Our lawyers in this department have more than 20 years of experience gained from different countries in 3 continents, academically, as in-house Counsel and in practice. We are adept at applying Intellectual Property, Information Technology, Entertainment and Media laws to different products and services.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Commercialisation of our clients’ Intellectual Property is at the top of our minds when devising or advising clients on their Intellectual Property strategies and rights. Whilst enforcement and protection is important, it should compliment exploitation to help our client maximise their income. Our twin approach of commercialisation and protection has ensured many of our clients staying ahead of their race.

For registration work, we prosecute trade marks, domain names, patents and designs registrations in Singapore and the region. This department works closely with the litigation department on enforcement issues to protect our clients’ Intellectual Property.

Commercial Intellectual Property is our strong points. We have advised on franchising, non-disclosure agreements, merchandising, marketing and endorsements agreements, pharmaceutical licenses and transfer of technology contracts. We have also securitized copyrights.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

We have advised on IT transactions almost from A to Z.

They start from software development, escrow accounts, distribution agreements, “click-wrap” agreements, data retrieval systems, data warehousing, data transfer and e-government agreements. Most of them are transborder in nature.

We have successfully drafted and negotiated a transaction involving a novel patented technology which uses camera recognition of codes to stream information to mobile phones.

ENTERTAINMENT & MEDIA

Our lawyers have headed entertainment companies and know the music industry intimately.

We have advised on Industry Agreements related to mechanical rights between music publishers and record companies, as well as, ephemeral rights agreement between the music publishers and collecting societies.

Other work includes book publishing agreements, uncountable music publishing agreements, record and film distribution agreements, television distribution agreements, artists contracts and film productions.

We have also advised on “live” events and open-air “gatherings”, defamation cases and new media products.

E-COMMERCE

Many of the issues in e-commerce are not new. The technology merely makes it more immediate. Purchasing a dress online is very similar to a mail order purchase. If it is international, the issues are the same as any international contracts. The only thing new are the goods which can be delivered online. These would be your songs and films. The authenticity of the buyers and sellers has always been in question when a sale is done without seeing the other party.

Our lawyers were there drafting e-commerce agreements in 1997, before the introduction of the Electronic Transactions Act in Singapore.

The other area of concern for e-commerce is telecommunications related. This has to do with interception and encryption. The Red-Indians had the same problems with their smoke signals, so did the Chinese when they signaled each other in the towers along the Great Wall. Our lawyers were not there when these issues first cropped up. However, they will remain unfazed. Therefore, we will be able to solve your problems in complicated transactions with some thoughts.