Swedish intellectual property consultancy firm Awapatent has made a foray into Asia, establishing offices in Beijing and Hong Kong, and recruiting Bird & Bird’s Greater China head of trademark portfolio management to oversee its Asian outfit.

The new offices will operate as a branch of the Awapatent Group under the name AWA Asia. Ai-Leen Lim, a former partner and Greater China head of trademarks at Bird & Bird, will lead AWA Asia as CEO and Principal Counsel for the region. Lim will split her time between the two offices.

“We have had a strong focus on this important and growing area, and a great interest from our clients for a number of years, and had the ambition to be more present in the region,” said Magnus Hallin, CEO of Awapatent Group.

“With Ai-Leen Lim and her team we found the perfect partner as our vision and goals for the future are totally aligned.”

The AWA Asia team comprises seven IP professionals – including Lim – and provides clients with IP services ranging from filing, registration and IP-related transactions, to enforcement and dispute resolution.

The team in Asia is expected to grow to around ten IP professionals in the months to come, said Hallin.

AWA Asia’s Beijing office, which will operate under the name AWA IP (Beijing) Co, is a licensed PRC trademark agency that handles the filing and enforcement of trademarks directly in China before the Trade Mark Office and administrative authorities.

Awapatent has more than 170 IP professionals based in 16 offices across Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Greater China.