Member of the ECTA Anti-Counterfeiting Committee, Ferrante Intellectual Property, CN

MICHELE FERRANTE is the founder and managing partner of FERRANTE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. His expertise covers all aspects of IP rights, including, but not limited to, IP right enforcement and management and anti-counterfeiting strategies in Asia.

Michele’s experience in multi-jurisdictional practices in London, Paris and Milan enabled him to identify the issues that Italian companies were facing internationally, during the 1990’s. Recognising China’s strong potential for growth in the IP field, in 2004, Michele founded his first firm in China, creating the path for Ferrante IP, which has gone on to become an award winning practice, which has been named the Leading Chinese IP Firm by various prominent industry magazines. He is an active speaker, lecturer, moderator and panellist at INTA, ECTA and other associations and conferences.

Specifically, Michele was appointed as a moderator for the Working Group on China during the 31st ECTA Annual Meeting in Palermo and the 35th Annual Conference in Dubrovnik, in 2016. He was invited to speak at the ECTA Workshop for ‘The Enforcement of IPR’s in China from a European Perspective.’ In 2020, Michele did a presentation to the ECTA AntiCounterfeiting Committee, on the development of and interesting points of ‘Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Strengthening the Sanctions Against Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights’ and ‘Rules of the Supreme People’s Court on Evidence in Civil Litigation of Intellectual Property Rights.’

Michele has contributed to numerous EU-China IPR dialogues and governmental meetings, including the Seminar on New Issues of Trademark Filing, which focused on bad faith trade mark registration of international famous brands and the Seminar on Discussion about the new Trade mark Law of China which was organised by the European Delegation of China & Mongolia. Michele contributed to many EU-China Working Group Conferences, organised by the Italian IPR Desk in Beijing and Guangzhou.

During the last decade, Michele has been invited to speak in the US, by the American Bar Association (ABA) notably, at its 29th Annual IP Law Conference, where he presented various topics covering the development of IP law in China, both substantive and procedural and has given a presentation in a webinar hosted by the ABA in 2022.

Since 2018, Michele has been requested to be a guest lecturer in Rome, at the prestigious Business School of Il Sole 24 ORE.

Michele enjoys a high international profile, demonstrated by his presentation, ‘China IP Protection in the Digital Economy’, with the China IPR SME Helpdesk on IP Protection, an event co-organised by the EU-China Joint Innovation Centre, Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China and the Business School of Beijing University, Renmin Business School.

The high profile and international aspect to Michele’s contribution to IP, has resulted in him receiving numerous industry awards and recommendations, including in the Legal 500, where he has been regularly named as a Leading Professional. In the 2024 edition, he was named as a Recommended Lawyer and also as a Key Lawyer. Michele has been ranked in the WTR1000 World’s Leading Trademark Professionals.

Michele is an accredited legal author and his articles are regularly published in prestigious journals, such as the Oxford University Press, Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice. His articles for the publication include an Annual Trademark Round Up and articles on pertinent legal topics in China, such as the application of punitive damages for trade mark infringement and also other aspects of Chinese IP Law, including trade mark applications. He regularly writes about challenging subjects, imparting his knowledge on the IP aspects of anticounterfeiting strategies, the EU-China Agreement of Geographical Indications and counterfeiting on E-Commerce platforms amongst others.

Michele is multi-lingual, speaking fluent Italian, English, French and Spanish.