Greater China intellectual property consultancy Simone Intellectual Property Services (SIPS) has opened an office in Beijing, which will be led by general manager Irene Liu.

The office has 13 staff, six of whom are IP practitioners, and is authorised to file applications for registration of trademarks, copyrights and customs recordals, as well as infringement actions with relevant administrative authorities in China.

“Since our establishment in 2012, the opening of a Beijing IP agency was in our business plan. But under the CEPA regime governing such agencies, we needed to wait a few years for relevant approvals to come through,” Joe Simone, the Hong Kong-based founder and a director of SIPS, told ALB. “The opening of our Beijing office has helped us reduce costs and thereby facilitated a reduction in our standard filing fees.”

The Chinese market remains a top priority for foreign companies, large and small alike, he said. “The hottest areas of our business right now relate to bad faith trademark registration and online enforcement against counterfeits and other IP violations.”

And given the complexity of trademark disputes, SIPS has not witnessed a race to the bottom with respect to their fees, he added.

Apart from its Beijing office, SIPS also has a presence in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The firm has about 60 staff in total, including five directors and partners.