Johnathan Chen

Head of Division-Asia, James & Wells

Johnathan leads a team dedicated to providing specialist intellectual property advice to New Zealanders wanting to do business in Asia.

With a working knowledge of conducting business, as well as numerous business contacts across a range of industries in China, Johnathan is well placed to work with James & Wells’ clients and associates. He assists with the development of dual language contracts and agreements alongside our Commercial team. He also runs our Chinese brand creation and registration service, which ensures clients have useable Chinese brands and/or English brands which are accurately translated in Mandarin.

As an Intellectual Property Specialist, Johnathan works with the James & Wells trade mark and patents teams to develop IP strategies that ensure our clients can make the most of their ideas worldwide. Johnathan specialises in searching, prosecuting and drafting patent applications, and providing infringement and ‘freedom to operate’ opinions in the field of engineering.

Before joining James & Wells, Johnathan worked as a Design and Project Engineer for NDA – a specialist stainless steel fabrication and consulting company. Johnathan’s role saw him both project managing as well as designing and drafting pressure vessels, holding tanks, process vessels and steel structures for an extensive range of industries.

Johnathan  holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Honours). He is also a member of the Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand (IPENZ), the New Zealand Institute of Patent Attorneys (NZIPA) and the Asian Patent Attorneys Association.