Rouse has appointed Tim Smith as deputy international service head for Asia litigation.

Smith, who will be based in London, was formerly senior legal adviser at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), where he led the fight against unauthorised copying of music on the internet.

At IFPI, Smith took action against music search providers, P2P service operators and uploaders, ISPs and payment providers. He was part of the team that worked with Rouse on the landmark victory over Yahoo! China, the search engine owned by online commerce group Alibaba, in a copyright infringement case.

Before joining IFPI, Smith worked in the IP litigation team at law firm Ashurst.

Rouse has 15 offices worldwide, including 12 in Asia. Smith will work with enforcement colleagues throughout the region, with an immediate focus on China.

Rouse has also hired George Chan, partner of Kangxin Partners, to work as a client manager in the firm's Beijing office.

Chan will officially leave Kangxin Partners at the end of this month and will join Rouse at the beginning of February. While at the firm he advised foreign clients on IP matters in China. He will perform a similar role for Rouse.

Chan's areas of expertise include IP management and strategy and patents, trade marks and domain name registrations.