New developments in patent enforcement and resolution mean good new for foreign businesses enforcing their rights in Singapore, as guest contributors Dezan Shira explain….

Singapore already boasts one of the most advanced intellectual property rights regimes in Asia, not least motivated by the recent push to strengthen their position as a top intellectual property (IP) trading hub. And two weeks ago it furthered the internationalization of its IPR with a new IP settlement option for that will allow disputing parties to submit a disagreement to a World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) approved expert.

Previously, Singapore’s Registrar of Patents directly adjudicated all relevant patent disputes filed with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). Now, parties may instead choose an expert from the WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center’s (AMC) network of field-specific IP experts. This can be for inventorship or entitlement disputes, patent revocation and more complex technical and scientific issues and disagreements.

This option will help to streamline patent disputes in terms of cost and, often more importantly, time. Under the new option the administration fee for expert determination is reduced to SGD500 (€300), and the experts’ rate for 20-25 hours of preparation and determination will be SGD5,500 (€3,200) per case. This is expected to allow for a satisfactory resolution of IP disputes for SGD6,000 (€3,400) in 60 to 120 days – these kind of patent proceedings previously took upwards of a year to complete. Disputing parties will also have the flexibility to choose whether the confidential expert determination in the disagreement will be binding, or serve as non-binding guidance for ongoing negotiations and arbitration.

So good news for foreign SMEs? 

Almost certainly yes – As well as making tackling infringements cheaper and faster, businesses can now be even more confident that patent standards in Singapore will more closely match those in Europe.

Dezan Shira & Associates is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in emerging Asia. Since its establishment in 1992, the firm has grown into one of Asia’s most versatile full-service consultancies with operational offices across China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Vietnam in addition to alliances in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand as well as as well as liaison offices in Italy and the United States.

This post was contributed by the Asia Briefing team, Dezan Shira.