PERSONAL SUMMARY:
Dr. Zou assists clients in
matters involving all types of intellectual property: patents, copyrights,
trade secrets, and unfair competition. He focuses mainly on preparation and
prosecution of patent applications, and on patent administrative and judicial
litigation before various administrative offices and people’s courts across the
country. Dr. Zou also does significant work in preparation of patent
infringement, validity, and freedom-to-operate opinions, patent portfolio
management, due diligence and in counseling clients in various matters relating
to intellectual property.
The wide variety of
technical areas in which Dr. Zou has obtained and enforced patent protection
for clients include pharmacy, chemistry, and biotechnologies, as well as
mechanical systems and medical devices. In particular, Dr. Zou has been
entrusted by multinational pharmaceutical companies to handle their patent and
regulatory matters in China. Given his in-depth understanding of Chinese IP
laws and practices, Dr. Zou has been invited frequently as a speaker in many
international IP conferences.
Dr. Zou started his IP
career with Liu Shen in 2003. Prior to his legal profession, Dr. Zou was
engaged in research and development in pharmaceutical basic research and
diagnostic methods development, he is very familiar with the technical areas of
drug design & synthesis, nucleic acid chemistry, pesticide, macromolecule
modification, biochip and molecular diagnostics.
Dr. Zou obtained his Ph.D.
in pharmaceutical chemistry at the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Science
(China, 2000), and his Master of Laws in Intellectual Property Law from John
Marshall Law School (the U.S., 2010).
HIGHLIGHTS:
Representative cases that Dr. Zou has led or
participated include
- Defending titropium bromide patent portfolio for
Boehringer Ingelheim (German) in the invalidation proceedings and in court
procedures (5 patents involved, 2006-2012);
- Defending Candesartan Cilexetil patent portfolio for
Takeda (Japan) in the invalidation proceedings and in court procedures ( 2
patents involved, 2007-2012);
- Representing Albis in Albis (Germany) vs. FTP China,
invalidation & infringement cases (settled, 2012-2014);
- Representing Grundfos in Grundfos (Denmark) vs.
Zhejiang Qianyuan (China), infringement case, the Beijing High Court
(infringement found and damage awarded, 2013-2014);
- Representing Shanghai Cathay Biotech in Shanghai
Cathay Biotech vs. Hilead Biotech (2013-2014) and won three administrative
cases;
- Representing Xiamen Hongfa in Xiamen Hongfa (China)
vs. Dou Xiuzhi (2013-2014) and winning two invalidation cases;
- Representing SEB in SEB (France) vs. Wenzhou
Household electrical (2013-2014) and winning the invalidation case;
- Representing Shenzhen MINDRAY in Shenzhen MINDRAY
vs. Edan (2013-2014) and winning in invalidation & administrative
litigation;
- Representing Hongkong PolyU in Hongkong PolyU vs.
Ritter machinery (2014) and winning the invalidation case.
Publications & Presentations
- Claim
definitions Undergoing Change, China IP Focus 2014, Managing Intellectual
Property, 2014 [Co-author]
- How to
determine novelty-conferring features for a medical use claim, China IP Focus
2015, Managing Intellectual Property, 2015 [Co-author]
- Disclosure
requirements undergoing change, IAM Life Science (2015) [Co-author]
- Overview
of IP Enforcement in China, 2012 Summit on Global IP Strategy for Corporate
Counsel, New York, USA, December 2012
- Astrazeneca
case, Prometheus case and Myriad case in a Chinese patent attorney’s
perspective, MIP, London, UK, April 2013
- Chinese
Patent practice in Pharmaceutical field, MIP, Beijing, China, June 2013
- Update
on case development in life science field, IP in Asia Forum, Silicon Valley
& Seattle, USA, May 2014
- Second
medical use protection in China, the 5th China IP Symposium (Chengdu) 2015, Chengdu,
China, November 2015