Clyde & Co is a leading international law firm with more than 400 partners and 2,000 legal staff. We operate from over 50 offices and associated offices across six continents. Clyde & Co has advised clients on the business opportunities offered by China’s evolving markets for over 35 years and has 13 offices and associate offices in Asia-Pacific. Clyde & Co Westlink JLV is a joint law venture between international law firm Clyde & Co and Chinese local law firm Westlink Partnership. The establishment of our Shanghai office in 2006 and the Beijing and Chongqing offices in 2013 significantly reinforced the firm’s capability and presence in the region and is in line with our strategy to be present in all major trading centres worldwide.
Clyde & Co is well known for its advice on high-profile and complex cross-border matters and for work in emerging markets. We advise businesses at the heart of global trade and commerce. We are recognised as a leader in the insurance, transportation, energy, infrastructure, trade and commodities sectors. We also provide legal services in relation to intellectual property, corporate and commercial, dispute resolution employment, regulation and cyber security. We have over 30 legal staff in China who have extensive local experience and knowledge of the complexities of how business is done locally. Our lawyers are multi-lingual and qualified to practise in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, England and Wales, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Unlike many other international law firms which provide local legal services through their affiliated firms or partners, Clyde & Co Westlink JLV is licensed by the Ministry of Justice. Therefore, we provide seamless onshore and offshore advice as a single entity, including representation in Chinese courts and issuing formal Chinese legal opinions, drawing together Clyde & Co’s international expertise with the full domestic legal capability of Westlink Partnership. Should litigation in China be required, we offer clients a one-stop shop.
Clyde & Co’s China IP team provides a full range of strategic IP services covering Greater China. Featuring a team of experienced and enthusiastic IP lawyers permanently based in China, the range of IP services that we provide covers the full IP lifecycle from advising on, building and prosecuting strategic IP portfolios to assessing, managing and extracting value from intellectual property in commercial and licensing transactions, and the enforcement of intellectual property, including trademarks, designs, copyright, patents and utility models, as well as actions against unfair competition and passing off. Through longstanding dialogues with international IP advocacy groups in China and overseas, the team also provides unparalleled IP insight and advocacy services to international businesses with an interest in China and the Greater China region.
With over 13 years’ experience in China, our IP team has accumulated extensive expertise in trademarks and brands, as well as technology law and patent practice. Our patent and trademark prosecution practices are set up in both the Beijing office (essential for optimum access to the Chinese Patent Office and China Trademark Office) and the Shanghai office. Members of our team provide consistently high-quality services to our clients worldwide. We provide a full range of China patent services, including filing patent applications via the Patent Cooperation Treaty or Paris Convention, prosecution, licensing and dispute resolution.
We offer a full range of trademark-related services, including conducting availability searches, advising on appropriate specifications of goods and services, advising on the registrability of marks, preparing and lodging applications, the prosecution of applications, drafting licences and assignments, conducting recordation and managing renewals, cancellation actions and oppositions. We offer clients both Chinese knowledge and experience with international best practice.