Richard Chen

Richard Chen is a Senior Associate in the Innovation, Patents & Industrial Property (3IP) practice at Al Tamimi & Company, based in Dubai International Financial Centre, focusing on Patent Law. Dual-qualified as a Chinese Patent Attorney and Attorney at Law, he delivers tailored counsel to clients operating or investing in the UAE and the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Richard has deep experience formulating intellectual property (IP) strategy across industries including energy, automobiles, semiconductors, telecommunications, signal processing, computer science, medical equipment, cryptocurrencies and mechanical structures.

He manages complex, multi-jurisdictional patent portfolios for large corporations and guides enterprises, universities and research institutions in identifying, protecting and maximising the value of their inventions.

His client-centric approach aligns IP protection with immediate commercial needs and long-term growth objectives. His practice spans the full patent lifecycle, from drafting, filing and strategic prosecution to post-grant invalidation and appeals before patent offices worldwide. He also advises on contentious and transactional IP matters, including IP due diligence, patent validity and infringement analyses, freedom-to-operate assessments, trade secret protection, and the negotiation and structuring of IP licensing and assignment agreements.

His recent experience includes advising a multinational corporation on trade secret infringement; developing patent strategies for companies and universities in MENA based on their research outcomes; conducting patent drafting for filing in the UAE, KSA, Qatar and USA; representing a world-leading telecommunications company in several patent infringement and SEP infringement litigations; representing a telecommunications NPE in a SEP licensing dispute; and representing a Chinese home-appliance company and a multinational solar energy company in post-grant invalidation proceedings before the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).

Prior to joining Al Tamimi, Richard accrued valuable professional experience at leading international law firms in China, where he refined his expertise in cross-border IP matters and complex legal strategy. He holds an MSci in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany (2014), and an MSci in Mechanical Engineering and Automation from Tongji University, China (2015). He was admitted as a Chinese Patent Attorney and to the Chinese Law Society in 2017. He speaks English, German and Chinese.