Attorneys Fengfeng Hu, Tan Meng, and Bin Chen Invited to Lecture at the Changzhou “IP Protection for Smooth Sailing” Overseas Intellectual Property Special Public-Interest Training

To implement the requirements of the Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government on Strengthening Overseas Patent Portfolio Planning (Su Zheng Ban Fa [2026] No. 32) and precisely address the pain points of export-oriented enterprises in overseas intellectual property portfolio planning and risk prevention and control, the “IP Protection for Smooth Sailing” Overseas Intellectual Property Risk Response and Portfolio Special Public-Interest Training was successfully held in Changzhou on the afternoon of July 24.

The event was co-hosted by the Changzhou Intellectual Property Public Service Platform and Jiangsu Rayto (Changzhou) Law Firm, and jointly organized by the German Workstation of the Jiangsu Work Platform for Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Response Guidance, the Intellectual Property Industry Alumni Association of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, the Changzhou Branch of Guangzhou 426 Talent Development Institute, and the Changzhou Intellectual Property Association. It was under the full guidance of the Changzhou Municipal Market Supervision Administration (Intellectual Property Office) and the Wujin District Market Supervision Administration (Intellectual Property Office).

At the beginning of the event, Jingwen Yang from the Platform Development Service Center introduced the policy background of the training and briefly presented the platform’s public-interest foreign-related intellectual property service system. Relying on the German Workstation of the Jiangsu Work Platform for Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Response Guidance and the Intellectual Property Sub-center of the Wujin District Foreign-related Legal Service Center, and in collaboration with AI intelligent tools such as “Chang Xiaozhi,” “Zhi Xiaoqing,” and “Nezha Going Global,” the platform provides enterprises across the city with free full-chain services including overseas risk screening, rights protection assistance, patent portfolio planning, and country-specific risk early warning.

In the specialized lecture segment, Attorney Tan Meng gave a presentation titled Overseas Trademark Application Strategies and Risk Prevention and Control. Attorney Tan Meng graduated from the University of Manchester with a specialization in International Intellectual Property Law and is a National Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Response Guidance Expert. She carefully reviewed the differences in trademark application systems among Southeast Asian countries and explained, by region, brand portfolio plans adapted to local markets. Combining real cases involving the Principal and Supplemental Registers of U.S. trademarks, she analyzed registration rules and practical pitfalls and offered targeted suggestions for optimizing U.S. trademark filings. In response to the frequent problem of bad-faith overseas trademark squatting, she systematically reviewed full-chain handling methods covering pre-event monitoring and early warning, in-event opposition and defense, and post-event rights protection and remedies, helping enterprises build a solid barrier for overseas brand protection.

As a Jiangsu Province Intellectual Property Backbone Talent and a Jiangsu Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Response Guidance Expert, Attorney Bin Chen gave a lecture on Third-Party Observations and Opposition Proceedings for European Patents. With the Unified Patent Court (UPC) now fully operational in Europe, patent validity disputes and infringement litigation encountered by Chinese science and technology innovation enterprises in the EU are increasing year by year. Based on the complete institutional system of European patents, Attorney Bin Chen deeply analyzed the two distinctive procedures of third-party observations and patent opposition, explained in detail how to use these two low-cost statutory procedures to challenge competitors’ blocking patents, and emphasized that enterprises should firmly grasp the opposition window period to complete pre-emptive risk handling, comprehensively resolving business risks such as patent injunctions and infringement claims in the EU market.

Attorney Fengfeng Hu gave a specialized lecture on Patent Risk Screening for Product Going Global and Overseas Patent Portfolio Planning. Attorney Fengfeng Hu is a National Patent Information Practical Talent and a Jiangsu Province Intellectual Property Backbone Talent, and was selected as one of the 2024 “Top 50 Intellectual Property Elite Lawyers Under 50 in China.” Using a video of a foreign-related patent portfolio case as an intuitive introduction, he clearly explained the necessity of patent search and analysis before going global, thoroughly broke down the practical process of Freedom to Operate (FTO) searches for export products, and, combining relevant rules on PCT international applications, proposed practical strategies for micro-level overseas patent portfolio planning tailored to enterprise products, so as to avoid cross-border patent infringement risks from the source of R&D and export.

As a law firm focused on the intellectual property field, the Rayto team currently has 2 National Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Response Guidance Experts, and about 50 members hold both legal professional qualifications and patent agent qualifications. It has long been committed to foreign-related intellectual property services and has established close cooperation with intellectual property service institutions and law firms in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide. In addition to traditional foreign-related patent and trademark application services, Rayto has accumulated practical experience in complex cases such as U.S. patent litigation, UPC litigation, European patent licensing, and Dutch litigation. At the same time, Rayto’s cross-border e-commerce intellectual property service products have won industry awards multiple times and gained market recognition. In the future, Rayto will continue to deepen its work in the field of foreign-related intellectual property legal services and provide solid legal protection for more Jiangsu enterprises “going global.”