No. 24-1424

BEIJING ABACE BIOLOGY CO., LTD.,

Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.

CHUNHONG ZHANG and MTOZ BIOLABS, INC.,

Defendants, Appellees.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. Indira Talwani, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Rikelman, Selya, and Kayatta, Circuit Judges.

Willard C. Shih, with whom Stephen T. Melnick, Littler Mendelson, P.C., and Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer P.A. were on brief, for appellant. Zackary L. Stillings, with whom Yuanyou Sunny Yang and Frost Brown Todd, LLP were on brief, for appellees.

December 2, 2024 SELYA, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff-appellant Beijing Abace Biology Co., Ltd. (Abace) challenges the district court's entry of summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees Dr. Chunhong Zhang (Dr. Zhang) and MtoZ Biolabs, Inc. (MtoZ). Discerning no error, we affirm.

I

We rehearse the relevant facts and travel of the case. In that endeavor, we "scrutinize the record in the light most favorable to the summary judgment loser and draw all reasonable inferences therefrom to that party's behoof." All. of Auto. Mfrs. v. Gwadosky, 430 F.3d 30, 34 (1st Cir. 2005).

Abace and Creative Dynamics, Inc. (Creative Dynamics) are affiliated companies that provide research and development resources in the life sciences and pharmaceutical spaces. Both companies were founded in 2004. Abace is headquartered in Beijing and Creative Dynamics is headquartered in New York. Although the precise nature of the corporate relationship between Abace and Creative Dynamics is murky, the record suggests that the two firms have a "contract" relationship and that some corporate officers work for both companies.1

In December of 2014, Abace hired Dr. Zhang. She became a "supplier" in its creative proteomics department. As such, Dr.

1 We need not probe this too deeply as only Abace — and not Creative Dynamics — is a party to this appeal.

- 2 - Zhang was required to "find the product or service" requested by "go[ing] online, like Google or Baidu [a Chinese search engine], and search[ing] which company can provide this [product or service] and then call[ing] them to ask them for the price and how long they can deliver this [product or service] and then giv[ing] the supplier's price back to [sic] sales person." While working for Abace, Dr. Zhang was stationed in China.

During her tenure with Abace, Dr. Zhang signed several employment-related agreements. These included two so-called Cadres Agreements, dated January 9, 2016, and November 2, 2016, respectively.2 The agreements are the same in all aspects relevant to this decision. Separate and apart from the Cadres Agreements, the record reflects that the parties entered into a Confidentiality and Non-Competition Agreement (the Non-Compete Agreement) and a Labor Contract, both dated November 2, 2016.

Each of the Cadres Agreements stated that it "appli[ed] to all current employees of Creative Dynamics and CD Biosciences (CD Inc), i.e., all current employees of the Company." We assume — favorably to Abace — that Dr. Zhang fell within the reach of those agreements.

2 Although these are called the "Creative Dynamics Cadres Agreements," the signatories are Abace and Dr. Zhang. This discrepancy is unexplained, but it is not material to the resolution of this appeal.

- 3 - Those agreements also defined certain terms. As relevant here, those agreements defined "senior cadre[s]" as "the first and second level leaders of each Division," meaning the "primary