10th Developments in IP Law Series (Copyright)

Gavin is a Senior Legal Counsel in the Legal Department of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). He graduated from the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law, and practised law as an intellectual property and commercial litigator before joining IPOS.

In his current capacity, Gavin advises the Singapore government on all matters relating to copyright law and policy. He serves as a lead member of the joint Ministry-of-Law and IPOS taskforce that is responsible for Singapore’s ongoing reform efforts in the field of copyright law.

He has represented Singapore on intellectual property matters at international forums, including the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights and in dispute settlement proceedings before the WTO Appellate Body. His articles on intellectual property have been featured in both domestic and international publications.

Professor David Tan holds a PhD from Melbourne Law School, a LLM from Harvard, and graduated with a LLB (First Class Honours)/BCom from the University of Melbourne. He has taught as a visitor at Melbourne Law School, Center for Transnational Legal Studies at King's College London, University of Tokyo and University of Hong Kong. David was formerly with the Singapore Administrative Service, serving as Director of Sports at Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports (MCYS) and Director of International Talent at Ministry of Manpower (MOM). In the area of law, he has published in a diverse range of journals such as the Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law, Yale Journal of International Law, Law Quarterly Review, Media & Arts Law Review, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, and Australian Intellectual Property Journal. In 2017, David published his monograph The Commercial Appropriation of Fame: A Cultural Analysis of the Right of Publicity & Passing Off on celebrity personality rights published by Cambridge University Press. Since joining NUS Law in 2008, he has published almost 100 articles, book chapters and case comments, and his works have been cited on numerous occasions by the Supreme Court of Singapore.

Martin Senftleben is Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Director, Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam. His activities focus on the reconciliation of private intellectual property rights with competing public interests of a social, cultural or economic nature. Current research topics include institutionalized algorithmic copyright enforcement in the EU, the interplay between robot creativity and human literary and artistic productions, the preservation of the public domain of cultural expressions, and the impact of targeted advertising on supply and demand in market economies.

Professor Senftleben studied law at the University of Heidelberg. He worked as a researcher at IViR and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich. In 2004, he was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Amsterdam. From 2004 to 2007, he was a legal officer in the trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications law division of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. From 2007 to 2020, he was Professor of Intellectual Property at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. As a lawyer at Bird & Bird (2008 to 2019), he litigated copyright and trademark cases, including lawsuits about hyperlinking and website blocking.

Professor Senftleben is a member of the Copyright Advisory Committee of the Dutch State. He provided advice to WIPO in several trademark and copyright projects. He is the President of the European Copyright Society (ECS), President of the Trademark Law Institute (TLI), and a member of the Executive Committee of the Association littéraire et artistique internationale (ALAI) and the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property Law (ATRIP). In 2017, New York University invited him as a Senior Research Fellow in the Hauser Global Law School Program. From 2017 to 2020, he was Visiting Professor at the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Xiamen University. As a guest lecturer, he provides courses at the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI), Strasbourg, the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC), and the Universities of Catania and Krakow.

In 2016, Gabriel joined IPOS’ Hearings and Mediation Department, where he hears his share of disputes as Hearing Officer / Principal Assistant Registrar. Prior to joining IPOS, Gabriel spent five years practising in the field of IP litigation at one of the top law practices in Singapore. In that time, he had the extraordinary privilege of acting and assisting in a number of high profile IP cases, including Nestle v Petra Foods (which resulted in the invalidation of Nestle’s 3-dimensional trade mark registrations for the shape of its KitKat chocolate bars).

A contributing author to the IP chapter of Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Singapore Precedents of Pleadings (2016) and the copyright chapter of Halsburys Laws of Singapore (2018 Re-issue.), Gabriel has also conducted various ad-hoc lectures and talks, including at the National University of Singapore, the Singapore Judicial College, the IP Academy of Singapore, and to police officers at the IPRB (Intellectual Property Rights Branch).

Gabriel is co-tutoring the module “Foundations of IP Law” at the National University of Singapore in 2020.

Justice Mavis Chionh was appointed Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court on 12 March 2018 and High Court Judge on 12 March 2021.

Justice Chionh graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence (1st Class Honours) from the University of Oxford before joining the Singapore Legal Service in 1991. She also has a Master of Laws (Chinese Law) from the National University of Singapore.

Justice Chionh has spent more than 25 years serving in a number of postings within the Singapore Legal Service, such as the then Subordinate Courts, the Civil Division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), the Insolvency & Public Trustee’s Office, and the Crime Cluster of the AGC where she served as Chief Prosecutor of the Financial and Technology Crime Division (formerly known as the Economic Crimes and Governance Division) and as Chief Prosecutor of the Criminal Justice Division. Prior to her appointment as a Judicial Commissioner, she was 2nd Solicitor-General at the AGC.

Justice Chionh was appointed Senior Counsel in 2015 and received the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in the same year.