K&L Gates Further Bolsters Global IP Capabilities with Addition of Japanese Intellectual Property Team

Tokyo - Global law firm K&L Gates LLP has further strengthened its intellectual property practice with the addition of partner Mitsuhiro Imamura and his team of paralegals in the firm’s Tokyo office. Imamura and his team join K&L Gates from DLA Piper, and are a key addition to the firm’s global intellectual property practice, giving K&L Gates, for the first time, the ability to file Japanese patent and trademark applications, among other capabilities.
 
A dual-registered Japanese patent lawyer (benrishi) who is also admitted to practice in the U.S. (Washington, D.C.), Imamura focuses his practice on patent filings and patent disputes in both national and international transactions. His clients include companies operating across diverse sectors, including mechanical devices, computers, software, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and automotive technology. He also deals with trademark filings, trademark portfolio management, trademark disputes and negotiations, and opposition and invalidity proceedings in Japan and on a global basis.  

“As a firm, we have been strategically focused on expanding our intellectual property capabilities regionally and globally,” said Ryan Dwyer, managing partner of K&L Gates’ Tokyo office. “Mitsuhiro’s extensive experience in obtaining and protecting intellectual rights in Japan and overseas, as well as assisting clients in building patent portfolios and resolving disputes, allows us to offer new intellectual property capabilities to clients in Japan and beyond. Additionally, his arrival further complements our other intellectual property initiatives, such as the recent launch of the K&L Gates IP Agency in China.”

Chicago partner Robert M. Barrett, a leader of the firm’s intellectual property practice area, stated: “For a number of years, our goal has been to be the first financially integrated law firm to offer its clients a true global IP solution. The addition of Mitsuhiro and his team now affords us the ability to offer our clients full-service IP on four continents, a dream come true.” 

Imamura’s arrival follows the addition of the firm’s IP Agency in Beijing and of intellectual property partners in Melbourne, Portland, Orange County, Seattle, and Chicago during the past year. The firm has welcomed more than 80 partners and of counsel since the beginning of 2020, including in the firm’s corporate; health care; tax; commercial litigation; energy, infrastructure and resources; environment, land and natural resources; asset management and investment funds; banking and asset finance; labor and employment; IP procurement and portfolio management; IP litigation; technology transactions; real estate; government contracts; and investigations, enforcement and white collar practices.