Andrew Cobden | Hong Kong | Hogan Lovells

Andrew Cobden

Counsel Intellectual Property

Languages

English

Cobden Andrew

Andrew Cobden
Cobden Andrew
  • Overview
  • Experience
  • Credentials
  • Insights and events
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'Counsel Andrew Cobden is a patent lawyer who has extensive experience handling multi-jurisdictional disputes involving complex technology in Hong Kong.'

Managing Intellectual Property, IP Star 2018

For more than 25 years, Andrew Cobden has been helping companies understand and deal with intellectual property issues. In that time, he has dealt with all types of matters involving a wide range of technical subjects including adhesives, airplane cockpit windows, car spare parts, oil well valves, LED lights, car navigation systems, mobile telephones, many types of pharmaceuticals, and biological products. He enjoys the challenge of understanding how leading edge complex science and technology works.

He often works with leading technical experts and has helped design experiments to produce evidence of patent infringement. His goal is to find practical and, if necessary, innovative solutions to legal problems so clients can focus on their businesses.

Andrew studied in Australia and joined the firm in 1985, first working in London, then in Tokyo, and now in Hong Kong. Having lived and worked on three continents, he appreciates the legal, political, and cultural issues and differences which impact businesses operating globally, both in the East and the West.

Andrew advises multinational technology companies on licensing their intellectual property (IP) into mainland China, through joint ventures and other licensing arrangements. He regularly helps multinational companies understand the patent enforcement landscape in China and other countries in Asia to achieve their commercial objectives.

He has worked on all types of IP litigation, for plaintiffs and defendants, in both trials and appeals in England, France, Japan, China, and Hong Kong. Andrew is one of the few solicitor advocates with higher rights of audience before the Hong Kong Courts for civil proceedings. Andrew frequently represents clients in the superior courts in Hong Kong. He also has substantial experience in other forms of dispute resolution, including arbitrations and mediations.

Apart from IP disputes, Andrew has also acted for clients across a broad spectrum of matters from competition law (antitrust), international fraud and defamation cases (including obtaining a judgment from a jury worth several million dollars), and a multibillion-dollar transaction involving the sale of a mobile telephone network in Japan.

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'Having accumulated valuable cultural and legal savvy over a 25-year career spent on three different continents, the experienced IP veteran has seen everything there is to see in IP law and deploys his worldly wisdom to superb effect'

IAM 1000, The World's Leading Patent Professionals 2018

Representative experience

Acting for a Japanese pharmaceutical company in relation to patent infringement proceedings against six generic drug distributors companies in Hong Kong.
Acting for a Singaporean life sciences company in relation to its licensing negotiations with a Japanese university in respect of joint research, development, and exploitation.
Advising Merck Sharpe & Dohme Corp. on trademark disputes in Hong Kong and mainland China concerning the use of the name "Merck."
Acting for a major U.S. film studio against persons in Hong Kong and mainland China who set up companies with similar names in order to scam investors.
Advising a multinational chemical company on licensing its IP to a Chinese joint venture.
Advising a large Chinese group on setting up businesses in Europe, United States, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Credentials

Education
  • B. Ec, LL.B., The University of Sydney
Court admissions
  • High Court of England and Wales
  • High Court of Hong Kong
  • Supreme Court of New South Wales
Memberships
  • Asia Patent Attorneys Association
  • Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Fellow)
  • Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (Associate Member)
  • Hong Kong Institute of Patent Agents

Recognition

Included in IAM Global Leaders

IP Star (Patents)

Managing Intellectual Property

2018
Recommended Lawyer (Hong Kong: Patent Litigation and Transactions)

IAM Patent 1000

2015