Mr Lam Chung Nian > WongPartnership LLP > Singapore, Singapore > Lawyer Profile

WongPartnership LLP
12 MARINA BOULEVARD, LEVEL 28
MARINA BAY FINANCIAL CENTRE TOWER 3
SINGAPORE 018982
Singapore

Work Department

Cyber Security; Data Protection; FinTech; Health Sciences & Biotechnology; Intellectual Property; Technology & Media; Telecommunications

Position

Lam Chung Nian is the Head of the Intellectual Property, Technology & Data Group.

Career

He handles both contentious and non-contentious matters in the areas of intellectual property (“IP”), media, information technology (“IT”), data protection and telecommunications law, and has extensive experience working on regulatory, transactional, enforcement and advisory projects in these areas, counting among his clients multinational companies, listed corporations and government regulators.

Chung Nian’s IP experience covers all aspects of transactional, enforcement and advisory work involving IP, technology, media and telecommunications matters, including franchising, licensing, securitisation, due diligence, acquisitions and divestments. He also acts on behalf of international rights protection agencies in the music and movie industries, and some of the world’s best-known content producers in the motion picture and music industries, as well as collecting societies, television networks and other creative sector clients.

His IT experience covers software licensing, outsourcing, systems development and integration agreements, as well as maintenance, service level and “as-a-service” agreements. He has worked on projects involving key IT infrastructure and mission critical systems, having represented both IT system developers and consultants as well as large institutional customers in the aviation, banking, financial services, public transport and healthcare sectors.

In the telecommunications sector, he has handled customer and vendor agreements, infrastructure roll-outs, submarine cable projects, VoIP, SIP and unified communications as well as regulatory clearance projects, having advised international cloud service providers, multinational telecommunications and networking companies.

He also has extensive experience advising on personal data protection matters, having handled numerous projects involving the treatment and handling of customer and/or employee data across a range of sectors, with clients including some of Singapore’s largest banks, insurers, telecommunications, transport, media, hospitality, healthcare, and property companies.

Work Highlights

Significant transactions that Chung Nian has been involved in include advising / acting for the following:

  • MSD in its intellectual property dispute with Merck KGAA over the “Merck” name in Singapore proceedings.
  • Singapore Airlines Limited on its technology outsourcing agreements with its hardware, software and solutions vendors, including systems integration, development and other technology deployments, across traditional turnkey, waterfall, project delivery, Agile, “as-a-service” and other contracting models.
  • The Singapore Government Technology Agency (“GovTech”) on its technology and other SmartNation initiatives.
  • EPIC Healthcare on its agreements to roll out of its electronic medical records (“EMR”) solutions to public hospitals in Singapore.
  • OCBC Bank and DBS Bank on their electronic banking and other digitalisation initiatives, including electronic re-papering, licensing and other agreements to support its API banking offerings, regional common electronic account access and adoption of new payment rails.

Publications & Legal Updates

  • Data Protection & Privacy: International Series (3ed) (Sweet & Maxwell, 2016)
  • The Art Collecting Legal Handbook (Thomson Reuters, 2013 and 2016)
  • Communications: Regulation and Outsourcing Global Guide (Thomson Reuters, 2015)
  • IP Client Strategies in the Asia-Pacific (Aspatore Books, 2011)

Languages

English

Memberships

Chung Nian is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and has also been appointed as an IP Adjudicator empowered to hear disputes before the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”), the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Panel of Arbitrators for Intellectual Property Disputes as well as to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (“WIPO”) Panel of Film and Media Mediators, Arbitrators and Experts, and the panel of mediators for the IPOS-WIPO initiative for Mediation for Proceedings Instituted in IPOS.

He is the President of the Asian Patent Attorney Association (Singapore Chapter), a member of the International Trademark Association, and the Intellectual Property Committee of the Law Society of Singapore. He has also served as a Co-Chair of the International Bar Association (“IBA”) Communications Law Committee, of which he is now a member of its Advisory Board, and has also been appointed as a member of the IBA Presidential Task Force on Cyber Security.

Chung Nian has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and also to the board of Assurity Trusted Solutions Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) which handles private sector IT solutions and interfaces for Singapore’s national digital identity initiatives. He has also held faculty positions at Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), as well as for courses offered by IP Academy (Singapore), the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University and the Singapore Institute of Legal Education (SILE).

His expertise has also been recognised by the Singapore Academy of Law where he is one of the first lawyers in Singapore to be accredited as a Senior Accredited Specialist (Data & Digital Economy).

Education

National University of Singapore (LL.B., Hons.)

Registered Patent Agent, Singapore

Lawyer Rankings

Singapore > Intellectual property: Local firms

Fielding a broad practice, WongPartnership LLP is noted for its expertise in transactional and commercial IP mandates, in addition to advising on advisory and enforcement matters, as demonstrated by its advice to the Football Association Premier League Limited in its IP protection and enforcement across the region. A testament to the firm’s ‘broad range of capabilities’, the team continues to advise multinational clients across a plethora of industries, including technology, media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals. With experience covering transactional, enforcement and advisory work, ‘attentive, responsive and knowledgeable IP practitioner’ Lam Chung Nian leads the practice and Kylie Peh brings further expertise in IP portfolio management, alongside privacy and data protection matters.

Singapore > TMT: local firms

WongPartnership LLP acts for large-scale telecoms companies on a range of commercial and regulatory issues arising under the Telecommunications Act and Telecom Competition Code, in addition to the full gamut of telecoms services agreements. Other key areas of expertise include mission critical IT rollouts for software systems and digital initiatives, as well as media-related investment, creation, distribution, and exploitation projects. Practice leader Lam Chung Nian has a ‘wealth of knowledge’ in regulatory, transactional, enforcement, and advisory projects across the telecoms, media, IT, and data protection arenas. Kylie Peh, who advises on regulatory compliance and licensing mandates in the telecoms sector, is another key contact in the group.

Singapore > Data protection and cyber security: Local firms

Counting multinational companies, listed corporations and government regulators among its key roster of clients, WongPartnership LLP advises on domestic and cross-border projects involving PDPA and GDPR issues, in addition to compliance matters, data breach incidents and enforcement actions. Praised for his ‘remarkable breadth and depth of experience’, Lam Chung Nian leads the team and handles projects involving the treatment and handling of customer and employee data across a range of sectors. Kylie Peh is another key contact in the group.