Hong Kong SAR

Firm overview

AWA is a leading IP firm with over 370 employees across 22 offices in Belgium, China, Denmark, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

We believe tomorrow is today’s emerging business – rising up from untapped potential within established industries and start-ups. No matter the size or industry, we help our clients create business out of their ideas and innovations.

AWA was founded in 1897 by Swedish engineer Anders Wilhelm Anderson. His initials form our company name and remind us of our proud history.

We supply a full-service offering of IP law services in prosecution, dispute litigation, aftermarket services, legal advice, strategy and commercialisation. Our IP professionals are experts in patents, trademark, design, copyright and domain names.


What sets up apart

Global: AWA has a presence in Europe and Asia with an extensive network of qualified preferred partners all over the world. We can handle your IP needs globally and follow-up in real-time.

Diversity and Colloboration: Our people come from diverse backgrounds with practical industry knowledge. Their technical capability means they understand the small details and how this differentiates you in the marketplace. Our teams comprise engineers working closely with attorneys at law and vice versa. This seamless collaboration ensures that the right skillset and legal knowledge is available and utilised for our client’s innovations. We pride ourselves on our comprehensive trainee programme for future IP leaders.

Strategy: We focus on the long-term – building a business is a journey that requires strategy. We support companies throughout the corporate cycle to protect and enforce IP rights, but to also identify and capture the value of intellectual assets.

Digital Innovation: We live in the digital era and are constantly looking at tools that reduce workload and save time. From the AWA Client Porta, to our domain management services – we are innovating the IP tools of the future.

Employee Owned: AWA is 100% owned by the employees with more than 50% of us choosing to invest or hold shares in the Group. This reflects our personal and long-term commitment to both our firm and our clients.

AWA Asia

Part of the AWA Group, AWA Asia supports and manages international clients’ IP needs throughout the region with a head office in Hong Kong – a location known for its successful business environment, world-class infrastructure and effective legal system.

Our Beijing office is our wholly owned licensed trademark agency, allowing us to file and enforce trademarks directlybefore the China Trademark Office and the administrative authorities, without the need to use local third-party agents.

Today, China is one of the largest IP markets in the world and is increasingly being selected as a key venue for IP litigation by foreign and local entities alike.

AWA Asia has strong value proposition that consists of an East-meets-West approach, with a bilingual and bicultural team of IP professionals (trademark lawyers, patent attorneys and IP strategists). Our international-level service delivery comes with deep local knowledge and is business minded, pragmatic and tailored.

Network memberships: AIPPI, APAA, ECTA, epi, FICPI, INTA, The Lawyer Network, LES Scandinavia, MARQUES, Union-IP

Firm overview

Vivien Chan & Co. is a full-service law practice with offices in Hong Kong (1985) and Beijing (1993). We are consistently recognized as a premier law firm for and in Greater China. With nearly 30 years of doing business in Greater China, our Hong Kong and China teams have an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the legal culture and market dynamics.

We support our clients to build global intellectual property portfolios, encompassing patents, trademarks copyright and other unregistrable rights, like trade secrets and software applications. We do so by reducing the risk of infringement and increasing the value of companies’ intellectual property assets. Our two offices provide full-service IP practice that is fully integrated with other matters, including franchise law, technology licensing and related transactions, e-commerce, privacy & data security, domain names and social media.

We clear obstacles in registration and enforcement directly with the regulators. Our advice is based on over 30 years of experience in the law, practice and culture, targeted at practical and expeditious resolution of problems. We see Greater China IP management as a strategic issue, with experience in adopting a cost effective and result oriented approach to delivering practical solutions.

The new challenges in IP protection are increasingly difficult and complex. We are a one-stop service firm with substantial experience in assisting clients manage and enforce IP portfolios in Greater China. Our team has gained working and streetwise knowledge of the common and consistently changing tactics of counterfeiters in greater China, and is therefore experienced in devising corresponding anti-counterfeiting strategies to tackle them.

We are licensed to file and execute enforcement directly in Mainland China and Hong Kong. We adopt a multi-facet approach to IP enforcement and are experienced in border control, surveillance, complaint with regulatory bodies, administrative bodies and litigation. Our in-house investigation capabilities, having received tertiary training in specialized institutions including China People’s University of Public Security, enable us to manage our client’s investigative needs in different regions in China and provide assistance to our legal team in forum shopping. We recognize it is not a one-size-fits-all-solutions objective. We partner with our clients to develop a custom-tailored protection and enforcement strategy to protect client’s unique products and brand names in a cost-effective manner. Our broad experience covers a spectrum of industries — including luxury and fashion, pharmaceutical and healthcare, food and beverage, entertainment, media, consumer products, hard ware and education institutions.

For multi-jurisdictional disputes, we manage these and offer global strategies to our client through working with our associates. We have worked with the best lawyers in their respective discipline and jurisdiction closely in our 30 years of practice. Premised as an independent Greater China Law Firm, we only use the best for our client and are not bound or obliged in any way to use one’s own office in another jurisdiction.

Firm overview

About Us

Rouse was established in the UK in 1990, and is recognised as a global Intellectual Property leader operating as a closely integrated network with more than 600 people working out of 18 offices in 13 countries.

We focus exclusively on IP, from strategic consulting, patents and trade marks through to domain names, copyright, designs and geographical indications. And we’re experts in providing services for each stage of their life cycle.

We have a deep understanding of all jurisdictions around the world and a strong focus on more challenging markets such as Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Russia. Most importantly, we’re passionate about IP and enjoy working with clients who share that passion. We put clients at the heart of our business and build long standing relationships. From large multinationals that want our scale, quality and professionalism, to start ups that value our entrepreneurial spirit, the companies we work with come from a broad range of sectors with diverse business interests and needs.

The Rouse Difference

Rouse prides itself on its quality and professionalism, but we have also always dared to be different. We don’t believe that all firms should be the same. That’s why we’ll always challenge the traditional way of doing things if we think another way is better.

It also means we don’t just advise on the law - in many countries we help define and shape it. We have a practical, pragmatic and “unstuffy” approach, with teams of professionals who work closely together across functions and geographical borders in a non-hierarchical, creative and results-oriented environment.

Rouse people are full of energy and enthusiasm. We are passionate about IP, our business and our people, and we genuinely enjoy what we do. We believe that having fun provides a happier, more productive working environment.

The Rouse Network

“International reach, local expertise”

Whatever your needs, in whatever country, we have either an established Rouse office or a long standing relationship with a local firm.

All our offices have both local and international experts that have bilingual capability. Where we don’t have an office we have a relationship with a local firm that we believe offers the best service for our clients and is the best fit for the Rouse culture and and the best service for our clients. Working with Rouse internationally means you can have one point of contact as well as a team of people around the world supporting you in the necessary jurisdictions.

The Rouse Network consists of local subsidiaries of Rouse International Limited and closely aligned but independent firms which work seamlessly together on engagements. Which elements of work are done by which entity depends entirely on the country in which work is carried out, in compliance with relevant legal and regulatory provisions.

Firm overview

Over the last century we’ve been lucky enough to have played a part in protecting some of the world’s most ground-breaking inventions and high profile brands. You can trust us to know IP law inside out, to be curious, and to connect the dots to reach solutions others don’t.

We will provide you with a team, rich in real-world experience, comprising experts who have worked at the forefront of pioneering technologies. A substantial number of our lawyers hold qualifications in scientific or technical fields, meaning we are often called upon for our specialist knowledge and insight on large international mandates. We are respected for our creative and original solutions.

We offer both litigation and transactional support in relation to all IP rights, from small innovative projects to the largest, most complex and ground-breaking transactions and disputes.

Our approach has always been centred on client service, collaborating and innovating with our clients to create bespoke solutions that make their lives easier. This includes: our 'twobirds Pattern' product, a proprietary, in-house patent valuation and analysis tool, that allows us to landscape, analyse, and value patent portfolios in an automated and sophisticated way; and our innovative and dynamic Brand Protection Reporting Portal, which uses dynamic charts that give clients an up-to-date overview of their risk profile at any given time.

Talk to us to find out how our tools, experience and our genuine passion for IP can help you devise a strategy that will help to maintain your competitive edge, whilst protecting and optimising your IP in the best way possible.

Internationally Bird & Bird has over 400 IP lawyers, attorneys and legal professionals across our 29 offices, many of whom have known each other and worked together for years, meaning we're all on the same page and offer consistency and quality that runs through all levels of seniority. We are therefore ideally placed to devise and coordinate multi-jurisdictional litigation strategies and,in the future, to represent clients before the Unified Patent Court.

Office Locations: Australia, Belgium, China, Czech Republic & Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and United States of America