DENG Yao

Areas of Practice

Mr. Deng’ major practice areas include Intellectual Property Litigation, Trade Fair IP Protection and International Commercial Law. He has handled many cases heard by the Supreme Court of China as well as by different provincial and municipal High Courts. These have included the Guangdong Cable Accessory Manufacturers Trade Secret Disputes and Hengxin Printing Right of Name Dispute, ranked among the “Top 10 IP Cases of Guangdong” and the “Top 10 IP Cases of Guangzhou Intermediate Court.” He has featured in the Guangdong Courts Almanac, and dozens of his cases have been extensively covered by media organizations, including CCTV, The People’s Daily, Yangcheng Evening News and The Nanfang Daily. He has provided legal counsel and specialized legal services to well-known domestic and international enterprises including Microsoft, U.S. Fairchild Semiconductor, Japanese TOMY Co. Ltd., and Guangdong Province Publishing Group.

Working Experience

Mr. Deng began practicing in 1994 and he joined Lifang & Partners in December 2007. He is currently the managing partner of Lifang’s Guangzhou office. He served as Deputy-director of the Science and Technology Intellectual Property Centre of Guangdong Province in 1998. He has extensive experience in IP and international commercial matters, and has earned the “Outstanding Achievement Award”, “Outstanding Deal Award” and“Lawyer Achievement Award” from Guangzhou Lawyers Association and Guangdong Province Lawyers Association for consecutive years from 2005 to 2008.

Education

LLM, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom 

LLM Exchange program, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Postgraduate Program, Sun Yat-Sen University, China              

Bachelor of Laws, Wuhan University, China   

Qualifications and Professional Affiliations

Chinese licensed attorney (1994)

Deputy-director of IP Committee of Guangdong Province Lawyers Association

Commissioner of IP Commission of All China Lawyers Association

Guest lecturer at Shenzhen Stock Exchange

Executive director of Intellectual Property Institute, Guangdong Province Law Society

Member of the Legal Service Troupe for Taiwan-capital Enterprise of Guangdong Province

Member of the Guangzhou Lecturers’ Group for Disseminating Law Knowledge

Publications

Books:

Editor-in-chief, Management and Protection of Trade Secrets (Textbook for training programs in Science and Technology Cadres’ School of Guangdong Province)

Contributor, Management and Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (Guangdong Science and Technology Press, 2000)

Research Program:

Key member of Research Program for Model-Towns’ Intellectual Property Management (Soft-Science Project 1998) sponsored by the Science and Technology Commission of Guangdong Province.

Articles:

1.    “On Distribution of Onus Probandi in Trade Secret Civil Proceedings”, Journal of South China Agricultural University, vol. 4 (2007)

2.    “A Brief Comparison between Chinese and Thai Trade Secret Laws”, China-ASEAN Expo Series, the 4th China-ASEAN Legal Affairs Forum Collected Works, 2007

3.    “A Comparative Study of Restrictive Covenants Law in China and Britain”, Selected Works of the 7th China Lawyers Forum, Peking University Press, Beijing, 2007

4.     “Design of Laws in Internet Technology”, Presented at The Second Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology, Communication and Control, Environment and Management (HNICEM) International Conference, March 17-20, 2005, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Manila, Philippines. Winner of    Second Prize of Excellent Theoretical Achievement of Lawyers Association of Guangzhou, 2005.

5.    “Criminal Remedy for Trade Secrets”, Social Science Research, December 2002