Andrew Liao GBS SC JP

Andrew Liao GBS SC JP
Barrister-at-law

Andrew Liao is a Senior Counsel in private practice in Hong Kong, specializing in intellectual property litigation and professional legal practice as a barrister for over 40 years, having been admitted to practice as a barrister in Hong Kong in 1975. He graduated with LLB from the University of Hong Kong in 1972, and with LLM from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences of the University of London in 1974. He was called to the Bar in England and Wales in 1974, admitted as Barrister and Solicitor in the State of Victoria and Australian Capital Territory in 1984, and admitted as Advocate and Solicitor in Singapore in 1990. Andrew was appointed Queen’s Counsel in Hong Kong in 1989, and had been appointed Deputy High Court Judge of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong in 1990, and Recorder of the Court of First Instance of the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2000-2002.

Andrew practises from his own Chambers in Hong Kong and is an overseas member of 8 New Square. His legal practice has covered different categories of intellectual property rights, including patents, industrial designs, integrated circuit topographies, copyright, trade marks, passing off, trade secrets and allied rights. He has also carried on a commercial and civil practice.

For years, apart from his professional legal practice, Andrew has continuously and actively participated in public service concerning a wide range of matters including intellectual property, education, applied R& D, law reform, consumer protection, aviation etc. As a member of the Law Reform Commission and its Copyright Sub-Committee, he was actively and closely involved in the reform of the copyright law, leading to the enactment of Hong Kong’s first own copyright law in 1997. He was the first Chairman of the Copyright Tribunal, and Convenor of the Hong Kong Bar’s Task Force on Intellectual Property. In 2001, Andrew was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the HKSAR Government for his contribution to the reform of intellectual property laws. He was Vice-Chairman of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Trading, Chairman of the Steering Committee on Review of Intellectual Property Issues in the Innovation and Technology Sector, and Member of the Economic Development Commission. Presently, he is Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Review of the Patent System, and Member of the Advisory Committee on Promotion of Arbitration. He is also Contributing Editor of the High Court Patent Rules under Order 103 of the Hong Kong Civil Procedure.

Andrew was formally a Non-Official Member of the Executive Council of the HKSAR. For his distinguished public service, he was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the HKSAR Government in 2008.

Andrew has been actively promoting intellectual property, intellectual property trading, intellectual property arbitration and mediation, cultural and creative industries, innovation and technology in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and was the founder and organizer of the BIP Forum (Business of Intellectual Property Forum) as part of BODW (Business of Design Week) in Hong Kong from 2007 to 2011. Andrew was Visiting Professor of the School of Law at Sun Yat-Sen University, Adjunct Professor of the School of Law and Member of the International Advisory Board of the School of Law at the City University of Hong Kong. Presently, he is the Chairman of the Council of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

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