LEE Basil

Basil Lee is a partner in the Intellectual Property Department.

Basil graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2016, and was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2017. While at the National University of Singapore, Basil was awarded the APAA Patent Law Book Prize as the top student in Intellectual Property Law, and also represented the university at the Monroe E Price Media Law Moot Court Competition, the world’s largest and most prestigious moot court competition for freedom of expression and media and information technology.

Basil handles a wide range of contentious and non-contentious intellectual property-related and technology-related matters. He regularly appears before the Singapore courts (including the Court of Appeal, Singapore’s highest court), and has successfully acted in a number of landmark cases. He also advises global tech giants on a variety of regulatory compliance matters, such as telecommunications, consumer protection, and COVID-19 related laws and regulations, and educational institutions and the Singapore Government on intellectual property agreements and registrations.

Basil is also active in general commercial litigation and international arbitration, and has appeared before all levels of the Singapore courts and arbitral tribunals on a wide range of cases (including banking, energy, mining, cryptocurrency, shareholder oppression, contractual, and employment disputes). He is also experienced in alternative dispute resolution to achieve commercial settlements for clients.

Basil’s representative experience includes:

• Successfully acted for a global chemical giant in a patent infringement claim involving the semiconductor industry (the High Court judgment was reported as Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials CMP Holdings, Inc v NexPlanar Corp [2018] 5 SLR 180 (SGHC); the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal).

• Successfully acted for a local hospital in a patent entitlement claim for medical technology (Cicada Cube Pte Ltd v National University Hospital (Singapore) Pte Ltd [2018] 2 SLR 940 (SGCA)).

• Successfully discharged an injunction against the KAWS: HOLIDAY art exhibition from taking place at The Float @ Marina Bay.

• Successfully acted for a leading fashion brand in seizing and destroying counterfeit goods imported into Singapore.

• Advising tech giants on a range of telecommunications-licensing, consumer protection, and COVID-19 related issues.

• Advising local polytechnics on IP-related issues and agreements (such as IP assignment, licensing, and collaboration agreements).

• Successfully acted for an Indonesian investor against a leading German bank in a breach of contract claim for over US$18m (Long Well Group Ltd v Commerzbank AG [2018] SGHC 57; the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal).

• Acted against a leading Singapore energy company in an international arbitration for claims of more than US$25m relating to an overseas power plant.

• Successfully represented a group of Indonesian businessmen against a mining company in an international arbitration relating to a gold mine.

• Successfully acted for two investors in enforcing a writ of seizure and sale for a jointly tenanted immovable property (Ong Boon Hwee v Cheah Ng Soo [2019] 4 SLR 1392 (SGHC)).

• Advising ultra-high-net-worth clients on a variety of legal matters, including immigration law, wealth management, and contentious matters.

Basil was also a published contributor to the trade marks and passing off chapter in the 2018 and 2020 re-issues of Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore: Volume 13:3 – Intellectual Property. Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore is a leading text for legal practitioners in Singapore, providing a succinct narrative statement of core areas of law and practice.