Tasneem Haq

Domain name dispute against an unlicensed e – pharmacy

We successfully represented a Singapore based pharmaceutical company (the “Complainant”) in a dispute before WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre against a domain name that closely resembled the Complainant’s trade mark and which was purportedly used for an unlicensed e- pharmacy website by the Respondent. The Respondent claimed that its business is based in Singapore but investigations ultimately revealed that the Respondent had a UK based address.

The disputed domain name was registered by the Respondent under the country code top level domain (ccTLDs) name “.IO”’ which stands for “British Indian Ocean Territory”.   Domain name disputes involving the ccTLDs are governed by the .IO Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, which is a variant of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy administered by WIPO. Read More

Applicants seeking registration for their designs in Cambodia and Singapore will be able to:-

*re-register their Singapore design in Cambodia

*enjoy acceleration of their Cambodia design with IPOS

More information can be found at https://www.ipos.gov.sg/docs/default-source/protecting-your-ideas/design/recognition-scenarios_sg-kh.pdf?sfvrsn=a7347859_0

If you have further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Currently the Singapore Patent Office (IPOS) is an ISA/IPEA country for PCT applications filed in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Thailand, Uganda, USA and Vietnam. Our unique feature is that IPOS is able to conduct searches directly in both English and Chinese for prior art documents in both languages. However with effect from 1^st July 2020, this service is expanded to include the Republic of Korea and Lao. Read More

The Ministry of Commerce, Myanmar, has announced that the soft opening for re-filing trademarks under the new Trade Marks law will start 1^st October 2020 and will last for six months.

Who is eligible to file under the soft launch?
(1) All existing registered holders of trademarks in Myanmar i.e. trademark ownership declarations already lodged with the Deeds and Documents Registration Office.

(2) Owners of trade marks not registered but are already in use in the Myanmar markets with support of evidence of prior use. Read More

In November 2019,  the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and the Department of Intellectual Property, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) signed a Memorandum of Understanding which now enables Singapore granted patents to be re-registered in Laos, providing ease of patent protection and commercialisation in the two countries. For more information, please click here.

On 4 May 2020, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”) launched a new patent acceleration programme for innovation in all sectors called the “SG Patent Fast Track programme”. This programme  replaces the FinTech Fast Track (“FTFT”) and Accelerated Initiative for Artificial Intelligence (“AI2 ”) which were launched in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Read More

On 8 July 2019, the Intellectual Property (Dispute Resolution) Bill introduced enhance IP dispute resolution procedures in Singapore. The changes proposed include the consolidation of IP disputes with the High Court, fast track options, arbitration for disputes and specific issues pertaining to patent litigation. Read More