Cambodia had a moment on the world intellectual property stage in July this year when a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce took the stage at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s 63rd conference in July to promote the country’s progress in IP rights and cooperation between the Kingdom and WIPO. 

Ouk Prachea, secretary of state at the ministry, speaking in Geneva on behalf of Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak, “informed the conference about the progress in the sector of intellectual property rights and its importance to Cambodia’s development of commerce, technology, agriculture, environment and industry to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth,” the ministry told the Phnom Penh Post. 

The newspaper reported that Prachea also thanked WIPO’s director general Daren Tang for his support for the progress of intellectual property rights in Cambodia and the development of this sector in ASEAN. Tang was formerly head of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and has long been involved in promoting IP throughout ASEAN. 

Prachea said that WIPO had provided technical support to some projects such as the Branding Project, capacity building for officials and registering trademarks for local products such as Koh Trong Grapefruit, the Phnom Penh Noodles Collective Mark and others. 

“By the end of his remarks, [Prachea] had shown Cambodia’s commitment to actively participating in WIPO and promoting closer cooperation,” the ministry said. 

As Cambodia has made great strides in its IP regime in recent years, we’re not surprised that we have also seen an increase in high-level intellectual property lawyers in the country. Asia IP asked a large number of professionals – mostly in-house counsel and corporate legal managers – what they were looking for from their legal service providers. Their answers were used to help us compile our list of Cambodia’s IP Experts, those lawyers who understand just what their clients need and are able to provide them with the best practical advice.  

A few firms dominate IP work in Cambodia, with Abacus IP and BNG Legal each having three lawyers named to our list, and regional powerhouse Tilleke & Gibbins having two lawyers named to the list. Abacus IP lawyers named to the list are David Haskel, Thea Peng and Sreypeou Chaing; BNG Legal lawyers on the list are Darwin Hem, Keopichchenda Long and Thavsothaly Tok. David Mol and Sokmean Chea represent Tilleke & Gibbins. 

The remaining lawyers on the list come from the quickly evolving legal market, and include stalwarts such as Ouk Ry at Bou Nou Ouk Law Firm and Ang Pich at Pich & Partners, new regional practices such as Hau Nguyen at Schmitt & Orlov and Vicheka Lay at iLAW ASIA and brand new firms such as Som Veasna at Veasna IP Service Co. 

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.  

All of them have something in common: they are experts in their fields and, in one way or another, they provide extra value for their clients. They are Asia IP’s Cambodia’s IP Experts.

– GREGORY GLASS 

Cambodia’s IP Experts is based solely on independent editorial research conducted by Asia IP. As part of this project, we turned to in-house counsel in Cambodia, Southeast Asia and elsewhere around the world, as well as Cambodia-focused partners at international law firms, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers including foreign legal consultants, advisers and counsel.  

The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the input of the editorial team at Asia IP, which has nearly 45 years of collective experience in researching and understanding Cambodia’s legal market. 

All private-practice intellectual property lawyers in India were eligible for inclusion in the nominations process; there were no fees or any other requirements for inclusion in the process. 

The names of our 20 IP Experts are published here. Each IP Expert was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details in print and on our website, for which a fee was charged.