Synopsis
In this seminar, Professor Yahong Li will examine the relationship between patents and innovation in China. She will use recent cases and case studies to address questions such as: Can patents promote innovation? Can changes to a country’s patent law or patent system have any impact on the trend of innovation in such a country? And if so, how? Moreover, does the number of patents issued in a country really represent the country’s innovative capacity? And, can patents play a different role in different industries?
In addressing the relationship between patent and innovation, Professor Li will first refer to the general theories that inform patent law and policy and to several decisions decided in the U.S. She will then examine Chinese patent law and the policy reforms that have taken place in the past three decades in order to assess whether, and how, the reforms have affected innovation in China. She will conclude the seminar by analyzing patenting trend and activities of China’s specific industries such as biotech and pharmaceutical (including TCM), Telecoms and software, and green technology.
The objective of this seminar is to offer information and insights to better understand the development of China from an imitation-oriented country to an innovation-oriented country, and the impact of patent law on this transformation. In this context, Professor Li will also briefly discuss her current book project, titled “Patent and Innovation in China and Hong Kong.”
Speaker's Profile
Yahong LI, JSD (Stanford), is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), and an Associate Director at the HKU Technology Transfer Office. She specializes in IP law with a focus on cross-disciplinary study of IP, culture and technological innovation. She is the author of the books: Imitation to Innovation in China: the Role of Patents in Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industries (Edward Elgar, 2010), International and Comparative Intellectual Property: Law, Policy and Practice (LexisNexis, 2005). She is also the author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles. Her current research focuses on copyright and creativity, copyright law reform, and IP boundary. At HKU, she teaches Master’s courses of IP, Innovation and Development, Copyright and Creativity, and International and Comparative Intellectual Property Law. She is a frequent speaker at international and regional conferences, and has been a visiting fellow/professor, inter alia, at Harvard Law School, Cambridge University, the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Melbourne Law School, Salzburge University, and Santa Clara University Law School.
Chair and Moderator
Irene CALBOLI is Lee Kong Chian Fellow, Visiting Professor, and the Deputy Director of the Applied Research Centre for Intellectual Assets and the Law in Asia (ARCIALA), School of Law, Singapore Management University. She is also Professor of Law at Texas A&M University School of Law and Transatlantic Technology Law Forum Fellow at Stanford University. Irene’s scholarship focuses on the intersection between intellectual property and international trade. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and currently serves in the Executive Committee of the Intellectual Property Section of the Association of American Law Schools, the Executive Board of the European Policy for Intellectual Property Association (EPIP), and is the Co-Chair of the Professor Membership Team of the Academic Committee of the International Trademark Association (INTA). She is also a Delegate to the American Society of Comparative Law, and a member of the International Law Association (American and Singapore Branches), the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP), and the Association Litteraire and Artistique Internationale USA (ALAI-USA).
Discussant
Yanbing Li is currently Yong Pung How Research Fellow at the Applied Research Centre of Intellectual Assets and the Law in Asia, School of Law, Singapore Management University. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in Law at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg and holds a German LL.M. degree from the Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg and an English LL.M. degree in European Intellectual Property Law from the Queen Mary University of London and the Leibniz University of Hanover. Prior to joining SMU, she has been doing research in the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition Law since 2013. Her current research interests include Copyright Law and Media Law with a special focus on China, Germany, the U.K. and the E.U.
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Last updated on 14 Mar 2016 .
