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Defeng Song
Partner
Fieldfisher
Defeng Song is a Partner in the intellectual property group of Fieldfisher. He is admitted as a lawyer in the People’s Republic of China and the State of New York, and holds the qualifications for the PRC patent bar and U.S. patent bar.
Defeng has a bachelor’s degree of engineering from Shandong University and three law degrees from China University of Political Science and Law, Hamburg University and New York University. With complex knowledge structure, he has an excellent sense of both technology and law, as well as outstanding language skills. His working languages are Chinese and English.
Defeng’s practice covers the full-spectrum of intellectual property matters, with a major focus on patent, both contentious and non-contentious matters. He has successfully represented many household name clients from both China and beyond to act on patent infringement, patent invalidation, patent analysis, patent prosecution, and patent transaction and so on. He also is experienced in handling cross-border patent disputes and coordinating parallel patent litigation in multiple jurisdictions.
Prior to joining Fieldfisher, Defeng worked with both Chinese and international law firms for many years, including in his most recent position as head of IP at a multinational company.
Recent Articles by Defeng Song
Ninth Circuit Reaffirms Leniency Towards ‘Keyword Conquesting’
Conquesting is a strategy in which a business owner bids on keywords that relate to its competitor. Whenever an internet user searches for the keyword relating to a competitor, its own advertisement pops up in a privileged position. The case below examines whether conquesting a competitor’s trademark constitutes trademark infringement—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in October 2024 that it is not.
Even a Good Reason for Non-Use May Not Save Your Abandoned Trademark
Trademark rights flow from use. Continued use of a trademark keeps the trademark alive and makes the trademark right stronger. As per the Lanham Act, suspension of use for a consecutive three years may create a rebuttable presumption of abandonment. In the below case, we will analyze the nuances of trademark abandonment from nonuse.
A Trade Secret Case Study: Application of ‘Res judicata’ Across the U.S. Federal and State Court Systems
There are two court systems in the United States—the federal court system and the local court system in each state. The federal court system and the state court system each have their own jurisdiction, but they are not completely independent of each other. Some cases are only under the jurisdiction of the federal court, such as patent cases; some cases are only under the jurisdiction of the state court, such as contract cases; and some cases may be under the concurrent jurisdiction of both the federal court and the state court, such as the trade secret case to be analyzed below. When certain cases are under the jurisdiction of both the federal court and the state court, res judicata may apply across different court systems.
A Case Study on the ‘Crime-Fraud’ Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege
The protection of privilege in communications between clients and lawyers is a very important one under U.S. law. The basic rule is that when a client seeks legal advice from a lawyer, the communication between the client and the lawyer is confidential and cannot be discovered during litigation. An important purpose of this rule is to encourage clients to communicate fully and freely with lawyers in the process of seeking legal help. The lawyers here include both external lawyers and in-house lawyers.
Examining Upcoming Changes to the Implementing Regulations of the Chinese Patent Law
Recently, amendments to the Implementing Regulations of the Chinese Patent Law were issued and will take effect from January 20, 2024. The Regulations align with the revisions made to the Patent Law in 2020 and provide further guidance. The main changes to the new Regulations, as compared with the 2010 version of the Regulations, can be summarized as follows.