Franck Fougere, a French native, arrived in Thailand 24 years ago.
Back then, he says, “IP was still a relatively new field”; the country was emerging from the Asian financial crisis (in the late 1990’s), there were few domestic patent applications and a limited number of qualified patent agents with technical backgrounds.
“At the time, patent professionals were still developing expertise in patent searching, freedom-to-operate analyses, patent drafting and litigation,” he tells Managing IP: “But it was already clear that the landscape was beginning to change.”
When he founded Ananda IP in 2011, Fougere decided to focus on domestic companies as well as international clients and recruit professionals with strong technical backgrounds.
Today, the firm has a team of 17, most of whom are patent specialists.
Patent work accounts for about 60% of the firm’s revenue. Its clients include Unicharm, BYD, TikTok, Huawei, Great Wall Motors, Amgen, Sandoz and Gilead.
“These companies chose us not because we were the oldest or largest IP firm, but because we offered expertise and services that were not readily available elsewhere,” says Fougere.
This expertise extends to patent litigation, which is still relatively rare in Thailand. In one major case, Ananda IP successfully invalidated three patents relating to flexure technology that were asserted against its client, Hutchinson Technology.
The ruling, which led to a global settlement between the parties, involved about 30 days of hearings and a litigation team of around 40 people.
The case, Nitto Denko v Hutchinson Technology, won an award for Impact Case of the Year at the Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific Awards 2019.
Understanding Chinese clients
A key development for the firm was the decision to look to China. Fougere had worked in the country between 2004 and 2010 and says: “I witnessed first-hand how rapidly the country was advancing in innovation and patenting.”
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Ananda IP has seen significant increases in patent filings from Chinese companies, notably automotive manufacturers.
Over the past two years alone, it has filed about 150 patent and design applications just for BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer.
The firm has a Hong Kong office, which gives direct access to many Chinese clients. But more important, says Fougere, is understanding how Chinese companies expect law firms to operate: transparent fixed fees, responsiveness, competitive pricing for high-volume work and specialised technical expertise.
"For example, Chinese clients generally do not appreciate being billed simply for forwarding an office action,” he says. “They can translate the documents themselves and prefer to pay only for substantive legal work.”
Ananda IP therefore sends the office action in Thai for the client to review and translate internally, and then advises on how best to respond.
“That’s where our technical expertise adds real value. We bill our clients only when we’re providing meaningful professional input.”
AI adoption
Another key decision when Ananda IP opened in 2011 was investing in technology. The firm developed its own customer relationship management tool, adopted a paperless workflow and moved document management to the cloud.
“In hindsight, those decisions proved invaluable, particularly during the pandemic, when we were able to transition seamlessly to remote working,” says Fougere.
Today, the firm is building on this work by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) tools into its practice, for example, to summarise large volumes of information in due diligence exercises or IP valuations and to identify inconsistencies and potential errors.
“AI is a valuable tool, but it is there mostly for now to support legal professionals by reducing the risk of human error and saving time on repetitive administrative tasks,” says Fougere.
He says one of the biggest challenges with AI arises when a client uses generative AI to try to improve a draft agreement, and the tool suggests additional provisions.
“We then have to spend time explaining why those recommendations are inappropriate or legally unsound,” says Fougere. “Ironically, we end up billing time that could have been avoided had they simply trusted the original advice."
Broader strategic advisers
While the past 15 years have seen considerable growth, Fougere believes IP practice in Thailand will change significantly in the coming years.
“IP prosecution is becoming less central to our business, while commercial IP work – including franchising, licensing, technology transfer and IP valuation – is growing rapidly,” he says.
“This presents an opportunity for IP firms to expand beyond securing IP rights and become broader strategic advisers to their clients."
