EDUCATION 

Bachelor of Laws，Wuhan University

Master of Laws，Sun Yat-Sen University

LLM in International Business Law，University of Sussex (UK)

PRACTICE AREAS

Intellectual Property and Trade Secret Protection, Data Compliance and Personal Information Protection, Arbitration and Litigation, Foreign Investment

WORKING BACKGROUND

Mr. Yao has worked for ten years as an in-house counsel, successively serving Wrigley and GE Healthcare; then Mr. Yao turned to start private practice and has worked for ten years as a lawyer. Mr. Yao is now a Partner of Zhuoxin Law Firm and the head of Intellectual Property Department.

REPRESENTATIVE CASES 

1. Intellectual Property Rights and Trade Secret Protection

● Acting as the obligee, Mr. Yao has initiated hundreds of lawsuits for infringement of intellectual property rights and unfair competition of trade secrets (all cases were successfully settled).

● Mr. Yao once provided legal services for the hotel investment brand authorization of a foreign company in China.

● Mr. Yao once served in the case of color trademark infringement and domain name unfair competition of a foreign-funded company.

● For a real estate listed company, Mr. Yao once handled the property name Dispute.

● Mr. Yao has provided long-term intellectual property consulting services and computer software licensing legal services for a listed group.

● Mr. Yao has provided legal advice on intellectual property strategy for several equity investment companies.

2. Data Compliance and Personal Information Protection

● Mr. Yao has a lot of practical experience and successful cases in the field of data compliance and personal information protection.

● Mr. Yao has helped establish/update data compliance and personal information protection mechanisms for a number of foreign companies, state-owned enterprises and listed companies.

● Mr. Yao has published "Compliance Guidelines for Data and Personal Information Protection", which shows his leading practical experience in this area.

3. Compliance and Government Supervision

● Mr. Yao once provided Chinese legal opinion for a foreign-funded company on its Chinese business involved in the anti-corruption investigation of the US Department of Justice.

● Mr. Yao once provided legal advice for a listed company on the government's compliance regulation of personal information protection concerning face recognition.

● Mr. Yao has provided a foreign-funded company with updated legal services on data compliance and consumer personal information protection compliance guidelines.

● Regarding online business model and anti money laundering, Mr. Yao once provided Chinese legal advice for a foreign-funded company.

● Based on the cross-border transmission of personal information involved in IT management of foreign headquarters, Mr. Yao once provided compliance guidance and legal services for a foreign-funded company.

● Mr. Yao once provided consumer data protection compliance guidance and legal advice for a state-owned enterprise financial holding company.

4. Dispute Resolution

● In China International Trade Arbitration Commission, Mr. Yao acted as an agent in an arbitration case of a company's equity acquisition dispute and achieved favorable settlement.

● Mr. Yao acted as an agent in a lawsuit against a shareholder's investment defect and won the lawsuit.

● Mr. Yao acted as an agent and won the lawsuit in an arbitration and subsequent litigation in which a company prosecuted the employees who were involved in secret affairs and left the company for violating the non-competition agreement.

● Mr. Yao was an agent in many cases of infringement of shareholders' rights and interests of the company and won the lawsuit.

HONORS

● Director of the Network and Electronic Commerce Law Research Association of Guangdong Law Society

● Director of the Enterprise Compliance Research Association of Guangdong Law Society

● Leading Lawyers of Foreign Affairs of Guangdong Province

● Leading Lawyers of Foreign Affairs of Guangzhou City

● Member of the Compliance and Risk Control Legal Professional Committee of the Guangdong Lawyers Association

● Deputy Director of Compliance and Internal Control of Professional Committee of Guangzhou Lawyers Association

● Part-time Professor（Tutor) of Master of Laws (Foreign-related Lawyers) Joint Training Program of Sun Yat-sen University Law School

PUBLICATIONS

1. "Guidelines for Intellectual Property Compliance of Trade Secret Protection" (Chinese and English versions)

2.   "Guidelines for Data Compliance and Personal Information Protection "

(Chinese and English versions)

WORKING LANGUAGE

Mandarin / English