SINGAPORE, March 31 — Companies and entrepreneurs can look forward to cheaper and faster options to settle their intellectual property (IP) disputes come Apr 1, 2014, said the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).
IPOS said to enhance the suite of IP services here, it will collaborate with the World Intellectual Property Organisation Arbitration and Mediation Centre (WIPO AMC) to offer a new option for patent disputes filed at a national IP office.
Patent disputes, such as inventorship or entitlement disputes, or patent revocations, often involve complex technical or scientific issues, it said.
It said this new option will allow disputing parties to submit such issues to an expert of their choice to make an assessment.
In contrast, currently, the Registrar of Patents adjudicated all the relevant issues in dispute in patent proceedings before him, it said.
As part of this collaboration, WIPO AMC will assist with the appointment of a suitable expert, if required, after consultation with the disputing parties.
It said some examples of fields from which experts could be called upon were information technology, telecommunications, pharmacy, engineering and life sciences.
Meanwhile, Director-General of WIPO, Dr Francis Gurry, said the introduction of the expert determination option reinforced the strong collaborative relationship between WIPO and IPOS.
“This shared commitment to facilitate the resolution of IP disputes which may arise throughout the whole innovation lifecycle will definitely benefit IP users, owners and creators,” he said at the launch here today. — Bernama
