Wing T. Yan is a partner at Nelligan Law, and a registered patent agent and trademark agent.
He has been leading the firm’s Intellectual Property Group for over twenty years. Wing protects the intellectual property of clients from Ottawa, across Canada and internationally. He is also qualified to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Wing practises exclusively in the field of intellectual property (IP) law. His expertise includes assessment and procurement of patents, trade-marks, industrial designs, and trade secrets for the firm’s domestic and international clients. He also assists clients with domain name disputes and copyright issues. Wing frequently advises his clients in negotiating, preparing and managing licensing, technology transfer, and confidentiality agreements.
In assisting his clients to safeguard their IP rights, Wing provides counsel on matters relating to IP infringement and impeachment, passing off, unfair competition, and breach of confidence actions, including effective use of alternative dispute resolutions and IP business issues.
Wing has developed extensive expertise on legal issues concerning copyright and trade-mark rights in the cyber medium, including issues relating to Internet and multimedia copyright, trade-mark, and domain name infringements.
As his clients’ representative, Wing took part in two Team Canada visits to Asia. Wing has given workshops and authored papers in the following areas: IP Laws in China, Joint Ventures and Technology Transfer in China, Enforcing IP Rights in the South-East Asian Countries, US Patent Law Amendments, Canadian Patents, Trademarks, Copyright practices, and many other court case commentaries.
Wing describes himself as a “people person”: he enjoys meeting people and helping his clients in a direct and tangible way. He believes that his clients are entitled to their rights under the law, and does his best to secure those rights for them. Wing also likes the international nature of his work, and he travels regularly to conferences to meet with overseas clients and colleagues.
Wing is very active outside of the office. He volunteers for many community associations, with a particular focus on new immigrants, and he delivers talks and seminars for churches, groups, and individuals. Wing also enjoys riding his bike, and has cycled to work—weather permitting—every day for the past twenty years.
