On March 11, 2026, the internationally renowned legal media outlet The Legal 500 announced the Legal 500 China Elite list. Mr. Xudong Song, Partner of Kingland Partners, was selected for the list in recognition of his outstanding professional capabilities, impressive track record, and strong client endorsement in the fields of intellectual property and complex commercial dispute resolution.

 

Xudong Song, Partner
Beijing Elite
Intellectual Property

 

Mr. Song has extensive experience in handling intellectual property litigation involving copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, unfair competition, antitrust, computer software, data and internet-related disputes, franchise agreements, and technology contracts. He is also highly skilled in resolving complex commercial disputes through litigation and arbitration, including those relating to equity transactions, investment and financing, and corporate control contests.
To date, Mr. Song has provided legal services to a wide range of clients in nearly 300 cases and projects. Several of these matters have become highly influential or benchmark cases within their respective fields. Representative matters include:
Representing a leading insurance company in a series of trademark administrative and civil disputes in which retrial petitions were filed. Following deliberation by the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court, the case was accepted for retrial, ultimately resulting in a complete victory upon retrial in early 2025.

 

Representing a well-known gaming company in the “World of Dragons” computer software technical secret appeal case, where the Supreme People’s Court upheld all appellate claims in the second instance, and the case was later selected in early 2025 as a Typical Case on the Protection of Technological Innovation by the Supreme People’s Court.

 

Representing a financial investor, acting as an original shareholder, in a retrial application concerning an equity transaction (VAM) dispute, successfully eliminating nearly RMB 100 million in joint repurchase liability that had been imposed on the client in the first- and second-instance judgments. This case became the only case in 2024 before the Beijing High People’s Court in which retrial resulted in the removal of joint liability for an original shareholder.

 

To date, acting as counsel, Mr. Song has secured 15 successful retrial outcomes, including 12 before the Supreme People’s Court and 3 before local High People’s Courts such as the Beijing High People’s Court.

 

Mr. Song has 20 years of legal experience. Prior to entering private practice, he served as a judge for 12 years at the Beijing Shijingshan District People’s Court and the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. He was among the first cohort of quota judges in the Beijing court system, and served in roles including Presiding Judge, Team Leader, and Deputy Chief Judge. During his judicial career, he adjudicated more than 2,700 intellectual property cases, with several of the cases he presided over being recognized as Top Ten Innovative Cases of the Beijing Courts, first-of-their-kind cases, model IP cases, or selected as reference and guiding cases by the Beijing High People’s Court. While serving in the judiciary, Mr. Song was included in the Beijing High Court Talent Pool and received honors such as Model Judge of the Beijing Courts (First Session) and IP Adjudication Excellence Award (Second Session).

 

Mr. Song has been invited on numerous occasions to speak at leading professional forums, including the China Intellectual Property Judicial Protection Summit, the China Online Copyright Conference, and the China Online Audiovisual Conference. He has also delivered lectures at various enterprises, public institutions, and universities.

 

In addition, Mr. Song has published nearly 30 academic papers and practice-oriented research articles, totaling approximately 300,000 words, in professional journals and media platforms such as Intellectual Property, Legal Science Magazine, Electronics Intellectual Property, Science Technology and Law, Peking University Internet Law Review, and IPRdaily. He has also collaborated with professional institutions on research reports including the White Paper on Judicial Protection of Audiovisual Works Copyright and Research on the Registration and Protection of Weakly Distinctive Trademarks.

 

Mr. Song currently serves in a number of professional and academic capacities, including Arbitrator of the Beijing Arbitration Commission/Beijing International Arbitration Center, Member of the Trade Secrets Committee of the China Intellectual Property Protection Association, Deputy Director of the Competition Law Committee of the Beijing Intellectual Property Law Association, Member of the Trademark Law Committee of the Beijing Intellectual Property Law Association, Judicial Affairs Expert of the Beijing Equity Exchange, Member of the Mediation Committee of the Capital Internet Association, and Master’s Supervisor at the School of Law of Beijing Institute of Technology. He has also previously served as Expert Advisor to the China Netcasting Services Association and the China Toy & Juvenile Products Association.
Mr. Song received his LL.B. from China University of Mining and Technology and his graduate degree from Peking University. Prior to joining Kingland Partners, he served for many years as a Partner at King & Wood Mallesons.

 

Founded in 1988, The Legal 500 has become one of the most influential legal ranking institutions worldwide. The China Elite list aims to highlight outstanding lawyers from regional law firms active in China’s major commercial centers. The research process involves multi-dimensional evaluation, including in-depth interviews with leading lawyers, feedback from clients and peers, and supporting materials relating to significant matters handled by the candidates over the past year, making it highly professional and widely influential within the legal market.