Rouse, an international IP law firm and consultancy, has named its new China country manager and added two senior members to its China team, as it anticipates a new wave of IP legal work to be generated in the country''s emergence to a serious global IPR player.
Linda Chang, the firm''s founding member of its China trade mark group, has been appointed to China country manager, taking over the helm from Luke Minford. Chang joined Rouse in 1999.
In addition, Tim Smith, a senior member of Rouse''s litigation group, has been promoted to executive. He will be relocated from London head office to Beijing and will oversee the firm''s Asia litigation group. Smith joined the firm in 2008 from The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), where he was senior legal advisor managing litigation for the industry worldwide. He has experience managing litigation in more than 20 jurisdictions and particular expertise in online copyright infringement strategies in China. The cases he has handled in China include the ground-breaking action for the recording industry against Yahoo! China regarding the operation of its specialist music search service.
Rouse''s patent team in Beijing has also been given a boost with the addition of US qualified patent attorney Jenny Luo, who joined the firm at the end of 2009. She previously worked at a Washington DC based international law firm, and specialises in patent prosecution, litigation and transaction.
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