South-East Asia IPR Basics Series: Registered Designs in Singapore

RegisteredToday’s South-East Asia IPR Series post is our last IPR basics post for Singapore and focuses on the protection of registered designs.

Registered design rights provide a crucial element of protection for goods which rely on a specific shape, configuration, pattern, or ornamentation as a key selling point. Singapore provides comprehensive protection for registered designs, including protection for intangible computer or device based designs such as those for Graphical User Interfaces.

As always, if you have any further questions regarding the information contained in this article, don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our IP experts for free, tailored advice!

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South-East Asia IPR Basics Series: Patents in Singapore

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PatentsToday we’re continuing with our South-East Asia IPR Series with another core area of Singaporean IP law, the law of patents. Patents are essential, especially to those operating in the mechanical or electrical engineering sector, or manufacturing goods anywhere in the world.

A solid patent portfolio can prevent the copying and manufacturing of products by competitors and allows SMEs to exploit their inventions free from competition.

In addition, monitoring competitors patent portfolios and applications can provide useful information on their business strategy and product direction, thus enabling SMEs to react in advance of product releases to better handle threats to their market position presented by products utilising these new features or processes.

Singapore has recently been named ASEANs first International Patent Search and Examination Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and has the most developed legislation and procedures in the region.

So read on, and if you have any queries, feel free to contact our experts at the South-East Asia IPR SME Helpdesk for free, tailored advice.

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China’s Smartphone Addiction and IPR for App Developers

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8585049088_9d1dbcdf1f_kIn 2014 China’s iOS App downloads surged with a 30% increase in quarterly downloads between Q1 2014 and Q1 2015. This rapid growth, stimulated by the release of the iPhone 6 and heavy investment in Apple’s retail presence in the country, has pushed China to the top spot for App downloads worldwide[1].

Asia is leading a mobile revolution, replacing older, less transportable technologies with a ‘mobile-first’ tech culture. Smartphone penetration in China is far deeper than anywhere in the West, many new users skipping desktop computing entirely in their adoption of smartphones and tablets[2]. In China alone it is estimated that there are more than 700 million active smartphones and there is still potential for further growth as lower cost alternatives increasingly cater for the lower end of the market.

These statistics, coupled with recent developments in Chinese mobile user payment structures makes China a very attractive market for existing and potential app developers, with content creators flocking to take advantage of the newly minted market.

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Guest Podcast: René Bernard on Product Piracy in Mechanical Engineering

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articleToday’s podcast was kindly produced for us by René Bernard,  General Manager of VDMA China German Mechanical Engineering and Commercial Services (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

René shares with us the results of the recent VDMA product piracy study, along with some useful tips for SMEs working in the mechanical engineering sector for avoiding potential product piracy, or reacting to existing infringements.

The VDMA is one of the largest industrial associations in Europe and represents over 3,100 member companies in the engineering industry. The VDMA covers the entire engineering sector: everything from component manufacturers, machine builders, plant erectors, system suppliers and system integrators through to service providers. René Bernard up the Service and Consulting Company of VDMA China in Beijing and has had extensive experience supporting businesses in their development within the PRC.

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