João Encarnação is one of the most experienced and active Macau lawyers in the field of Intellectual Property, Corporate / M&A, Litigation & Arbitration and Real Estate.
He is one of the few Private Notaries appointed by the Macau Government and was the first President of the Macau Recognized Group of the Asian Patent Attorney’s Association. Arbitrator with the Arbitration Centre of the Macau Lawyer’s Association
In the area of Corporate / M&A, he advised and assisted foreign investors in Macau equity transactions, creation of joint ventures and major shareholding acquisitions, including related corporate financing, as also mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructurings involving Macau companies; He has advised Macau companies and their holding groups in their ongoing businesses and matters of general company work.
In his Intellectual Property & IT practice he has advised and assisted on prosecution of thousands of applications for trade mark, design, patent and other IP rights in Macau and overseas, provided services to hundreds of clients with drafting, execution and recordal of licenses, assignments and other endorsements of IP rights, handled numerous high-profile trade mark oppositions, cancellation actions and court appeals and assisted several local and overseas clients with enforcement of their IP Rights, including the filing of criminal and civil charges, as well as advised on commercial, legal and regulatory issues occurring in the information technology, telecommunications, media and e-commerce industries. He has also assisted the Macau Customs Services and Economic Services with the investigation of infringements. He has also conducted various successful negotiations for recovery of IP rights and off-court settlements and assisted a large number of international corporations with registration of second and third level domain name registrations in Macau. He has provided advice on copyright related issues and initiated or defended actions against copyright infringement.
In the Litigation & Arbitration practice, with a comprehensive understanding of the procedural and practical aspects of litigation in the Macau Courts, having assisted and represented several local and overseas clients in all instances of Macau Courts - including at the high courts, in cases related with Intellectual Property, Real Estate, debt recovery, confirmation of foreign decisions, etc.. He has represented many clients in out-of-Court settlement negotiations.
As part of his Real Estate practice, he has been advising international and local property developers, contractors, banks, investment funds and private clients on a wide range of real estate areas since before the expansion of the property market, having accompanied the different phases of the development of real estate in Macau.
