In China, foreign lawyers are not permitted to attend patent trials.

So to unveil the Chinese court system for a U.S. audience, lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan hosted a mock patent trial with Beijing-headquartered international firm Zhong Lun Law Firm on Thursday, to demonstrate how patent procedures unfold in China.

“We have noticed, especially in the recent year, that there has been growing demand and interest for U.S. tech companies in particular to enforce their technology rights, their intellectual properties, in China,” said Mark Tung, a Silicon Valley-based partner at Quinn Emanuel, who specializes in intellectual property litigation in federal courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Thursday's mock trial provided an example of a Chinese patent case, in which a foreign company was able to enforce its patents in China. It presented a fictitious dispute between Company A and Company B, over a “spindle motor” patent.

Tung said as more companies expand internationally, more of them are recognizing the importance of maintaining and enforcing their IP rights across jurisdictions, especially in China, which has the fastest growing economy in the world.

“China is now one of the three most important IP jurisdictions in the world … along with the United States and Germany,” said partner Sam Stake, who joined Quinn Emanuel's San Francisco office in 2008. “In fact, more patents are filed every year in China than in any other country in the world.”

However, both Tung and Stake noted that a challenge of practicing IP law in China is that, unlike in the U.S. legal system, patent processing in China tends to be closed to the public, and the discovery process is much more limited.

“How do you show, without getting documents from the other side, that the other side's products actually practice your patents?” Tung said.

Quinn Emanuel partners with a number of local counsel in China, including Zhong Lun, to help facilitate its clients' increasing IP needs.

“This event for us is really an educational event for clients here in Silicon Valley, California, to help demystify the process of Chinese patent litigation, so that our clients can get more comfortable with the procedure,” said Xiao Liu, a Shanghai-based lawyer who joined Quinn Emanuel from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in 2018.

According to Quinn Emanuel, the litigation giant has 139 partners in its IP department, while Zhong Lun said it has 18 partners and 107 lawyers involved in its patent practice.

Tung said he learns about some new development in the Chinese patent system every time he travels there, as the government looks to make reforms.

“The fact that it is changing so rapidly, to me, [says] indicatively there a push to improve the system. There is a recognition that a strong intellectual property system is important to form the foundation of Chinese economic growth,” Tung said.