"I have used quite a lot of firms in different areas in China in the past 15 years. Wan Hui Da is the only firm that provided us full services in the IP area, including trademark administration, policing and enforcement at both administrative level and criminal level," remarks a client of Wan Hui Da Law Firm & Intellectual Property Agency. "Wan Hui Da has been very professional and efficient in providing services to us." Climbing up a tier on the trade mark prosecution ladder, the firm has consolidated its leading position.
Michelin Group engaged the firm in a trade mark case where the court ruled that unauthorised use of Michelin in Chinese characters as a trade name and trade mark in bicycles constituted infringement and unfair competition. Wan Hui is also well known for its anti-counterfeiting work. Last year, it acted for Hewlett-Packard in the criminal prosecution of a gang manufacturing and distributing counterfeit HP packing materials, and helped coordinate the interception of 12 containers of fake daily care products by Shenzhen and Huangpu Customs with the collaboration of Dubai Customs for a group of overseas companies.
"We have instructed Wan Hui Da and have found it to be very good: the lawyers think creatively and are quick to act once a decision has been taken to follow a particular course of action," notes an in-house counsel. "Zhang Yan and Xiang Junlin of Wan Hui Da have made an excellent first impression by gaining an understanding of our business very quickly and working tirelessly on our cases."
Another client is quick to mention senior counsel Sting Xiaoyi Wu and senior partner Ren Haiyan, noting Wu is "very diligent and responsive, very knowledgeable in IP enforcement, and very well connected with government agencies," and speaking of Ren as "very professional and knowledgeable in giving advice on trade mark administration and with very good people skills".
The firm has also been busy on the patent side and is trying to develop this area further. Yin Xintian, spokesman and director-general of legal affairs department of State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), joined as a senior partner in May 2010 and is expected to improve the firm's patent prowess. In a standout case Wan Hui Da represented patent holder Guangzhou New GEP Decoration Material and Fu Zhihong in a patent infringement case before the Supreme People's Court that debated the protection scope of a technical patent.