Prof. Yahong Li 李亞虹教授
Associate Professor
Biography
Yahong Li is a graduate of Stanford Law School, holding the JSM and the JSD. She is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong.
She specialises in intellectual property (IP) law with a focus on the cross-disciplinary study of IP, culture and technological innovation. She is the author/editor of Patents and Innovation in Mainland China and Hong Kong: Two Systems in One Country Compared (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2017), China Chapter in International Copyright Law and Practice (LexisNexis, 2015 onward), Imitation to Innovation in China: The Role of Patents in Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industries (Edward Elgar, 2010), and International and Comparative Intellectual Property: Law, Policy and Practice (LexisNexis, 2005). She has published in the top-tier IP journals including International Review of IP and Competition, Law, Innovation and Technology, Queen Mary Journal of IP, Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal, Computer Law and Security Review, Journal of IP Law and Practice, European IP Review, and UPenn Journal of International Law. She was twice awarded the faculty research output prizes and was a recipient of the competitive Cambridge-HKU and Melbourne-HKU fellowships. She has been a visiting scholar at the Harvard Law School, Max Planck Institute of Innovation and Competition, Berkeley Law School, Peking University and Zhejiang University; and Visiting Professor at Santa Clara Law School, University of Salzburg, Peking-Shenzhen Transnational Law School, Singapore Management University, Jinan University, among others. She has spoken at over 100 international conferences, and delivered keynote, public and guest lectures at, inter alia, CREATe Center, WIPO IP Summer School, Law Society of Hong Kong and many universities in mainland China.
She is an Executive Committee Member of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP), a Council Member of the China IP Law Association, an Honorary Advisor of the Hong Kong Institute of Patent Attorneys, and the Global Network Council Representative of the Hong Kong Creative Commons. She is a Principal Researcher for “Hong Kong Patent Landscape” project of Hong Kong Productivity Council, and an active member in the project of “IP Trading Centre” of Hong Kong Coalition.
She has supervised 18 PhD students on various topics across copyright and patent laws. She teaches the courses of International and Comparative IP Law, IP, Innovation and Development, and Copyright and Creativity at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
Research Area
- International and Comparative Intellectual Property
- Patents and Innovation
- Copyright and Creativity
Research Area
- International and Comparative Intellectual Property
- Patents and Innovation
- Copyright and Creativity
Representative publications:
Books and Monographs:
- Patent and Innovation in China and Hong Kong: Two Systems in One Country Compared (ed.) (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
- Copyright, the Internet and the Balance of Rights (in Chinese) (ed.) (HKU Press, 2016)
- China Chapter in Lionel Bently (ed.), International Copyright Law and Practice (LexisNexis, 2015 onward)
- Butterworths Hong Kong Patents Handbook, 2nd edition (LexisNexis, Hong Kong, 2011).
- “Imitation to Innovation in China: the Role of Patents in Biotechology and Pharmaceutical Industries(Edward Elgar, 2010)
- International and Comparative Intellectual Property: Law, Policy and Practice(LexisNexis, 2005)
Journal articles and book chapters:
- “IP, medical AI, and public health crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond,” in Taina, Jukka & Pratyush eds., Intellectual Property Rights in the Post Pandemic World: An Integrated Framework of Sustainability, Innovation and Global Justice, pp. 206-223 (Edward Elgar, Dec. 2023)
- “Review Study: Building an Innovation-Driven Patent System in Hong Kong,” in “Hong Kong Patent Landscape Report” sponsored by HKPC and FHKI, 2023.
- “AI Inventors: Deference for Legal Personality Without Respect for Innovation?” (co-authored with E. Southworth), Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice, Vol. 18, Issue 1, Jan. 2023, pp. 58-69.
- “AI’s Future Impact on Copyright for AI-Generated Work: Insights from Chinese Case Law” (co-authored with E. Southworth), European Intellectual Property Review (2022) 44 (7), pp. 418-427.
- “Players’ Rights to Game Mods: Towards a More Balanced Copyright Regime,” (co-authored with Z. Deng), Computer Law & Security Review, Vol. 43, November 2021, pp.1-17
- “The Age of Remix and Copyright Law Reform,” Law, Innovation and Technology, Vol. 12, Issue 1, January 2020.
- “Copyright Issues with the Black Hole Image and Their Legal Implications,” Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal, Vol. 38, Issue 1, October 2019.
- “The Current Dilemma and Future of Software Patenting,” International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Issue 7, July 2019.
- “Taking Users’ Rights Seriously: Proposed UGC Solution for Spurring Creativity in Internet Age,” (co-authored with W. Huang), Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, Vol. 9, Issue 2, Feb. 2019.
- “Copyrightability of Remix Works and Creation of Remix Right,” in Susy Frankel (ed.), Is Intellectual Property Pluralism Functional? (Edward Elgar, June 2019).
- China’s Copyright Public Domain: A Comparison with Australia (co-authored with G. Greenleaf), Australian Journal of Intellectual Property Law, No. 1, 2017.
- “Intellectual Property and Innovation: Case Studies of China’s High-Tech Industries”, Oregon Review of International Law, Issue 2, Vol. 13 (2012), pp. 101-144.
- “Intellectual Property and Public Health: Two Sides of the Same Coin,” Asian Journal of WTO & International Health Law and Policy, Vol. 6:389 [2011], pp. 389-427.
- “Human Gene Patenting and Its Implications to Medical Research,” P. Yu (ed.), Intellectual Property and Information Wealth (Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, London, 2007), pp 347-376.
- “Pushing for Greater Protection: the Trend of Chinese Software Industry and the Implications for the Rule of Law in China,” Penn. J. of Int’l Eco. L., Vol. 23:4, 2002, pp. 637-661.
- “The Wolf Had Come: Are China’s Intellectual Property Industries Prepared for the WTO?” UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal, 20:1, Fall 2002, pp. 77-112.
- “The Law-making Law: a Solution to the Problems in the Chinese Legislative System?” 1 Hong Kong Law Journal (2000), pp. 120-140.
- “The Central-HKSAR Legislative Relationship: A Constitutional Assessment,” in Raymond Wacks (ed), The New Legal Order in Hong Kong (Hong Kong University Press, 1999), pp 163-182.