When Singtel was Singapore’s official broadcast licensee of the English Premier League (EPL) in 2016, it informed the football league that games were being broadcast illegally here.

This update covers recent court decisions and featured articles, events and developments relating to IP/IT dispute resolution in Singapore in January 2025.

This is a sampling of some decisions that the Singapore courts handed down in 2024, which provide useful insights relating to intellectual property, intangible assets or technology.

This write-up details selected issues, holdings and comments of interest for IPOS decisions issued in 2024.

The courts have recently drawn a sharper distinction between the derivative action and the oppression action as remedies in respect of wrongs committed against a company, including wrongs associated with intellectual property assets. It is suggested that focusing on the act is not optimal and instead the focus should be on the agreement or understanding of the parties, whether formal or informal.

On 2 January 2025, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore will launch a pilot initiative for an expedited track (“Expedited Track”) for certain proceedings before the Registrar of Trade Marks like trade mark oppositions and revocations. This update provides a summary on the Expedited Track.

This update looks at some of the key legal highlights over the past 3 months, across various practice areas including deals, intellectual property and property law.

The landmark Court of Appeal decision of I-Admin (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Hong Ying Ting [2020] 1 SLR 1130 modified the well-established test for a breach of confidence claim to provide more robust protection to owners of confidential information by placing the burden on the defendant to show that his conscience is unaffected. This article reviews the current state of the law on breach of confidence and proposes a framework to assist in understanding and framing breach of confidence claims.

The courts have recently drawn a sharper distinction between the derivative action and the oppression action as remedies in respect of wrongs committed against a company, including wrongs associated with intellectual property assets. It is suggested that focusing on the act is not optimal and instead the focus should be on the agreement or understanding of the parties, whether formal or informal.

The landmark Court of Appeal decision of I-Admin (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Hong Ying Ting [2020] 1 SLR 1130 modified the well-established test for a breach of confidence claim to provide more robust protection to owners of confidential information by placing the burden on the defendant to show that his conscience is unaffected. This article reviews the current state of the law on breach of confidence and proposes a framework to assist in understanding and framing breach of confidence claims.

This update covers recent court decisions and featured articles, events and developments relating to IP/IT dispute resolution in Singapore in November - December 2024.

Tesla's attempt to secure a patent license for 5G technology ahead of launching 5G vehicles in the UK has been dismissed by the London High Court. 

This article encapsulates and evaluates the 2023 decisions of the Singapore courts on intellectual property law. It is authored by Professor David Tan, Professor Susanna H S Leong and Bryan Tan.

Exclusive licensees of patents enjoy a certain amount of protection. The High Court was recently given an opportunity to throw some light on who an exclusive licensee is. The High Court also considered the circumstances under which a claimant may reverse the burden of proving infringement of a patented process.