoing civil and administrative litigation cases, including those appealed up to the Supreme People’s Court for retrial. In an ongoing dispute with a large local rival over its logo ‘KAT’ versus Caterpillar’s ‘CAT’, Hogan Lovells recently obtained a first-instance decision for its client at the Supreme Court. The court granted civil damages of $1.5 million—a notably high amount for a trademark. With the rival proving to be a tough opponent, this is an important case for the firm.
• Merck & Co v Merck KGaA: Hogan Lovells represents US firm Merck & Co in the ongoing cross-border trademark dispute with its German counterpart Merck KGaA. The two entities sued each other in their corresponding jurisdictions, alleging trademark and trade name infringement and breach of contract relating to decades-old agreements.
  
  The dispute has since spread to include litigation in the UK, France, Mexico, Switzerland, India, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China. Hogan Lovells is well placed to handle the cross-border nature of the matter through a robust global office network and an aligned strategy.

Clients:

Caterpillar; Merck & Co; Spray Moret; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Individuals:

• Helen Xia (Outstanding, Non-contentious and Contentious)
• Grace Guo (Highly Recommended, Non-contentious)
• Katie Feng (Highly Recommended, Contentious)
• Eugene Low (Recommended, Contentious)