Zegang Yu

Practice Areas

Bruce Yu is a partner and attorney-at-law of Beijing Wanhuida Law Firm Shanghai Office. He joins the firm in June 2021.

Based in the firm’s Shanghai and Ningbo Offices, Bruce primarily oversees the litigation practice and operation of the firm’s East China team and also serves as a coordinator of the firm’s Customs protection practice.

Bruce practices in the areas of intellectual property (IP) law with a focus on litigating trade secret, OEM-related disputes, as well as trademark, copyright and patent infringement matters. His practice also encompasses IP enforcement at trade fairs and exhibitions, execution of Customs IP protection measures, among others. He has abundant experience and unique insights in enforcing IP rights in the context of international trade.

Career

Bilingual in English and Chinese, Bruce is capable of providing a full range of legal services to Chinese and foreign clients. He has in-depth knowledge of China’s IP border protection regime and has handled more than 2,000 cases in this regard. He also advises clients on administrative and criminal enforcement, Customs protection, domain name disputes and civil litigation.

Bruce is a visiting scholar of the professional training program of US Intellectual Property Law in the University of Houston. He is a member of the Ningbo Mediation Committee for Intellectual Property Disputes and the Ningbo Trademark Brand Advisory Council, and a lecturer of IP Law and Practice in the Law School of Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics.

Professional Memberships

INTA

ACLA

Publications

Bruce is keen to put his research in respect of cutting-edge issues like parallel import, OEM, infringement liability of online trading platform, Customs protection of patent rights and IP protection in free trade zone into practice. He is a co-author of "Interpretation of Customs Intellectual Property Laws and Essentials of Practice", which is the designated textbook for the "IP Customs Protection Course" of the Chinese General Administration of Customs.

Work Highlights

He has served as the lead counsel in quite a few landmark cases. Bruce’s recent work includes:

Top 10 Innovative IP Judicial Protection Cases of the Ningbo Courts: Representing Ningbo Dechang in successfully fending off the unfair competition suit brought by JOHNSON ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTORY, LIMITED. The Ningbo Intermediate Court dismissed all the requests of the plaintiff including immediate cessation of using the litigious trade name “德昌” (Dechang in Chinese) and jointly and severally indemnify damages and reasonable expenses of RMB 100 million. The plaintiff appealed before the Zhejiang High Court and lowered the claim of damages to RMB 30 million. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the trial court and ruled in favour of the client.

Top 10 IP Judicial Protection Cases of the Hangzhou Courts: Representing the client in obtaining favourable court decision that affirms the utility model patent at issue listing the client’s ex- employee’s wife as inventor falls under the category of service invention of such ex- employee and the said utility model patent shall be owned by the client.

Exemplary Cases of Hangzhou Procuratorate: Representing a trade secret owner in the criminal prosecution proceeding against an employee seeking to misappropriate and patent the said trade secret. The defendant was sentenced to 4-year imprisonment and fined RMB 800,000. The courts affirmed that even if each constituent technique of the trade secret has been disclosed, the said trade secret shall be deemed as unknown to the public in its entirety, provided that the combination of the technique has yet been made public.

Top 10 Cases of Zhejiang Courts: Representing the Chinese OEM manufacturer of a leading German welding equipment supplier whose founder owns the registered trademark Stahlwerk in Germany, in winning the trademark infringement retrial proceeding initiated by an ex- business associate and bad faith squatter of Stahlwerk trademark in China. The Zhejiang High Court dismissed the retrial application on the ground that the execution of trademark right is unjustified and breaches the good faith principle. The trademark squatter later initiated prosecutorial supervision procedure but to no avail.

Representing Honda Motor in winning a retrial proceeding (HONDAKIT case) against the OEM manufacturers of infringing products before the China Supreme People’s Court (SPC), which affirmed that by using a mark through labelling or in other manners on the manufactured or processed goods, so long as such mark could serve as a source identifier of the said goods, the use is trademark use and constitutes trademark infringement. The case was selected as one of the Chinese Court’s Top 10 Intellectual Property Cases of 2019.

Representing a design patentee in successfully intercepting a batch of infringing Segway destined to Belarus through border protection measures. The case was selected as one of the “China Exemplary Customs IP Protection Cases of 2018” released by the General Administration of Customs.

Representing Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc. in winning a design patent infringement suit against a local company. The case was selected to be included in the “Top 10 IP cases of 2016” released by the Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court.

Representing an OEM manufacturer in initiating a retrial proceeding (PRETUL case) against the trademark squatter before the SPC. It is the first OEM trademark infringement case ever heard by the SPC and was selected as one of the Chinese Court’s 50 Exemplary Intellectual Property Cases of 2015.

Languages Spoken

English & Chinese

Awards