Zhaoyang “Paul” Li

Partner

San Francisco, California

As a partner in Taylor English’s Intellectual Property Department, Dr. Li counsels companies on intellectual property rights involving U.S. and foreign institutions. His comprehensive intellectual property practice includes patent prosecution, patent infringement assessment, patent right licensing agreements, patentability, and intellectual property counseling and due diligence.

Dr. Li handles patent prosecution matters and support litigation for a diverse range of technology companies in the battery, biotechnology, medical devices, biopharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals, stem cell technologies (including cell therapy such as tissue engineering), and telecommunications and electronics industries. He counsels clients on small molecule pharmaceutical patent matters, including new chemical entity and formulation patents, and related paragraph IV certification issues in association with new drug application or abbreviated new drug application matters.

During the 2005 Hong Kong Jockey Club Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC) Institute symposium, Dr. Li presented on IP protection related to prior art challenges faced by the TMC. Dr. Li proposed a TMC IP protection protocol, known as “finger printing,” which is based on a marker compound(s) or the level(s) of the marker compound(s) and is now widely used.

Dr. Li has extensive experience in life science related intellectual property matters. He assisted UCLA in securing a large portfolio of patents on a protein discovered by a group of UCLA professors. This portfolio successfully grew from the UCLA research laboratories to become the foundation of a publically-traded company.

Dr. Li was mentioned in the 2014 and 2015 Legal 500 for the Intellectual Property and Patent Licensing and Transactional categories for advising the technology licensing arm of Sinopec – Sinopec TECH – on the freedom to operate issues worldwide.

Dr. Li acquired his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School. Additionally, he gained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of South Carolina and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Nankai University in Tianjin, China. He speaks fluent Mandarin.

Affiliations

  • American Bar Association
  • American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)

Bar Admissions

  • California
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Languages

  • Mandarin (Chinese)