Light at the End of the Tunnel: BIORE vs. BIORF

By Carla Monintja The quote “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel” really inspires me, as it gives me hope that every difficulty I encounter can surely be resolved, as long as I make the effort to overcome it. This quote was also apt in the situation that KAO Corporation (“KAO”) got itself […]

A Rose by Any Other Name…

“It is the time you have lost for your rose that makes your rose so important,” wrote Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in The Little Prince. This saying proved particularly apt in the feud between two cosmetic distributors, Hai Tong Co (Pte) Ltd v. Ventree Singapore Pte Ltd et al., which was finally settled in a cross-appeal case that was brought […]

Peaceful End to a “Sharp” Conflict: LG vs Sharp

Most trademark conflicts, much like any other conflict, result in one of two outcomes for the parties involved – a win or a loss. But there are those, like the recent case in Indonesia between electronics giants LG Electronics Inc. (“LG”) and Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (“Sharp”), that manage to find an amicable solution to the […]

‘Tis the season to be wary!

By Vincent Teh Christmas means different things to different people. To some, it’s a time of excess. A time to drink a year’s worth of alcohol in the span of a day, and to stuff oneself in one night with enough food to feed a small African nation for a decade. To some it’s a […]

In Defense of Monopoly

By Vincent Teh You are perpetuating the insatiable greed of mega corporations by creating unjust monopoly on precious ideas,” was the accusation thrown at me by a young impressionable man-boy upon hearing what I do for a living during lunch one day. I simply reached over and appropriated his food. “This,” I said, “is the […]