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Candice Kwok is a partner in the Intellectual Property & Technology Practice with over 20 years of experience in global brand market positioning, focusing on international trademark portfolio management, enforcement counseling and contentious trademark proceedings. Candice is renowned for her sophisticated understanding of IP value and track record of success in helping her clients realize it through brand management.
Candice’s work for clients around the world encompasses a variety of IP issues, including AI, trademarks, global branding strategies, domain names, and helping clients with the protection and enforcement of their brands worldwide. Candice also acts for clients in contentious trademark disputes, by commencing or defending opposition, revocation or invalidation proceedings. She represents clients across varied industries, including fintech, hospitality, healthcare and fashion.
Candice serves as a specialist mediator of the Singapore International Mediation Center (SIMC). In this capacity, she works with a variety of entities to resolve cross-border, commercial disputes. In addition, she is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) List of Neutrals, an international list of mediators and other dispute resolution professionals with focused knowledge in IP.
IP and industry associations around the world regularly invite Candice to speak on trademark and other IP matters. She was an expert speaker at WIPO’s seminar on the Madrid System, the guest speaker at the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s (EUIPO) seminar for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) IP offices, and has lectured in Mandarin Chinese on Singapore IP law at a Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City IP Group Seminar. The Singapore Management University’s law faculty has invited Candice on various occasions to speak on intellectual property issues, and clients regularly engage her to conduct in-house IP training workshops.
- Represented one of the largest general trading companies in Japan with the due diligence review and evaluation of a major Singapore commodities company’s intellectual property assets in connection with an acquisition.
- Represented the owners of a world-renowned lifestyle destination in a multijurisdictional dispute over their trademark rights, spanning Singapore, the US, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand and Europe.
- Acted in multiple opposition and invalidation proceedings in Singapore for a luxury streetwear fashion brand from Europe taking action against an Asian copycat company.
- Regular representation of a publicly listed healthcare company in connection with the selection, maintenance, clearance and protection of all of its trademarks worldwide.
- Represented various game developers and gaming companies in trademark matters, both non-contentious and contentious.
- Successfully resolved numerous trademark opposition, revocation and invalidation disputes before the Singapore Registry for clients in diverse fields such as cosmetics, telecommunications, household goods and financial services, among others.
Education
- National University of Singapore, LL.B., 1999
Admissions
- California, 2010
- Singapore, 2000
Memberships & Affiliations
- Specialist Mediator, Singapore International Mediation Center (SIMC)
- Member, Trademark Office Practices, International Trademark Association (INTA), 2010-2013; 2024
- Chair, Trademark Office Practices – Asia-Pacific Subcommittee, INTA, 2018-2021
- Member, Non-Traditional Trademarks Committee, INTA, 2022-2023
- Member, The Law Society of Singapore
- Member, Singapore Academy of Law
- Member, INTA
Languages
- English
- Mandarin
- Cantonese
- Japanese
- French
- Recognized as Highly Recommended in USA Trademarks Rankings by World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR) 2024
- Named as a Leader by WIPR 2024
- Named as one of the Influential Women in IP by WIPR 2022
- Recommended in World Trademark Review’s WTR 1000
- IP Star, Managing Intellectual Property
- Listed among the World’s Leading IP Strategists, Intellectual Asset Management (IAM)
- Speaker, “Navigating the Complexities of Trade Secret Protection in the Modern Era,” INTA Leadership Meeting 2024, November 2024.
- Moderator, “IP Lessons and Best Practices from Award Winning Start-ups, Entrepreneurs, and SMEs,” INTA Annual Meeting, May 2023.
- Lead expert, IP Management Clinic, WIPO in the Philippines, organized by WIPO in conjunction with ASEAN-Business Advisory Council, May 2023.
- Co-author, Singapore chapter, Intellectual Property Review, April 2022.
- Panelist, Panel Presentation, “WIPO Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks: 125 Years of Services for Exporting Businesses,” Singapore Management University, Sep 2016.
- Author, “Brand Protection in ASEAN,” Managing IP, March 2015.