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After spending most of his career with big law firms, in 2012 he established SIPS (Simone IP Services) a Hong Kong-based IP boutique. Joe has been on the front lines in advising American and European IP owners in relation to enforcement and registration of their trademarks, copyrights and patents, as well as in investigating theft of trade secrets.  He is particularly known for establishing the law in China on intermediary liability in wholesale and retail markets through a series of civil actions for major fashion brands against the landlord to the Silk Street Market in Beijing.  He also assisted JK Rowling in pursuing publishers of unauthorized adaptations of Harry Potter novels.

Joe writes regularly on the latest developments in Chinese trademark law, with particular focus these days on online counterfeiting and bad faith registration of trademarks. He is also active in lobbying the Chinese government on IP reforms through his work with major industry associations, such as the International Trademark Association and the Quality Brands Protection Committee (qbpc.org.cn).

Joe Simone (Penn College of Arts and Sciences 1984) has been practicing IP law in Greater China since 1988.

* Sponsored by the Center for Asian Law, the Center for East Asian Studies and the Center for the Study of Contemporary China