Biography
Chris is Head of UK and EU Enforcement, responsible for coordinating IP enforcement actions with Rouse offices and partner firms across the EMEA region. Having previously lived and worked in China for more than 25 years, including a stint managing the Evidence Services team, as well as handling cases across ASEAN, Chris is ideally placed to link activities between the EMEA region, and Asia.
As well as supervising activities across the EMEA such as test purchases, open-source intelligence gathering, online enforcement and investigations, customs detentions and civil and criminal enforcement cases, Chris’s team on tracing supply chains back to sources in China and elsewhere, where he collaborate with Rouse local offices to uncover and attack the sources of infringing trade. He has experience in a wide range of industries, from consumer and luxury goods to automotive parts, electronics, industrial equipment, and healthcare. He has expertise in technology and software license compliance and a lead member of Rouse’s software anti-piracy team. He has handled numerous with complex IP infringement issues in China, including patent and trade secret infringement, copyright, design and unfair competition cases.
Chris is responsible for Rouse’s CHORUS web-based case management database, used by numerous IP owners for tracking and reporting on cases worldwide, and one of the tools used by Chris’s team to analyse cases, trace counterfeit supply chain links and form strategies.
Chris brings his previous experience in Rouse’s Consultancy practice, where he focused on commercialisation of IP, to bring a strategic and commercially-focused approach to IP protection, with an emphasis on creating deterrent, measuring the impact of enforcement, recovery of compensation, and optimising enforcement budgets.
He was co-creator of Rouse China’s CIELA IP litigation analysis tool, and has used data from CIELA to publish articles on various IP litigation topics such as software piracy and trade secrets.
Chris publishes an occasional blog, “The Knockoff”, on brand protection, and is co-author of two books, “Patent Law in Greater China”, ed. Luginbuehl and Ganea, Edward Elgar Press 2014 and
“Commercialisation of IP Rights in China” ed. Chien-Hale, American Bar Association, 2020.
Chris speaks and reads Chinese.