Marks & Clerks’ international exchange

PATENT and trade mark attorneys Marks & Clerk has is leveraging its international network by welcoming a senior member of its Hong Kong team to Manchester.

Zephyr Su, a patent attorney from the firm’s Hong Kong office, will spend five weeks on secondment with colleagues and clients in the North West.

The trip will allow a two-way exchange of  knowledge and experience of each others’ market and practice.

Su’s secondment will provide clients of Marks & Clerk Manchester, as well as its attorneys, with the opportunity to learn more about protecting intellectual property (IP) in China.

IP protection becomes particularly necessary when an organisation seeks to market its products or services or locate part of its supply chain in China.

Patent filings in China increased by over a quarter (25.6%) between 2011 and 2012, reaching 2.05 million new filings last year. 118,000 of these filings were by foreign applicants.

Mark Kenrick, Manchester office managing partner for Marks & Clerk,:”The tide of trade towards Asia is not letting up and we are seeing more and more UK clients seeking to expand eastwards.

“By welcoming Zephyr Su for a period of five weeks, we hope to add to our understanding of the Asian markets and IP regimes our clients operate in.”