Peter J. Dernbach

Peter J. Dernbach has been Coordinating Partner since 2016, coordinating the firm’s intellectual property practice and community initiatives. As Coordinating Partner, Peter helps lead the firm’s efforts as a mission-driven law firm to provide the best work environment for colleagues, the best service to clients and the best contribution to our community.

Peter’s professional experience is in the fields of intellectual property, branding and competition. His international clients include world-leading companies in the Internet, food, fast moving consumer goods, hi-tech, travel and leisure industries, assisting them with the acquisition and protection of trademark rights and copyrights in Taiwan and around the world. Peter’s practice includes obtaining, enforcing and licensing intellectual property rights on behalf of some of the world’s most recognizable brands.

Active in the international IP conversation, Peter has served on the Board of Directors of the International Trademark Association (INTA) 2015-17, where he is a member of the Brands for a Better Society Committee, the Programming Advisory Council and the Nominating Committee. He is also a member of the Marques China Team and co-chairs the Intellectual Property & Licensing Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce Taiwan. Through WIPO, he has served as a Panelist in over 100 domain name disputes brought under ICANN’s UDRP system. Peter is regularly recognized by legal industry publications as one the leading trademark lawyers in Taiwan, including the World Trademark Review, the Legal 500, Chambers Asia-Pacific, and the World Intellectual Property Review.

Peter is also a member of the board of an environmental law organization in Taiwan, Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, and B Lab Taiwan. Peter won the inaugural INTA Service Award for a Better Society in 2019 and is a member of the International Bar Association’s LGBTI Committee.

Peter has a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from The George Washington University, and received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. Peter was also awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the National University of Singapore. He is a member of the bars of California and the District of Columbia and is registered as an Attorney of Foreign Legal Affairs with Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice. In addition to his bar admissions, Peter is an arbitrator at the Chinese Arbitration Association in Taipei. He speaks English and Mandarin Chinese.