Fish & Richardson, the largest intellectual property law firm in the US, has won approval to open a representative office in Shenzhen.
The firm, which includes Huawei and Ant Financial among its clients, says that it will provide US and EU advice from the new office.
In announcing the move, Fish said that Shenzhen boasts the highest number of patent cooperation treaty (PCT) applications of any city in China and is home to some of the country’s most innovative companies, which account for almost 50 percent of Chinese PCT filings.
“We are excited to be opening an office in China’s Silicon Valley,” said Peter Devlin, President of Fish & Richardson. “We serve many of China’s leading innovators, and this will give us a base of operations to meet their needs on the ground, in real time, whenever they need us.”
Ryan McCarthy, a principal of the firm, will serve as its chief representative. Yong Peng, an associate, will also represent the firm in the new office.
Fish works with Chinese companies in the telecommunications, electronics, financial technology, life sciences and medical device industries, helping them to obtain patent and trademark protection in the US and Europe, and represents Chinese companies in federal district and appeals courts, at the International Trade Commission and before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
In addition to opening the Shenzhen office, Fish has forged a partnership with Zhejiang Hangzhou Future Sci-Tech City and plans to use it as a platform to meet with clients and potential clients in East China.