On 17 June 2020, Lenon Ong and Lim Sze Yuan of the Intellectual Property Students’ Association gave a comprehensive rundown on the latest developments in the intellectual property (“IP”) ecosystem to the freshmen of NUS Law (’24) as they introduced the association’s activities to prospective members via Zoom.
The importance of managing intellectual property and intangible assets efficiently in big and small businesses is of paramount importance in today’s economy. The freshmen got to learn more about Singapore’s efforts to become an international IP hub. From the Singapore Government’s IP Hub Master Plan to the setting up of a new company to help firms commercialise their IP, there was little surprise when the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) was finally ranked as the world’s most innovative intellectual property office in 2020 by the World Trademark Review.
The presenters also shared the relevance of IP in many aspects of our lives (from the Disney and Netflix films we consume to the innovations amidst the COVID-19 outbreak) and between economic superpowers, China and the United States. On the dispute resolution front, Singapore is at the forefront of promoting alternative dispute resolution for IP-related disputes as evident from the Singapore Convention on Mediation (which was adopted on 20 December 2018 and opened for signature on 7 August 2019) and the Intellectual Property (Dispute Resolution) Bill (passed on 5 August 2019 in Singapore). The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has also established the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center in May 2010.
IPSA highlighted the importance of IP and the exciting subject-matter to intrigue the freshmen to know more about the exciting space of IP. IPSA would like to thank the organising committee of the NUS Law Orientation for facilitating the E-Orientation Sub-club Fair, and for the opportunity to raise the awareness of IP and IP-related issues to the incoming freshmen of NUS Law.
The Intellectual Property Students' Association 