As a leading international IP firm, Dennemeyer has been assisting clients with legal and non-legal aspects of managing intellectual property portfolios worldwide for 50 years. Its law firm Dennemeyer & Associates and the services organization Dennemeyer Group offer clients a one stop shop for cost effective annuities and renewal payments, portfolio management via cutting-edge docketing (IP Management Software) as well as consulting services for process optimization and outsourcing. Dennemeyer is also known for its strong customer service. With its headquarters located in Luxembourg, it has a global presence including local offices in 12 countries, including China, Japan and Australia.

What are the secrets for Dennemeyer’s success? Dr. Reinhold Nowak, CEO of the Dennemeyer Group accepted the interview of China IP to share the successful experience of Dennemeyer with the readers.

China IP: Dennemeyer celebrates 50 years in 2012! What are the key factors to Dennemeyer’s continued success for such a long time?

Dr. Reinhold Nowak: 50 years in any business involves great foresight and responsibility. It also requires a strong backbone and an innovative and service-oriented spirit. These traits coupled with a strong orientation for tailor-made services are just some of the reasons why Dennemeyer has grown into one of the biggest global IP firms. The foundation that is critical for Dennemeyer is our dedicated and multilingual staff, attorneys and IP experts. Other key contributors are our economic stability and global presence. Especially in times of cost savings and outsourcing we were able to offer our clients tailor-made services and transparent cost calculations. It is in that context that we remain quick and flexible functioning like a small entity located locally, but nonetheless stable and powerful performing and adapting in the changing global marketplace.

China IP: What motivated you to expand to Asia and what are your main achievements in Asia?

Dr. Reinhold Nowak: Dennemeyer set up a branch office in Japan 25 years ago. We foresaw certain key business developments in Asia and adjusted our product portfolio to the needs of that market. We understood that this would be decisive to our continued business success. The enormous IP activities of the Japanese industry in the 1990s led to a steady increase in demand for IP services and innovative software solutions. In Japan we became one of the most successful providers for patent annuity payments and trademark renewals.

Also, as for our intellectual asset management software DIAMS in the region, we became a market leader in Singapore with the addition of a number of high-profile, wellknown companies that needed docketing software. To date however, one of our most significant achievements is the expanding demand for our Portfolio Services in China. This has been spurred on by on-going development activities of the Chinese industries as reflected by increasing numbers of national and international patent and trademark filings. In connection to this increased activity, our portal myipgateway.com is a very cost-efficient, powerful tool for PCT filings and DIAMS iQ is the first multilingual software available in Chinese, Japanese and many other languages.

China IP: Can you explain what myipgateway is?

Dr. Reinhold Nowak: myipgateway is a web-based platform enabling users and visitors to retrieve cost estimates and place orders for PCT nationalizations, patent filings, validations of European patents and the corresponding translations. This online platform enables companies and law firms to get cost estimates and recommendations for filing strategies, among other languages also in Chinese. As a unique feature, the platform enables clients to choose between three types of cost estimates for official fees. This way myipgateway helps companies better plan their budgets. Registration is not mandatory and is free of charge. Registered users can use more features and place orders directly with our experts. You can test it at www.myipgateway.com.

China IP: Does Dennemeyer have any specific plans of entering the Chinese market?

Dr. Reinhold Nowak: Yes! We had set up our office in Beijing about two years ago. We started in a joint-venture known as PAN ASIA IP Services Ltd. now renamed and turned into a Dennemeyer subsidiary. Currently our Chinese team is mainly serving client needs for patent annuity payments and trademark renewals. We are also offering all other services and products, especially our IP management software DIAMS iQ, which we adjusted to the needs of the Chinese market. We felt it was critical to our global mission to have a local office and strong presence in China. This allows us to give our clients the best possible quality and hands on service, but also provide advice and support in utilizing their IP rights in the U.S. and Europe.

China IP: This year’s Dennemeyer Annual Meeting is the first to take place in Asia, in Singapore. What is the intention of your event and what are your expectations?

Dr. Reinhold Nowak: Our presence in Singapore at this year’s Annual Meeting marks our company’s 50th anniversary.

We are honouring this with a special event together with our Asian clients celebrating the strength of innovation in the Asia-Pacific area, one of the fastest growing in the world.

The series of Dennemeyer Annual Meetings have become a tradition enabling us to meet and interact with clients, law firms and companies interested in our services. All participants can highly benefit from this interaction and coming together of IP intelligence. Our guests get the chance to address their questions and needs directly to our experts and meet with other clients. This allows us to gather useful feedback and to also take a pulse of the market.

China IP: Could you make a brief introduction to the Dennemeyer Annual Meeting 2012?

Dr. Reinhold Nowak: The Annual Meeting 2012 will take place in Singapore from November 15th to 16th. We expect interested companies from Singapore and the neighbouring countries, especially China, to join us to discover what Dennemeyer can do for them. Additionally, the meeting has a wealth of educational value to offer. We will provide interesting workshops on the latest trends in IP law and management as well as our services. Accordingly, emphasis will be placed on our latest technological innovation, the IP management software DIAMS iQ. Our popular Portfolio Services and Legal Services will also be discussed in depth. Those joining the event will take part in presentations on the latest IP trends in Asia, Europe, Australia and the United States. Participants will be able to discover new ideas enabling their business to benefit more from their IP assets.

China IP: Who can attend the Dennemeyer Annual Meeting?

Dr. Reinhold Nowak: The conference is tailored for both law firms and companies, regardless of their size. Corporate counsels, patent and trademark attorneys, business managers and heads of the R&D department are all sincerely invited to attend our event. Since we are addressing a broad range of IP-related topics, there is most definitely something interesting for everyone. The crossdisciplinary approach we are promoting is beneficial for knowledge-sharing and networking.

We invite those interested in attending our events and in meeting with our specialists, to visit our new website www.dennemeyer.com for more information.