Rouse International goes for growing overseas IP markets

Niche intellectual property specialist Rouse & Co International is to open new overseas offices in Jakarta and Dubai.

The company - the international arm of the UK-based Willoughby & Co - already has eight offices in Hong Kong and China.

Stuart Adams, a company director and partner at Willoughby & Co, confirmed that the company is now looking to tap the substantial market for intellectual property work in both Jakarta and Dubai.

But he was unable to give firm details about the size and make-up of the new operations, although an announcement is expected soon.

Willoughby & Co's senior partner, Peter Rouse, has just flown back from Jakarta, where he has been finalising the details of where the new operation there will be housed.

Adams is in charge of setting up the Dubai office.

London-based IP lawyers said the firm's speciality in IP enforcement work made it well placed for offices in both countries, especially in Indonesia.

"There is a lot of patent work in Indonesia at the moment and there is a lack of local knowledge, so other English specialists are going out there at the moment," said a leading London IP lawyer. Indonesia is also a potential source of counterfeit products.

Rouse & Co International was formed as a limited company in July 1996 by the partners of Willoughby & Partners, which was formerly known as Rouse & Co.