SINGAPORE - Justice George Wei will resign from the Supreme Court Bench on Aug 1.

Justice Wei, 63, joined the Supreme Court as a judicial commissioner five years ago and was appointed a judge in 2015.

Prior to that, he was a professor of law at the National University of Singapore from 1992 to 2005 and the Singapore Management University from 2005 to 2013.

The Supreme Court said on Tuesday (July 17): "As the lead judge for Intellectual Property (IP), Justice Wei has contributed immensely to the jurisprudence of IP law in Singapore. He chaired the IP Dispute Resolution Framework Committee which made recommendations to the Government on how to enhance access to the IP dispute resolution system, especially for less resourced parties."

It added that he is known for a number of landmark decisions covering all the key areas of IP law on copyright, patents and trademarks.

The Supreme Court said that Justice Wei has also contributed significantly to other areas outside of IP law, including "several important decisions" on labour law.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said: "He has been a valued colleague who has worked tirelessly. His judgments have always been learned and within a relatively short span of time, he has had a considerable impact in the development of our law, especially in the field of IP law."

Aside from Justice Wei, the Supreme Court has a total of 20 judges, six judicial commissioners, four senior judges and 15 international judges.

President Halimah Yacob has accepted Justice Wei's resignation.

Justice Wei said: "It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore. The chance to play a small part in upholding the rule of law is a privilege for which I am and will always be very grateful."