Mr. Garfield Guo, Senior Consultant at GEN Law Firm's Beijing office, brings a wealth of experience with over 17 years in legal practice, including 13 years in in-house roles. He has adeptly managed a broad spectrum of legal and intellectual property affairs for several leading domestic conglomerate groups. From 2016 to 2022, Mr. Guo concurrently served as General Counsel of Suning Sports Group, where he oversaw legal matters for PP Sports, Suning Football Club, and the China-region legal affairs of FC Internazionale Milano. During his tenure, he successfully led numerous cases involving trademarks, copyrights, patents, and anti-unfair competition litigation, consistently achieving favorable outcomes and effectively protecting corporate legal rights.

Social Activities

• Directed, produced, and filmed the first professional documentary on sports event live broadcasting, The Birth and Innovation of Sports Event Live Broadcasting, which provided a panoramic interpretation of each stage and the originality of sports event live broadcasting. The documentary effectively promoted the updated understanding of sports event live broadcasting innovation among courts at all levels, including the Supreme People's Court, Beijing High People's Court, and Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court.

• Co-organized the first China Sports Intellectual Property Summit Forum, which brought together many sports event rights holders including the NBA, MLB, Chinese Super League, Asian Games Organizing Committee, and Oriental IC, as well as judges who made representative judgments on sports event intellectual property rights in China and relevant scholars. The forum comprehensively showcased the importance of sports event intellectual property rights for industrial development and demonstrated China's determination and practice in protecting sports event intellectual property rights, fully in line with the theme of World Intellectual Property Day, "IP and Sports: Taking the Gold."

• Initiated the establishment of the Jiangsu Sports Intellectual Property Research Center with four institutions including the School of Intellectual Property of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, expanding sports intellectual property research from special marks and copyright to the field of patents, becoming the first professional sports intellectual property research institution in Jiangsu Province.

External Supervisor, Law School of Nanjing Normal University

Researcher and External Supervisor, Jiangsu Intellectual Property Research Center for Sports, Nanjing University of Science and Technology

Member, Intellectual Property Committee of Sports, China Law Society

Expert, Intellectual Property Offices of Guangdong Province, Beijing, Guangxi Autonomous Region, Jiangsu Province, and China (Nanjing) Intellectual Property Protection Center

Director of Beijing Intellectual Property Law Society, Vice Director of the Trademark Law Professional Committee

Vice Chairman, Openness and Cooperation Alliance, Beijing Intellectual Property Protection Association

Vice Director, Committee on Film and Entertainment Law, Shanghai Law Society

2025 LEXPRESS Top 20 Intellectual Property (Copyright) Lawyer of the Year

2025 GCP Top 30 Intellectual Property Expert

2025 NewRules New Force Lawyer List

2024 Top 10 Internet (Copyright) Lawyer

2020 Excellent Trademark Legal Affairs Team Award by the China Trademark Association

2020 Outstanding Trademark Personality Award by the China Trademark Association

2020 ALB China Top 15 IP In-House Counsel, Top 15 In-House Legal Team

2019 Outstanding In-House IP Manager in China

2019 IPRDaily 40 Corporate IP Elites Under 40

2019 Senior Manager of the Year, Power-nation Institute

2018 Outstanding In-House IP Management Team, China Intellectual Property

2018 Suning Holdings Group Outstanding Director Award

2018 Outstanding Trademark In-House Counsel Award

Civil Litigation

• Involved in the retrial-related work of the Sina v. Tianying Jiuzhou Chinese Super League event infringement case, known as the "first case of copyright in sports event broadcasting in China." Responsible for arranging visits and research for relevant judges and scholars to sports event venues, studios, and broadcast vehicles, organizing academic discussions, and collecting relevant materials and video footage. This case fully reflects the focus of the controversy over the right to broadcast events and provides a milestone discussion.

• Handled the Shanghai Juli v. Yuntu TV La Liga event live broadcast infringement case, which was the first winning case for overseas event rights holders and identified the nature of sports event works.

• Handled the Shanghai Juli v. A8 Sports Chinese Super League event live broadcast infringement case, which was the first case in China to re-identify the Chinese Super League event live broadcast footage as a work after the Sina v. Tianying Jiuzhou case, providing a useful exploration for the subsequent retrial adjustment of the Sina case.

• Handled the Suning Sports v. Zhangyu Live Chinese Super League event live broadcast infringement case and the CCTV v. Suning Sports Olympic Games live broadcast infringement case (defense), representing the rights holder and the live streaming platform respectively. Through these series of cases, clarified the boundaries of the duty of care for live streaming platforms.

• During the tenure as General Counsel of Suning Sports Group and Deputy General Counsel of Suning Group, led the initiation of over 600 sports event rights protection cases, recovering nearly RMB 200 million in economic losses. The rights protection efforts covered top-tier sports events including the Chinese Super League, English Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Chinese Volleyball Super League, WWE, UFC, and other premier sporting events.

• Deeply involved in the AI Butterfly Chair infringement case, which was selected as a typical case of intellectual property protection in service of scientific and technological innovation and industrial integration by Jiangsu High People's Court in 2025, and a typical case of intellectual property judicial protection by Suzhou Courts in 2025.

Civil Non-Litigation

• Responsible for drafting and negotiating live broadcast introduction and copyright licensing contracts for events including the Chinese Super League, AFC Champions League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, English Premier League, and UEFA Champions League, assisting in the completion of PP Sports' introduction and sub-licensing of the above event broadcasts.

• Responsible for copyright management, copyright monitoring and early warning, notice-and-takedown actions, and promotional compliance for the Suning.com e-commerce platform, PP Sports vertical media platform, PP Video media platform, and Longzhu Live platform during two Olympic Games and two FIFA World Cups, effectively avoiding unnecessary disputes.

• Responsible for Suning Group's sponsorship of the Chinese Super League and Serie A events for the 2016–2019 seasons and the implementation of related rights and interests.

• Responsible for negotiating sponsorship contracts and implementing related rights and interests for Suning Group's sponsorship of League of Legends, FE Formula E, and the Nanjing/Wuxi/Zhenjiang Marathons.

• Responsible for the settlement negotiation of the sponsorship rights dispute regarding Suning Group's sponsorship of the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games, ultimately reaching a multi-party settlement.

• Responsible for negotiating sponsorship contracts and overseeing subsequent contract performance with over 300 sponsors including Samsung, Anta, and Tsingtao Brewery for Suning Football Club, Suning Women's Football Club, Suning Esports Club, and PP Sports.

• Participated in a compound preparation method patent infringement case, which ultimately resulted in a settlement between the parties. This case was selected as a typical case of administrative protection by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) in 2024.

Administrative and Criminal Cases

• Handled the Zhangyu Live sports event live broadcast copyright infringement and gambling operation case, in which the principal suspects were ultimately sentenced to 1–5 years of imprisonment.

• Handled the 80tiyu and 72tiyu online copyright infringement case, which was recognized as a typical intellectual property case by the Huangshan Municipal Administration for Market Regulation and a typical case of combating piracy in Anhui Province.

• Handled the Zhuafan Live copyright infringement case, which was the first sports event live broadcast copyright infringement case formally filed by public security authorities after the rights holder's defeat in the Sina v. Phoenix case. The case ultimately concluded with Zhuafan Live providing full compensation to the rights holder.