Martin is a Partner of Vivien Chan & Co. He manages clients’ global and regional intellectual property portfolios and advises on enforcement and commercialisation of intellectual property rights in Greater China and compliance with regulatory frameworks with a particular focus on advertising, marketing and protection of personal information. 

In his early legal practice, Martin specialised in the prosecution of patents and design patents in Greater China. Now, he advises on all areas of intellectual property, including patents, design patents, trademarks, copyrights and domain names. He provides practical solutions for the effective protection of brand assets in Greater China. He has extensive experience dealing with bad faith squatters and has obtained numerous favourable administrative decisions and judgments against squatters and handled buybacks of various scales. He also actively advises clients on enforcement of IP rights based on registered and unregistered rights, including asserting unfair competition in Mainland China and passing off in Hong Kong. 

Martin also advises clients on different ways to monetize their IP assets, including licensing, franchising, brand collaborations, and asset purchase. Additionally, he ensures clients’ compliance with legal frameworks governing advertising, marketing and use of personal data and regularly reviews advertising claims, product labels and privacy policies.   

Martin graduated with first class honours in biochemistry from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He then pursued the Juris Doctor programme and the Postgraduate Certificate in Law (PCLL) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, both with flying colours. He is qualified as a solicitor in Hong Kong. He is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

• Counsel for leading luxury fashion houses on IP portfolio review and strategic filings for expansion to the virtual world (e.g., Metaverse, gaming environment) and protection for digital assets (e.g., NFTs)
• Successfully assisted an international luxury conglomerate in removing bad faith applications filed by a professional squatter in Mainland China with favourable administration decisions and court judgements recognising their bad faith and avoided the need to pay around USD 2 million to reclaim the trademarks
• Cracked down a Chinese squatter syndicate which filed bad faith applications in multiple jurisdictions and engaged in infringing activities for a state-owned national oil and energy company in Dubai, devised investigation strategies to unveil the complex company relationship and prosecution strategies to secure first trademark registration in Greater China
• Successfully obtained well-known status for the house mark of a US-based international health supplement brand in Mainland China
• Lead counsel for a leading international real estate company in concluding a worldwide trademark coexistence agreement with a China-based leading financial technology service company covering Greater China, Europe, the US, Japan, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines with coexistence terms favouring the client
• Advised a leading French luxury skincare brand in an unfair competition and infringement lawsuit against a French competitor in Mainland China. Successfully resisted the defendant's jurisdictional challenges and persuaded the Court to find that the use of confusingly similar promotional materials constituted unfair competition, ordering the competition to cease the infringing acts, pay money compensation and publish public apology. The judgment was widely reported by the Chinese media
• Advised a world's leading lubricant oil manufacturer in IP licensing and IP asset ownership structure in relation to the incorporation of a joint venture company in Mainland China and developed mechanisms for disposition of IP assets after termination
• Counsel for a Germany-based international cosmetics and medicinal product manufacturer, which specialises in anti-hair loss shampoo products, in reviewing product names, trade descriptions and other advertising claims to ensure compliance with advertising law in Mainland China and advising on protection of their iconic product designs via 3D trademark.