Oral Answer by Senior Minister of State for Law, Indranee Rajah SC, to Parliamentary Question on revocation of patents

29 JAN 2015

29 Jan 2015 Posted in Parliamentary speeches and responses

Mr Gerald Giam, Non-Constituency MP

Question:
To ask the Minister for Law since 2001 (a) how many times have our Ministries, agencies and statutory boards, or government-linked companies (GLCs) applied to the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) for revocation of patents, registered trademarks or registered designs belonging to local intellectual property (IP) owners; (b) how many revocations have been granted; (c) what are the main reasons for revocation; and (d) how many complaints has the Government received from local IP owners about our Ministries, agencies and statutory boards, or GLCs infringing their IP rights.

Answer:

  1. There have been two revocation applications made since 2001. These were not made to IPOS but in the High Court, in the context of counterclaims to proceedings.

  2. The first case was Mobilestats Technologies Pte Ltd v Attorney-General. The plaintiff claimed in court that the defendant had infringed its patent. The Court held that the plaintiff’s patent was invalid and revoked it.

  3. The second case was Yiap Hang Boon v Housing Development Board. The court held that the patent was invalid and revoked it.

  4. The Ministry of Law and IPOS have not received any other complaints which allege that the Government has infringed the IP rights of local IP owners.

Last updated on 29 Jan 2015