Andrew Stoutley, chief operating officer of Tilleke & Gibbins, provided a lengthy quote to Asian Legal Business (ALB) for a recent feature on how law firms in Southeast Asia are increasingly using data analytics and information to drive their business strategy. The article featured contributions from a number of partners and executives from firms across Southeast Asia on the different ways that their firms are applying data to their operations and incorporating information and analytics into their strategic decision-making processes. In his contribution, Andrew explained that as technology has become central to virtually all operations at Tilleke & Gibbins, metrics and data have been harnessed to inform decisions at all levels. To illustrate this, he gave the example of a broad strategic planning process that the firm has undertaken to lay out strategy for the coming years. Identifying and gathering key quantitative and qualitative data points was crucial to the process, which considers every element of the firm’s planned operations for the next several years. Andrew went on to discuss the importance of determining how best to share the data with the relevant stakeholders, such as through visualizations or dashboards that allow staff to monitor the progress of operations. The other informants for the article reported a similar uptick in reliance on data—such as in competitive intelligence, billing, and matter management—and emphasized the necessity for firms to recognize the value of data as a resource that must be protected and used wisely. The full article is available on page 4 of the September 2021 issue of ALB.

Michelle Ray-Jones, consultant, and Ploynapa Julagasigorn, associate, have been elected to the board of the Licensing and Executives Society (LES) Thailand, as announced at the LES Thailand annual conference on September 9–10, 2021. Michelle is the new president for the coming term, while Ploynapa is the society’s secretary. As board members, Michelle and Ploynapa are responsible for guiding LES policies and activities as it seeks to promote knowledge sharing and education on licensing, advocate for licensing issues to governmental and international bodies, and encourage standards and best practices among licensing executives. Their assumption of these leadership roles is also an indication of the growing diversity and gender parity in the licensing industry, which has often been male dominated in the past. Tilleke & Gibbins was one of the five founding members of LES Thailand when it was established in 2013. Since then the organization has expanded to offer seminars, events, and conferences throughout the year to help licensing professionals stay up to date on important current concerns and trends in licensing activities. For more information on LES Thailand’s Annual Conference 2021, please visit the LES Thailand website.

On September 9 and 10, Michelle Ray-Jones, as president of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) in Thailand, together with Ploynapa Julagasigorn, the LES Thailand secretary, hosted a virtual annual conference 2021 under the theme “Supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Challenges and Opportunities During the COVID-19 Era.” The conference was broken down into four main sessions featuring 20 guest speakers on a wide range of topics in response to the pandemic. The first session, “COVID-19: Impacts & Plans for the future,” highlighted COVID-19 vaccine development, addressed the impact of increased remote working arrangements on infrastructure and operations, and covered challenges and shifts in human resources, sales, services, insurance, legal operations, and the use of advanced technology—such as AI-generated inventions in biotech and related IP ownership issues. In the second session, “Future Technology and Licensing Trends,” speakers discussed tech and licensing lessons learned in 2020, licensing trends in 2021, and predictions for the near future. The third session explored how food, nutrition, and agriculture collectively play a crucial role in helping humanity recover from this pandemic. The speakers talked about the booming plant-based products industry and discussed its effects on the agricultural landscape and sustainable agriculture initiatives in Southeast Asia. The last session focused on global climate change and decarbonization efforts, with speakers highlighting some decarbonization solutions and exploring possible technology-transfer strategies to enable the sharing of technologies that can fight climate change.

Chandavya Ing, an associate in the intellectual property group of Tilleke & Gibbins’ Phnom Penh office, coauthored an article titled “The Fate of Dependent Patents in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam—A Comparison with the Situation in Germany and India” with Prof. Dr. Heinz Goddar, a patent attorney and partner in the Munich office of Boehmer & Boehmer. The article appeared in the September 2021 issue of les Nouvelles, the journal of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI). Dependent patents are new patents that also rely on a previous one, such as when an invention builds on or adds new technology to a previous patented invention. This approach to securing commercial rights for progressive inventions is often seen in patent-heavy fields such as telecommunications and advanced technology. Commercializing a dependent patent without infringing the earlier patent (i.e., the one that it depends on) requires licensing from the holder of the earlier patent. If this proves unworkable, the dependent patent cannot go to market. While this may ensure that the original patent rights are upheld, such an impasse can also block innovation and progress. As the authors explain in the article, Germany and India (as well as other countries such as Russia and Taiwan) will enlist a state party in an effort to resolve any such situation that arises, often through a de-blocking mechanism such as a compulsory or non-voluntary license. The article then looks in detail at the de-blocking mechanisms and provisions in the legal and regulatory environment of various countries in Southeast Asia, before offering comparison to the situation in Germany and India. Overall, the authors conclude that a more active (but balanced) use of compulsory licensing—which already exists in many Southeast Asian countries but is not frequently employed outside of the pharmaceutical sector—might help clear patent-related obstacles