With demand for IP legal services soaring in Shanghai, professor Tao Xinliang, the dean of the Intellectual Property School of Shanghai University, has decided to shift his focus to IP legal practices after retiring from the dean's position.

Tao has joined Dacheng's Shanghai office as a partner and the head of the firm's IP practice in Shanghai.  As part of the recruitment plan, a team of around ten lawyers and staff who used to work with Tao will also be added to the firm's Shanghai office in the next few months.

Besides his responsibilities as a professor and the dean of the IP school, Tao has been a qualified, practising lawyer and patent agent for more than a decade. Prior to joining Dacheng, he was a part-time senior lawyer in leading local IP firm Watson & Band.

He has been involved in 400 cases related to IP rights, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, software, technology transfer, unfair competition and other issues. Case highlights include: Philip Morris ( Marlboro) vs. Shanghai Lighter Main Workship, Microsoft Corporation vs. Shanghai Misubishi Elevator, Microchip Technology vs. Shanghai Haier Integrated Circuit, and Schneider Electric Industries SAS vs. Shanghai Meilan Rilan Electrical Group.

In addition, he has helped develop many areas of legislation, such as Technology Contract Law, Contract Law, Law of Science & Technology Improvement, Law of Science & Technology Achievements Transformation, and has taken part in the research towards the establishment of the National Intellectual Property Strategy.

Tao said that Dacheng's extensive national platform (consisting of 26 domestic branches) and full-service capacity are very attractive and beneficial to his new career as an IP legal practitioner. He also said that he will continue his teaching post as a professor, though on a part-time basis.

A steady stream of professors with high levels of academic achievement have joined private-practice law firms as partners or senior counsel in recent years.