Licensing Executives Society - Silicon Valley Chapter seminar: China, the Internet & Your Business: Navigating Deals in the World’s Largest and Most Complicated Internet Market

Sheraton Palo Alto Hotel
Palo Alto, CA

Ropes & Gray is proud to be hosting this upcoming Licensing Executives Society – Silicon Valley Chapter event. Ropes & Gray partner Jim DeGraw will be joined by guest panelist Matt Levy, Managing Director of Fifty-Five Star Ventures, for an in depth look at the benefits and risks of operating in the rapidly expanding Chinese Markets.

    
Every statistic associated with China’s Internet and mobile services industry is enormous:

• 564 million Internet users, with 50.9 million users added in 2012 alone, 
• 1.1 billion mobile subscribers, with 420 million users regularly accessing the Internet via mobile devices, 
• 91% of China netizens visit social media sites vs. 67% in the U.S., and 
• 242 million e-commerce and 146 million m-commerce shoppers in 2012, and these numbers are expected to double by 2016.

Against this backdrop, two key trends stand out.  An increasingly wide spectrum of tech and non-tech U.S. companies are operating, or are starting to operate, within the Chinese Internet space, including social media and online game operators, online retailers, mobile apps developers and life sciences companies.  Now, leading domestic online players in China – having thrived in the highly competitive and cash rich China market are looking for the first time at overseas business opportunities, joint ventures and acquisitions with U.S.- based companies.

These in-bound and out-bound opportunities are rapidly growing and the business risks and regulatory hurdles are significant.  Limitations on foreign investment and repatriation of profits and problems with IP protection, data privacy and censorship present very real obstacles that have tripped up even the most sophisticated companies.

This panel discussion will examine these trends and offer practical tips for U.S. companies in different sectors to successfully navigate the issues.

For further event information please contact Stephanie Carton.