Welcome to the latest instalment of Managing IP’s ‘Five minutes with’ series, where we learn more about IP practitioners on a personal and professional level.
This time, we meet Tingxi Huo, partner at Chofn International IP.
Someone asks you at a party what you do for a living. What do you say?
I help invention and brand owners protect their lawful rights and interests.
Talk us through a typical working day.
Open my laptop to see the newly received emails. Prioritise urgent matters, including, but not limited to, answers to inquiries, meeting/visiting clients, talking with colleagues about cases, coordinating resources to support clients’ cases, reviewing the work of the day and listing the work to do for tomorrow or days to come.
What are you working on at the moment?
Drafting training courses for junior attorneys and clients, writing and reviewing newsletters and articles.
Does one big piece of work usually take priority, or are you juggling multiple things?
I’m always juggling multiple things, typical for IP practitioners.
What is the most exciting aspect of your role, and what is the most stressful?
When our team solve the clients’ problems and is highly praised, I often find our work rewarding. In some cases, when we work very hard but still find it difficult to solve our clients’ problems, the stress begins to pile up, and I might become sleepless.
Tell us the key characteristics that make a successful IP lawyer/practitioner.
The perseverant pursuit of pragmatic solutions.
What is the most common misconception about IP?
It’s nothing but intangible assets.
What or who inspires you?
The clients’ heavy trust in our responsibility to solve their problems in prosecution and enforcement, and to turn their IP into real value.
If you weren’t in IP, what would you be doing?
I would be a writer to build the cross-cultural bridge.
Any advice you would give your younger self?
A) Study the relevant IP law well and quickly;
B) Work on actual cases as many as possible;
C) Regularly review and summarise my stronger points and weaker points;
D) Keep studying new laws and regulations; and
E) Learn from peers’ precedents and other countries’ good practices
What is your motto in life?
Study, and work hard and efficiently.
