Unitalen Attorneys at Law
Firm overview:
Unitalen Attorneys at Law is a well-resourced, large-scale firm, which offers the full range of intellectual property services. Founded in 1994, the firm is one of China’s largest IP law firms, and advises a wide range of clients from all over the world on patent prosecution, opinions, licensing/business transactions, litigation, validity and patent infringement.
The firm is ranked in the ‘Highly Recommended’ category for non-contentious patent work for its efficient prosecution practice and strategic advice. Unitalen handles more than 8,000 patent applications annually, with skills covering the whole process from drafting to examination. The firm uses its litigation expertise to inform its prosecution practice, and vice versa.
Team overview:
Unitalen’s patent group includes more than 180 attorneys. The team’s technical expertise covers areas such as computer hardware and software, semiconductors, telecoms, electronics, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and chemistry.
Chief vice president Deshan Li stands out as a go-to person at Unitalen for patent matters. Li has a particularly strong non-contentious practice, particularly related to the fields of image processing, telecoms, computer science and automation. He handles foreign patent business at the firm and is a frequent author/speaker on patent law.
Key matters:
- Victory in design patent case
One of Unitalen’s work highlights for 2025 was representing a company in successfully invalidating an opposing party’s design patent for shoe soles in patent invalidation proceedings. The case has implications for the determination of authenticity and disclosure of online evidence in patent confirmation proceedings, as it involved a post shared on well-known Chinese platform XiaoHongShu.
- Symrise: Patent invalidation case win
Unitalen represented Symrise, a Germany-headquartered company that produces flavours and fragrances, food and cosmetics ingredients, and nutritional supplements. One of Symrise’s patents, entitled ‘Antimicrobial Compositions’, faced a second invalidation challenge by a petitioner.
Following an oral hearing, the petitioner withdrew the request for invalidation without any amendment made to the claims of the patent.
- Success in patent infringement lawsuit regarding utility model
The team represented a high-tech company in Qingdao that provides safety devices and technical services for oil depots, petrol stations and related fields. A company in Beijing claimed Unitalen’s client had infringed a utility model patent and filed a lawsuit.
Following an oral hearing, the CNIPA invalidated the plaintiff’s patent and it was forced to withdraw the lawsuit.
Clients:
Symrise
