King & Wood Mallesons

Firm overview:

A frontrunner in China’s legal market, King & Wood Mallesons has dual strengths in patent prosecution and litigation. The firm, a unique hybrid thanks to a 2012 merger between PRC firm King & Wood and Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques, offers an East-meets-West perspective to clients.

KWM’s China patent team is selected by national and multinational companies for its global approach to patent protection. The firm excels at all aspects of patent work, from filing and portfolio management to representation in business-critical disputes.

Team overview:

Over 3,700 lawyers in 26 global locations make up KWM’s team. For China patent matters, a name to know is Hong (Tina) Tai, co-head of patent at the firm. Tai is a highly influential figure in IP law in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, and has acted for some of the world’s biggest drug companies in patent disputes. These include representing Novo Nordisk in defending invalidations against blockbuster drug Wegovy at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.

Highly experienced partner Maohua Wang has prosecuted thousands of patent applications, as well as led teams to handle hundreds of civil and administrative patent litigation cases. Wang lends his expertise to various industry organisations in high-ranking roles, such as executive director of the All-China Patent Attorneys Association.

Nongfan Zhu focuses his practice on all aspects of IP laws, particularly IP asset management, dispute resolution and transactional work, and is a go-to contact at the firm for non-contentious patent issues.

Beijing partner Wenping Chen is singled out by a Japanese multinational client for patent prosecution work. Chen’s practice covers areas including pharmaceutical chemistry, biotechnology, and organic chemistry.

For contentious matters, Benjamin Bai is a renowned expert. Bai, who joined KWM in 2023, is recognised for his work in handling high-stakes disputes involving patents and other IP rights, particularly with a cross-border dimension.

Gordon Gao also takes on critical IP disputes, and has advised multinational technology companies on IP protection and enforcement strategies. His work highlights include representing Boehringer Ingelheim in a major patent infringement case against a generic drug company, and acting for Apple in its standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing disputes with Qualcomm.

Jing Xu is an asset to the firm with around 20 years’ experience litigating IP disputes. Xu has acted as lead counsel for various series of lawsuits in China for patent disputes between well-known multinational and domestic companies.