Panawell & Partners

Firm overview:

Panawell & Partners continues to gain momentum as an active player in China’s IP sphere, with an experienced team of professionals offering the full spectrum of IP services.

The firm has a solid foundation in scientific research innovations, having started out primarily serving the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), its subsidiary R&D units and Chinese universities. It has since expanded its client roster to include some notable domestic and overseas businesses; in 2022, Panawell was chosen as Alibaba’s corporate patent agency.

The firm’s ethos of diligence and perseverance originates from a challenging beginning; Fenghua Wang and Cunxiu Gao founded the firm in 2003 amid the SARS outbreak. The duo kept Panawell’s patent prosecution procedure running despite this, with some employees working around the clock and even sleeping on the office floor to avoid delays in the work.

Team overview:

Partner and patent attorney Shute Shu Xu’s practice covers engineering, nuclear and accelerator physics. Xu is well-versed with all kinds of domestic, foreign and PCT applications and his background includes stints at China Patent Agent (HK) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Also formerly at China Patent Agent (HK), partner Richard Yong Wang has handled thousands of patent applications and has also acted for multinational companies as lead attorney. His technology specialisms include computer hardware and software, semiconductors and household appliances.

Key matters:

• A team of Qiang Hu, Feng Xu and Chunxi Guo achieved a favourable win for a client in invalidating a patent owned by Sz Dji Technology, on the grounds that it lacked inventive step

Clients:

Alibaba, Haver & Boecker