At the 145th International Trademark Association Annual Meeting on 17 May 2023, the Keynote Speech was delivered by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Second Minister of Law Edwin Tong SC. The Minister spoke on trademark developments globally and Singapore’s role in such developments. In particular, he spoke on what Singapore has done as part of the Singapore IP Strategy (“SIPS“) and initiatives that Singapore will be embarking on in its SIPS 2030 programme.
The Minister commented on how an increase in trade has led to an increase in trademark filings, particularly in Asia. This also extends to trademarks related to the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (“NFT“), two very quickly emerging areas. Asia in particular is emerging as a frontrunner in this area.
In this regard, Singapore launched SIPS in 2021, with the goal of positioning Singapore as a global hub for intellectual property (“IP“) and intangible assets (“IA“). The Minister highlighted recent and upcoming initiatives as part of the SIPS 2030 programme, including the following:
(a) Singapore will launch the Intangibles Disclosure Framework later this year, which will enable businesses to disclose their own IP and IA in a consistent and comparable manner, and thus support the monetising of their IP and IA.
(b) The International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) Asia Office and Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS“) will launch a study on the importance of IA to the value of companies. The study looks to provide insights and actionable steps on how to strengthen the valuation of IA.
(c) IPOS and the World Intellectual Property Office (“WIPO“) Singapore Office will be launching the ASEAN Mediation Programme, which aims to help parties in ASEAN to resolve their technology and IP disputes in a more cost-effective manner through the use of WIPO mediation services in Singapore.
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