Professor (Practice) David Llewelyn

8 New Square
Resident in Singapore.

David is Professor of Intellectual Property Law at King’s College London. Before moving to Singapore in 2010, David practised as a solicitor in London for 25 years and most recently was a partner and head of the intellectual property group in the London office of international law firm White & Case. After working for nearly two years as a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property Law in Munich, since 1982 he has combined legal practice with teaching, both in London and other places such as Hong Kong (where he is Honorary Professor at Hong Kong University) and Shanghai.

David has spoken at international conferences all around the world and has written extensively on intellectual property law issues. He is joint author of Cornish, Llewelyn & Aplin Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyright, Trade Marks & Allied Rights (7th ed., 2010) and has worked with others in 8 New Square on the 13th (in 2001) , 14th (in 2005) and 15th (in 2011) editions of Kerly’s Law of Trade Marks & Trade Names. He has also written a business book Invisible Gold in Asia: Creating Wealth through Intellectual Property (2010).

  • Expertise
    • Intellectual property law (including technology transfer and joint ventures, dispute resolution)
    • Information technology law
    • Commercial law
    • Law relating to the distribution and marketing of products/services
  • Degrees and other relevant information
    • Southampton University, Bachelor of Laws, Upper Second Class.
    • Winston Churchill Prize for the Outstanding Male Law Graduate – 1977 Worcester College, Oxford, Bachelor of Civil Law, First Class.
    • Worcester College Prize for Outstanding Achievement – 1979
    • Law Society Final Examination, City of London Polytechnic – 1981-1982
  • Professional qualifications

    Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, admitted 1985.

  • Current positions
    • Deputy Dean, School of Law, Singapore Management University, July 2012- date
    • Professor (Practice), School of Law, Singapore Management University, July 2011- date
    • Professor of Intellectual Property Law, King’s College London, June 2006-date
    • Honorary Professor, School of Law, The University of Hong Kong, March 2009-date

    Editorial Boards

    On the editorial boards of the Australian Intellectual Property Journal (Butterworths), the WIPO [World Intellectual Property Organisation] Journal (Sweet & Maxwell) and European Intellectual Property Review (Sweet & Maxwell).

    Advisory Board

    On the International Advisory Board of the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property Law at the University of New Hampshire, USA.

  • Previous positions
    • External Director, IP Academy Singapore. Also, Chairman of the Global Forum on Intellectual Property held in Singapore in 2006, 2008 and 2011. Sept 2007-June 2012
    • Of Counsel, White & Case (Singapore). April 2010-March 2012
    • Deputy Chairman, IP Academy Singapore. Sept 2007-March 2012
    • Visiting Professor, School of Law, Singapore Management University. July 2010-June 2011
    • Visiting Scholar, School of Law, East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai. May 2010
    • Solicitor, Head of Intellectual Property (Europe) and Partner at White & Case LLP, London. Sept 1999-March 2010
    • Director of the IP Academy Singapore. Dec 2004-Aug 2007
    • Visiting Professor, King’s College London. Sept 2004-May 2006
    • Visiting Professorial Fellow, Queen Mary College, University of London and Visiting Professor, IP Research Institute, Queen Mary College, London. Sept 1992-Sept 2004
    • Executive Editor of “International Review of Industrial Property and Copyright Law”, publication of the Max Planck Institute, Munich. July 1996 – December 2002
    • Senior Visiting Fellow in Intellectual Property Law, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. 1984- Sept 1992
    • Founding Partner of Llewelyn Zietman, specialist IP and Commercial Litigation law firm. July 1994-Sept 1999
    • Partner in Commercial and Intellectual Property Law Group of McKenna & Co, solicitors, London. 1987-June 1994
    • Articled Clerk, Linklaters & Paines, solicitors, London. Then solicitor in intellectual property department. 1982-1987
    • Part-time Lecturer on the Law against Unfair Trading (LL.M.), London School of Economics. 1983-1995
    • Adjunct Professor in EC Law, Pepperdine University Law School, Malibu, California. 1984-1988
    • Consultant to Morris, Fletcher & Cross, Solicitors, Brisbane, Australia, working on company law matters. 1982 (July-Nov)
    • Germany Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law, Munich, West Germany. Jan 1980-Oct 1981
    • NATO Research Fellow, wrote report on “The Political and Economic Obstacles to the Development of a Common European Defence Procurement Policy”. July 1979-Feb 1980
    • Lecturer in Law, Reading University, teaching contract, criminal and tort law. Sept 1977-Sept 1978
  • Publications

    Books and Reports

    • Invisible Gold in Asia: Creating Wealth through Intellectual Property (2010, Marshall Cavendish Singapore)
    • Co-author of Cornish, Llewelyn & Aplin, Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyright, Trade Marks and Allied Rights, 7th ed (2010, Sweet & Maxwell).
    • Co-author of Cornish & Llewelyn, Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyright, Trade Marks and Allied Rights, 5th ed (2003, Sweet & Maxwell) and 6th ed (2007, Sweet & Maxwell).
    • Joint author of Kerly’s Law of Trade Marks and Trade Names, 13th ed. (2001, Sweet & Maxwell), 14th ed. (2005) and 15th ed. (2011).
    • Assistant Editor of the Encyclopedia of UK and European Patent Law, Blanco White et al (Sweet & Maxwell, Looseleaf) 1984- 1989.
    • Author of UK chapter of “Internationale Softwarevertrage” (International Software Contracts), ed. Ullrich 1996.
    • “The International registration of trade marks: present and future” (Report for The Common Law Institute of Intellectual Property 1986).
    • Edited Part II of Stewart “International Copyright and Neighbouring Rights” (Butterworths, 1984).
    • Law Reports: UK editor of “Intellectual Property Reports” (Butterworths, Sydney) 1989 – 1996.

    Articles (main)

    • “Free trade or protection: the problem of non-tariff barriers” Vol.1, No.4, (1980), The European.
    • “Legal Protection for the coloured get-up of Ethical Pharmaceuticals” [1981] IIC .
    • “Merchandising and Trade Marks: Legality Reviewed”, [1983] EIPR 298 (with Wood).
    • “IBM v. Spirales – Copyright in computer programs upheld in Canada” [1984] EIPR 261.
    • “Overseas Programming Company Limited v Cinematography Commerzanstalt: taking of evidence in England for use in US proceedings”, [1985] EIPR 81 (with Small)
    • “The sale and transmission of non-personal data into England: the legal issues”, [1986] Computer Law & Practice.
    • “Copyright in vision – principal issues in cable transmission”, Cable & Satellite Europe, June 1986
    • “Copyright in vision: principal issues in satellite transmissions”, Cable & Satellite Europe, September 1986.
    • “The international registration of trade marks in the UK: The current position and chances of change”, [1986] EIPR 74.
    • “Copyright in computer software: a reply”, Solicitors’ Journal, Vol 128.
    • “The New Industrial Design Right – Commercial Problems”, Corporate Briefing, April 1988.
    • “Parallel Imports – Using Trade Marks to prevent them”, Corporate Briefing, November 1988.
    • Existing copyrights – including industrial designs – The effect of the new law, (1989) 1 Intellectual Property in Business.
    • “The Colgate-Palmolive case and parallel imports”, (1989) 1 Intellectual Property in Business.
    • “How to avoid too much of a good design”, Building 15th December 1989.
    • “Pre-Launch Publicity and Passing Off – Practical Law for Companies, Volume II. No.1 Jan/Feb 1991.
    • Legal Protection of Computer Software in the Federal Republic of Germany: Recent Developments, [1981] IIC.
    • “Copyright and related rights in the construction industry” published in (1991) 3 Intellectual Property in Business.
    • International Encyclopedia of Business and Management (Volume Three), contribution on intellectual property.
    • “Angleichung des nationalen Markenrechts in der EWG: Vereinigtes Königreich”, GRUR Int. 1992 pp 97-101.
    • “The New Law on Infringement of Registered Trade Marks in the UK: Early Developments” [1996] AIPJ.
    • “Judicial Attitudes to the UK Trade Marks Act 1994: Implementing the Approximation Directive”, in European Community Law in the English Courts, ed. Andenas (1998, OUP) at pp. 223-238.
    • “Product Shape and Trade Dress Protection under Trademark Law in Europe”, International Intellectual Property Law & Policy (Fordham University), Volume 6 (2000).
    • “Oskar Hartwig’s Thoughts on the English Legal System”, with D.Stauder, in Intellectual Property in the New Millennium: Essays in Honour of William Cornish, eds Vaver & Bently (2004, CUP).
    • “Merchandising and English Law: Commercial Values versus Judicial Reluctance”, in Perspectiven des geistigen Eigentume und Wettbewerbsrechts, Festschrift fuer Gerhard Schricker (2005, Beck).
    • “The Enforcement of Patent Rights in the United Kingdom”, with W. Cornish, in Patent Enforcement Worldwide, eds Heath & Petit (2005, Hart Publishing).
    • “Trade mark dilution in Singapore: The aftermath of McDonald’s v MacTea”, with S.Leong, (2005) 16 AIPJ 138-151.
    • “Struggling for coherence: A review of recent developments in European trade mark law”, (2006) AIPJ 17-39.
    • “Protection of ‘Famous’ Marks under Trademark Law and Passing Off” in Overlapping Intellectual Property Rights, eds Wilkof and Basheer (2012, OUP).
    • “Intellectual Property Liability of Consumers, Facilitators and Intermediaries: Concepts under Common Law” in Intellectual Property Liability of Consumers, Facilitators, and Intermediaries, eds Heath & Kamperman Sanders (Kluwer, 2012).

    Conference papers and speeches, etc

    Over 200 over the past 35 years, in London, Alicante, Brussels, Budapest, Cambridge, Copenhagen, Dublin, Geneva, Helsinki, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Leipzig, Luxembourg, Monte Carlo, Montreux, Munich, Paris, Prague, Sofia, Stockholm, Strasbourg, Tel Aviv, Trier, Warsaw, Boca Raton, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Ottawa, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Stanford, Toronto, Washington, Auckland, Beijing, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, Melbourne, Mumbai, Pattaya, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, Wellington.

  • Languages

    German

Contact Professor (Practice) David Llewelyn's clerks

Whilst barristers have a designated practice management team, all the clerks have the capacity and knowledge to assist in cases involving all counsel.

Email the clerks