Author: connielo

Mr. Derek Lau joined the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) of the HKSAR Government in 2012.  Before joining IPD, Derek Lau had worked in private practice in the intellectual property area for over 10 years.  He has all-rounded IP experience including prosecuting trade mark applications, oppositions and invalidations, drafting patent specifications and prosecuting patent applications, handling IP related court actions, and providing advice on IP transactions.

Besides having a LL.B. degree from the London University, Derek Lau had obtained a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Minnesota, USA, which provides him with the engineering knowledge to handle patent work.  He also passed the qualification examination for China patent agents.

Currently, Derek Lau is engaged in the legislative and preparatory work for implementing the new patent system in Hong Kong.

Mr. William C.W. Lam graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He obtained his LLB Degree from the University of London, and attended the Law College in England. He is a qualified lawyer in both Hong Kong, England and Wales. Mr. Lam is one of the founders of Hui & Lam Solicitors LLP. He had experience working in an international law firm and multinational company.

Mr. Lam’s areas of practice include M&A, joint venture, PE funds formation, corporate restructuring and commercial legal services. He has assisted clients successfully listed by IPO in Hong Kong and completed large scale acquisitions. Mr. Lam is also the Honourable Vice President of the Asia International Intellectual Properties Society (AIIPS).

Mr. Johnson Lam was graduated from the University of Hong Kong and was admitted as a solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong SAR in 2005.

Johnson specialized in the intellectual property laws. His areas of practice include the registration of trade marks, domain names, designs and patent; trade mark opposition, revocation, restoration and rectification proceedings; handling domain name disputes; enforcement actions relating to anti-counterfeiting and custom actions; assignment and licensing of intellectual property rights etc.

Johnson has also completed a Master of Laws (China Laws) co-hosted by the City University of Hong Kong and the Remin University of China

Johnson frequently gave talks in relation to IP laws in Hong Kong and China, such as The Law Society of Hong Kong delegation to Chongqing in 2012 and 2013-2015 Asia Adult Expo.

Ms. Candy Lam is the Regional Counsel for IFPI Asia. IFPI represents the music industry worldwide with more than 1,300 record producers and distributors from over 59 countries. Its membership includes the major multinational recording companies and hundreds of independent record companies, large and small, located throughout the world.

Based in the IFPI Asian Regional Office in Hong Kong, Candy is responsible for advising on the legal, licensing, business and operational activities in respect of the exploitation and enforcement of rights controlled by IFPI members, monitoring developments in copyright and other laws affecting the music industry, lobbying governments and lawmakers regarding legislations and policies concerning the music industry, and overseeing the anti-piracy actions and litigations relating to the enforcement of IFPI members’ rights in the region.

Prior to joining IFPI in 2013, Candy was a practising solicitor specializing in intellectual property law in a leading law firm and the largest IP practice in Hong Kong.

She is a practicing solicitor in Hong Kong and was admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of England and Wales. Candy gained a degree in law from the University of Hong Kong with First Class Honours.

Dr. Lex Kuo is a counsel in Latham & Watkins’ Entertainment, Sports & Media Practice with a focus on Greater China.

Mr. Kuo advises Chinese and international entertainment and media clients, including producers, distributors, and financiers of motion pictures and other content, on a variety of matters within Greater China, including cross-border financing, development, production and distribution of media and entertainment projects, music licensing, intellectual property rights as well as content exploitation on traditional and new media platforms.

Mr. Kuo has been advising a leading Chinese internet and technology company on its co-financing and co-distribution transaction for various global tent-pole films, such as “Wonder Woman”, “Bumblebee”, “Top Gun: Maverick”, “Men in Black International”, and Tom Hank’s “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”.

In addition to being a lawyer, Lex is a seasoned radio producer and currently hosts a weekly radio show that has been syndicated in the Greater China Area.  Lex also teaches the course “Introduction to Entertainment Ecosystem in the Greater China” at a graduate program in the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Ms. Gabriela Kennedy is a partner of Mayer Brown and head of the Asia IP and TMT group. She is also co-leader of Mayer Brown’s global Intellectual Property practice. She is based in Hong Kong, practising intellectual property, media, information technology and telecommunications law. Gabriela handles the full spectrum of intellectual property work from litigation to licensing, strategic advice and portfolio management. Gabriela is one of the most respected IP lawyers in Asia and is particularly well-known in the market for coming up with the solution for the company name hijacking problem in Hong Kong. She advises a number of well-known brands on pan-Asian branding strategies and handles complex trade mark/passing off litigation for them coupled with domain name work for which she is also well known. She has been involved in high-profile media transactions and litigation, and has advised on complex licensing and franchising deals and disputes involving royalty fees. Gabriela has been involved in lobbying for changes to copyright legislation in Hong Kong and has devised strategies for dealing with online piracy. Gabriela advises extensively on technology and data protection issues in Hong Kong and throughout Asia, particularly in relation to business processing outsourcing, the cross-border transfer of data, data compliance, data breaches and cybersecurity issues. On the information technology side, Gabriela’s particular expertise includes advising on complex IT transactions and projects, IT outsourcing, cloud-computing, mobile payments, smart card projects, the regulation of encryption technology, software licensing, and disputes stemming from failed IT projects. She has been involved with a number of international organisations in discussions involving standard setting for the cross-border transfer of data and the formulation of strategies to deal with cyber-security.

Since the early 2000s, Gabriela has been recognised as a leading individual by all major legal directories in all areas of IP and has received numerous awards, including “Woman Lawyer of Year” at the ALB HK Law Awards, 4-time winner of “Best in TMT“ and “Best in IP Litigation” at the Euromoney Asia Women in Business Law Awards”. She has been recently selected by World IP Review as an “Influential Woman in IP for 2019” and is listed as “Top 250 Women in IP” by Managing IP. She has also been named “One of the top 30 world’s leading practitioners” in her field in Expert Guide’s Best of the Best 2019 (Global).

Mr. Ji Jie – bachelor of Packaging Engineering, Zhengzhou University, bachelor of Management, Renmin University of China and the master’s degree in law of China University of Political Science.

Mr. Ji had been served for Design Department of SIPO, his working experience also includes patent administrative law enforcement, intellectual property market management and IP operation enterprise management.

Being the core writer, he took part in a series of key research project reports and drafted a few of important national level policies and management rules, such as National IP Strength Status Report, State IP Strategy and Intellectual Property Development Management Regulations.

Mr.Ji’s authored work, “On the patent regime in China,” was awarded 2nd Prize by the State intellectual property strategy composition competition, and participated in the compiling of “Typical cases of patent disputes Analysis”, ” View Submit norms of design patent application” and other works; He had issued lots of papers about the topic of Patent Regime in China on many well-know medias.

Mr.Ji also takes a few of social positions, such as, Vice President, Patent Protection Association of China; Executive member of the council, China intellectual property News; Executive director, the Youth Federation of National Intellectual Property; Expert of Guangdong Intellectual Property Protection Association Experts Database, Hi-Level Talent of Zhuhai City and Patent Attorney of China national patent agents association.

Ms. Huang Ling has obtained master of law, lawyer & patent agent. She is now serving as the 7th director of Chengdu lawyers association, the senior partner of Sichuan Altitude Law Firm and the arbitrator of Chengdu arbitration commission .She is also a member of IP Committee of all China lawyers association, member of legislative expert group of Chengdu CPPCC, and expert of patent infringement judgment and consultation of China ( Sichuan ) Intellectual Property Rights protection assistance center, president of Chengdu Panda Tourism & Culture Industry Association.

Huang Ling is a senior legal practice expert engaged in the fields of internet and high-tech and intellectual property rights in southwest China. she also dabbled in the cultural tourism industry. Her paper ,analysis of intellectual property strategy of online games, won the top ten papers awards of 2010 China lawyers intellectual property business innovation forum, and successively served as deputy editor-in-chief and joint editor-in-chief of ” frontier of information network and high-tech law” ( volume 7 ), ( volume 8 ).

Dr. Huang Hui is a Senior Partner at Wanhuida Peksung IP Group. He holds a J.D. on Trademark Law from the China Academy of Social Sciences and another from the University of Strasbourg in France. Dr. Huang is a multi-faceted intellectual property counsel with stellar academic credentials on China’s trademark legislation and practice and a veteran lawyer who represents clients in all levels of Chinese courts up to the Supreme People’s Court in a wide variety of intellectual property litigations, some of which have become landmark cases. On account of his expertise, Dr. Huang has been vigorously involved in the initial drafting and subsequent amendments to China’s major trademark-related laws, regulations, judicial interpretations, as well as regulatory documents.

Dr. Yuanjia Hu is Associate Professor, PhD supervisor, Programme Coordinator of Medicinal Administration in Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, and Deputy Director of the Systematic Research Center of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research of Chinese Medicine. Dr. Yuanjia Hu received B.Sc. degree of pharmacy administration from China Pharmaceutical University, Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Macau, and Guest Researcher fellowship in Austrian Institute of Technology. Dr. Hu focused on pharmaceutical intellectual property and complex system analysis and firstly established valuation model specific to pharmaceutical patents. He led over 20 research projects financed by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, The National Social Science Fund of China, The Science and Technology Development Fund of Macao SAR, and Austrian Science Fund etc, supervised over 30 Ph.D. and master students and postdoctoral researchers, published over 90 SCI/SSCI papers, and delivered over 100 speeches worldwide. He is also Deputy Secretary-General and Executive Council Member in Specialty Committee on Network Pharmacology of World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, Project Researcher in the Research Center of National Drug Policy & Ecosystem, Policy Expert in Financial Innovation Pilot Platform of State Intellectual Property Operation Public Service Platform, an Arbitrator in Zhuhai Arbitration Commission, and Patent Reviewer in the University of Macau.