Upholding Your IP Rights

Posted on 01 Nov, 2021
By IPOS International

Intellectual property (IP) is of vital importance because it can provide your business with monopoly rights to your creations or in the case of patents, negative rights to exclude others from doing things with your inventions. These rights have value because they have the backing of the law to enforce them if required.

Marking your goods appropriately can make the public aware that your products are protected by IP and help to deter copying. While most companies do not need to enforce their rights very often, there are times when it becomes necessary to take a stand. This does not mean that you have to end up in the courts, because there are several much less costly options, but it does require you to take action.

This guide outlines the main routes you can use to enforce your IP if you think that someone else is encroaching on your creative or inventive work.

Chapter 1 sets out the reasons why having the right to enforce your IP is so important. It examines the role of IP in driving business value and the consequences that may follow if you fail to enforce your rights when they are infringed. The chapter includes suggestions on how you can increase the deterrent effect of the IP you own to reduce the chances that proactive enforcement measures will be necessary.

The actions which constitute infringement are examined in Chapter 2, broken down by type of IP right. This chapter also discusses which actions are also considered a criminal offence in Singapore.

Chapter 3 offers practical tips on how you can use your IP to create barriers to entry around the scope of your commercial activity without court action. Examples include how to remain vigilant on new applications being filed by competitors or others for similar or identical trade marks and how these can be opposed during the registration process; how domain name registrations that contain your trade mark can be prevented; and how to submit observations during the patent examination process.

Chapter 4 sets out the options available if you have to enforce your IP rights. In addition to court action, the chapter discusses mediation and arbitration options. Each type of IP has its own special circumstances and additional enforcement options, which are also examined. Consideration is also given to funding your enforcement actions.

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