Ann Arbor law firm Brinks Gilson & Lione to open office in China

Brinks Gilson & Lione, an intellectual property law firm with an office in Ann Arbor, recently announced it has filed an application with the Shenzhen Justice Bureau to establish an office in Shenzhen, China, the firm’s first location overseas.

Shenzhen, a city in Guangdong Province in southeastern China, is a major financial and manufacturing center. The province is known for high technology and biological research, including for pharmaceutical and bioengineering companies, and for its favorable business environment for hardware start-ups—earning it the nickname of “China’s Silicon Valley.” Brinks will be the first foreign law firm to open an office in Shenzhen.

“Brinks Gilson & Lione’s purpose in establishing our new office in Shenzhen is simple,” said Brinks president James R. Sobieraj. “We want to be closer to our clients in China. Brinks already represents a number of China’s largest and most successful enterprises with intellectual property needs in the U.S. They rely on Brinks’ range of experience as they enter and expand in the U.S. and the global marketplace. Now we’ll have a local presence to serve these valued clients.”

Brinks’ Shenzhen office will help Chinese enterprises that export to the U.S. take full advantage of U.S. IP laws by helping them protect their innovations and defend against assertions of infringement by their products, including in U.S. federal district court, before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Brinks shareholder and litigator Harold V. Johnson, who has more than three decades of experience in the practice of IP law, will be the managing shareholder in Shenzhen. Attorneys Gustavo Siller, Yuezhong Feng, and Elizabeth Chien-Hale will be able to take advantage of this new location as they continue to represent Chinese clients. Brinks also plans to hire local Chinese technical and administrative personnel.

“Brinks Gilson & Lione has demonstrated a strong track record of success representing Chinese companies facing patent litigation in the United States,” said Johnson. “As Chinese companies expand to the global market, they will continue to face legal challenges to the importation and sale of their products in the U.S., including with respect to intellectual property. Brinks is well-positioned to help.”

Brinks attorneys have represented Chinese companies in several patent infringement actions in U.S. district courts and before the ITC. The firm successfully defended a major Chinese telecommunications company in three ITC actions, and successfully represented another Chinese enterprise in its first abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) under the Hatch-Waxman Act. Brinks has also represented Chinese clients in litigations brought in district courts in the District of Delaware, the Northern District of California, the Eastern District of Texas, and the Northern District of Illinois.

The announcement of the opening of Brinks’ Shenzhen office comes on the heels of the firm’s participation in the 2016 Annual Conference of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) in Beijing, China on May 15-18, 2016, and Brinks’ co-sponsorship of the 2016 IP Strategy Forum: Taiwan, U.S. and China, in Taipei, Taiwan on May 20, 2016.

Brinks Gilson & Lione’s office in Shenzhen is the second new location the firm announced; the firm is also opening a new office in Tampa, Fla.