Intellectual property specialist Gordon Gao brought colleagues Sherry Yao, Zhang Xuting and Cassidy Guo with him from Fangda Partners to join King & Wood Mallesons as partners.
Gao was famous for representing US basketball superstar Michael Jordan against Chinese sports retailer QiaoDan using Jordan’s Chinese name and personal brand. He has won 70 cases of this type in the Supreme People’s Court.
Gao has advised INEOS, the fourth largest chemical company in the world, on a trade secret violation against Sinopec which was the biggest legal claim of its kind in Chinese history. High-profile brands such as Rolex, NEC and Tesla were also his clients.
Gao was a partner at Fangda and formed its IP litigation team with another partner, Dixon Zhang. Gao was also head of China IP practice at Paul Hastings for more than 10 years.
Yao specialises in complex pharmaceutical patent cases and holds a doctorate in biochemistry. She has acted for overseas pharma companies such as Astellas Pharma, Japan, Celgene and Aptalis, both based in the US, and Celltrion, of South Korea, in handling patent infringement or applying permission into foreign markets.
Zhang is returning to KWM this time. She focuses on various litigation related to patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and dispute resolution such as antitrust and IP-related consulting services.
Guo has a wealth of experience in representing technology companies in IP disputes, including patent infringement and invalidation, trade secrets and software copyright disputes along with related non-contentious matters.
