Baker & McKenzie has added a partner to its Japanese intellectual property (IP) practice with the hire of Kensaku Takase from Hogan Lovells.

Takase (pictured), an of counsel at Hogan Lovells, joins Bakers in Tokyo, where he will concentrate on cross-border IP work, in addition to IT and e-commerce matters.

With 10 years' experience in his field, Takase, who graduated in New Zealand and is a registered foreign lawyer, has worked with clients on IP matters including trademark issues and anti-counterfeiting work, as well as disputes relating to copyright and design infringement.

On the IT side, he has been involved in outsourcing deals, as well as software and service agreements, software licensing, data protection and disputes.

Bakers Tokyo managing partner Yoshiaki Muto commented: "As the number of Japanese companies expanding overseas continues to grow rapidly, establishing and efficiently managing a global intellectual property portfolio is becoming a critical part of running a business.

"Concurrently it becomes important for corporations to deal with intellectual property right violations which have become particularly subtle.

Bakers is among the largest foreign law firms in Tokyo, alongside its US counterpart Morrison & Foerster. In addition to providing local advice, the firm also handles Japanese outbound deals, which have been a key source of work for foreign lawyers in the country in the last 18 months.