IP Legal System Zheng Chengsi & Xue Hong (Professors)
Zheng Chengsi was a professor and senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He was the arbitrator of the Arbitration Center of World Intellectual Property Organisation, and the only Chinese member of the Executive Committee from Asian countries in the International Association for Advancement Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property. He was a leading expert in China copyright law, patent law, trademark law and anti-unfair competition law, having published over 30 books on intellectual property law worldwide.
Dr Xue Hong is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Institute for Internet Policy & Law at Beijing Normal University. She specialises in intellectual property law, information technology law and internet governance.
Professor Xue was elected as one of the Ten Nationally Distinguished Young Jurists by the China Law Society. She worked in many governmental and non-governmental organisations. She is the only Asian Scholar in the Executive Committee of the International Association for Promotion of the Advanced Teaching and Research of Intellectual Property (ATRIP) and the Editorial Board of World Intellectual Property Journal.
After serving as a founding member of the ICANN At-Large Advisory Committee for four years (2003-2007), Prof Xue was appointed to the ICANN President’s Advisory Committee on Internationalised Domain Names, Nomination Committee and Fellowship Selection Committee. She is one of the founders of the Internet Users Organisation in the Asia Pacific Region.
Professor Xue has published widely in both Chinese and international journals.
Trademarks Graham Brown & Wei Xin (JunZeJun Law office, Beijing)
Graham Brown was admitted as a solicitor in 1985 and commenced practice with Australia’s Federal Director of Public Prosecutions. He has worked on major Australian commercial fraud cases before turning to commercial law, ultimately with his legal practice specialising in Asia-related commercial issues. An interest in teaching led to a career as a legal academic, but he retained his interest in commercial matters by acting as a consultant on Asian and China related matters to a number of Australian companies. Graham ventured to China in 1997 where he taught at two China’s well-known universities in Beijing and then established, managed and taught in one of the first international postgraduate legal education projects in China. While in China, Graham assisted a number of Chinese and foreign companies with structuring their projects and also advised on international contractual issues. A contract law specialist, Graham also takes a particular interest in IP, IT and commercially effective structures for international investment.
Graham Brown and co-author Wei Xin have published extensively on Chinese legal issues for more than a decade, and have both spoken at academic and commercial conferences on topics within their fields of expertise.
Graham is the Director, Business Development of the International Business Group of JunZeJun Law Offices.
A Beijing native, Wei Xin was admitted as a solicitor in 1990 and practised Australian law with large international and Australian law firms before returning to China in 1995 as the chief representative in China of one of Australia’s largest law firms, Mallesons Stephen Jacques. She then worked as a senior associate in the Beijing office of Coudert Brothers before becoming a partner in the China Practice of New York-based law firm, White & Case. She has a high profile in foreign-related legal circles in China and counts among her clients some of the world’s largest companies.
Recent matters include assisting a European-based auto components manufacturer to consolidate their diverse China investments into a single Joint Venture; assisting a US-based designer and manufacturer of advanced electronic components in the restructure of their operations in China which includes establishing new entities, winding up redundant wholly foreign-owned entities, advising on employment and redundancy issues; and advising on technology transfer and licence contracts for large Asian- and US-based IT companies.
Her extensive experience in China goes beyond the direct investment phase of a project in the form of ongoing advice to clients on IP, IT, corporate governance, merger and acquisition and human resources issues.
Wei Xin and co-author Graham Brown have published extensively on Chinese legal issues for more than a decade, and have both spoken at academic and commercial conferences on topics within their fields of expertise.
Wei Xin heads the International Business Group of JunZeJun Law Offices.
Copyright Zhu Ling (China Gateway Consulting, USA
Technology Transfer
Zhu Ling is currently an adjunct professor teaching Chinese business law at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and a consultant with The China Gateway Consulting based in San Francisco, California.
Prior to her current position, Zhu Ling was a senior associate with the international law firm of Jones Day based in Shanghai. Zhu Ling advised clients on business-oriented solutions in the specialty areas of mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investment, and intellectual property. Her clients included multinational corporations, and foreign and local medium-sized companies alike from various industries.
Prior to her Jones Day position, Ling practiced law with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in Seattle and Shanghai, and in the Cleveland, Phoenix, Taipei and Hong Kong offices of Squire, Sanders and Dempsey.
She has also been a medical writer and editor for the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, preceded by an academic career as a graduate teacher at the University of Iowa and the University of Wisconsin, and as assistant professor at the Shanghai International Studies University.
Ling obtained her Juris Doctorate Degree with high distinction from School of Law, University of Iowa and was admitted to the Bar in the State of Arizona in 1997, and the District of Columbia, USA, in 2001.
Patents Judge Hu Ping (Beijing High Court) & ZY & Partners
Judge Hu Ping is a judge of the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the High Court of the Beijing Municipality. Before sitting on the bench of the High Court of Beijing, Judge Hu had been a judge in the Chaoyang District Court of Beijing, the Intermediate Court of Beijing and the Second Intermediate Court of Beijing.
In tandem with his daily writing of decisions, Judge Hu has also published numerous treatises such as Civil Law and Civil Trial (Vol 1) and A Study on Damages. Judge Hu is currently attending a post-doctorate program at the Law School of the People’s University of China.
Enforcement of IPR Trade Secrets Molly Riley (Roband Consulting Ltd, Shanghai)
Molly Riley is an experienced corporate and commercial lawyer with more than 20 years of broad experience in the international corporate and financial legal sector, the last 15 of which have been in Hong Kong and China. A fluent Mandarin and Cantonese speaker and reader, her extensive experience in the China market includes advising on corporate restructuring, joint ventures, M&A transactions, licensing agreements, securities and intellectual property for a variety of high profile local and international clients.
Molly has advised a number of large listed multinational and small independent companies and venture capital investors on issues arising from investment into China, including due diligence studies, compliance reviews, innovative joint venture and financing arrangements, and also restructuring and buyouts. Her clients have included several large US software companies, a number of merchant banks, several major packaging manufacturers, bio-technology start-up operations, software development firms, several hotel groups and many others. She has advised the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the PRC State Council on proposed legislation, and maintains good relations with these and other government authorities important to joint venture companies in China.
Her book, Joint Ventures, Dealing with Liabilities, is a leading publication on in-depth studies of Chinese joint ventures and how to make them work. She speaks and writes frequently on topics relating to China investment and law.
Molly is based in Shanghai with Roband Consulting Ltd, an arm of GD Law Firm. Roband specialises in transaction consultation for the China market.
Internet Peter Bullock (Pinsent Masons, HK office)
Peter Bullock is a partner at Masons in Hong Kong and has headed the Asia Pacific Information & Technology Law Group since 1997. In Hong Kong, the Group undertakes a wide range of IT law assignments including: IT infrastructure (from transport to the process industry); e-commerce; corporate and finance law for technology companies; telecommunications; data privacy; outsourcing and other IT procurements, and risk/dispute management.
Peter’s background is in risk management and litigation, including much injunctive work and claims before a variety of tribunals, for clients in the IT sector. He has acted in numerous disputes for hardware manufacturers, suppliers of software systems, government bodies using IT systems and in relation to outsourcing. In recent years, his practice has involved a wide range of Information & Technology work, from IT infrastructure procurements to EDI and e-commerce related projects.
Peter has also lectured widely on subjects relating to IT law.
Unfair Competition Claire Morgan (EU Chamber of Commerce in China) & Molly Riley (Roband Consulting Ltd, Shanghai)
Claire Morgan is a lawyer with six years’ experience in China practice. She worked for law firms both in Shanghai and Hong Kong during that period, advising clients on trade, insurance, maritime and inward investment in China matters.
She is currently the Business Manager of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, coordinating some 14 working groups of European companies established in China, including IP rights, finance & taxation, law (which covers anti-unfair competition law matters), trade & distribution, etc. These groups analyse the practical business environment in China, particularly with a view to the on-the-ground implementation of China’s WTO commitments, and lobby both the Chinese and European authorities for improvements.
Case analyses (Bilingual) written by judges in China Supreme People’s Court and senior lawyers practicing in China.
