Stanley Lai SC

Practice Areas

Cybersecurity & Data Protection; Intellectual Property; International Arbitration; Litigation; Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Career

Dr Stanley Lai, SC is Head of Intellectual Property and Co-Head of Cybersecurity & Data Protection. He specialises in all forms of IP litigation and information technology disputes, and is also a commercial litigator. He maintains a strong advisory practice for IP/data management and cybersecurity, serving a broad spectrum of clients. He also represents clients in investigations that are undertaken by the Personal Data Protection Commission. In the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors, Stanley has substantial experience in advising on healthcare and medical IP and regulatory issues concerning medicines, generics, patent linkage, bio-similars, medical devices, clinical trials, product recalls and product liability.

Stanley is a specialist in alternative dispute resolution, appearing as counsel in IP and TMT arbitrations. He is an experienced mediator, specialising in IP disputes. He has practised as a Senior Counsel for more than 10 years and is the first Singapore-born lawyer to have obtained a PhD in law from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Professional Memberships

Chairman, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.

Commissioner, Government Procurement Adjudication Tribunal.

Member, Singapore International Arbitration Centre Intellectual Property Panel

Member, Singapore Copyright Tribunal.

Senior Mediator, Singapore Mediation Centre.

Specialist Mediator, Singapore International Mediation Centre.

Administrative Panellist, Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre.

Member, Market Surveillance and Compliance Panel (National Electricity Market of Singapore).

Publications

The Copyright Protection of Computer Software in the United Kingdom, Hart Publishing (2000)

The "Intellectual Property" Volume (Volume D) of Singapore Precedents and Forms, LexisNexis (2005)

“The Future of Inventive Step in Patent Law” (2012) 24 SAcLJ 599 (Special Issue on Intellectual Property)

“The Protection of Partial Designs”, Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (2018) 13(4) 279

“Protection of aesthetic appearances in the Copyright Act 2021 and Registered Designs Act 2000”, NUS Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law (TRAIL) (July 2023)

“Beyond the Green Facade: "Greenwashing" Risks and Strategies for Authentic Sustainability”, NUS Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law (TRAIL) (October 2023)

The Singapore chapter of Genuine Use of Trademarks, Wolters Kluwer (2021)

The Singapore section of The International Comparative Legal Guide to Product Liability, Global Legal Group (2024)

The Singapore chapter of Encyclopedia of International Commercial Litigation, Kluwer Law International (2024)

“Data Protection and Generative AI – Policy, Regulation, and the Way Forward”, Cambridge Journal of Artificial Intelligence (Volume 1, Issue 2) (2024)

Languages Spoken

English; Mandarin