"There is nothing like learning by being there," he said. "I have learnt a huge amount from the various cases I have followed."
He was speaking during
Managing IP
's web seminar on IP litigation in China on Tuesday last week. Keith Tsang, director of China operations for Intellect Consultancy, and He Fang, head of the Shanghai dispute resolution team for Rouse, also gave presentations.
Meyer-Rochow set out a series of points to consider when deciding whether or not to litigate. He pointed out that negotiation with counterfeiters can often be counter-productive: "He will be alerted to the fact that you are on to him and he may destroy any evidence that he has and move his operations."
He added that long negotiations may make it difficult to get
ex parte
relief.
Working out the chances of success can also be difficult, according to Meyer-Rochow: "It is very hard to get absolute certainty in any legal system, let alone in China".
Meyer-Rochow said in-house counsel have to deal with overly pessimistic external counsel in some foreign law firms operating in China, as well as local firms that sometime exaggerate the chances of success in order to win business.
Before Meyer-Rochow spoke Tsang explained how investigators in China go about collecting evidence.
Generally this begins with a market survey done by investigators using trading fronts that have been set up with phone, email and websites. Investigators are often placed in factories suspected of making counterfeits. "Rubbish collected near a factory can be reconstructed and analysed," said Tsang.
Fang, the final speaker, pointed out some of the mistakes that multinational companies make when litigating in China.
"Preliminary injunction is not the ultimate pre-trial remedy in China," he said. Fang used case studies to illustrate how to obtain these injunctions, as well as asset and evidence preservation orders.
According to Fang, companies also need to make sure the right judge is in charge of their case: "Unlike in many western jurisdictions, Chinese judges are accessible but we need due diligence because the quality of judge differs tremendously," he said.
To listen to the full web seminar please go to
www.managingip.com/webseminars
