[Ip-health] Singapore passes TRIPS+ IP laws to abide by FTA

[Mike Palmedo]

IP gets fillip with 6 bills passed - Tighter laws include those
governing trademarks, patents and optical disc manufacture

By CHUANG PECK MING
June 16, 2004

INTELLECTUAL property protection in Singapore has been given a big
boost. Parliament yesterday passed six bills that will tighten laws
covering trademarks, patents, copyright, plant varieties and the
manufacture of optical discs.

The move to strengthen legislation against intellectual property piracy
is made to back Singapore's shift to a knowledge-intensive and
intellectual property-rich economy, Law Minister S Jayakumar said.

'As Singapore moves towards an IP-rich economy, our IP legislation must
likewise move in tandem,' he told Parliament.

Some of the changes in the IP laws were made to meet obligations in the
US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. The Medicine (Amendment) bill, in
particular, was tabled by Acting Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan to fulfil
Singapore's commitment not to grant marketing approval to a third party
before the expiry of the patent term of a pharmaceutical product -
unless with the consent of the patent owner.

The Patents (Amendment) bill tabled by Senior Minister of State for Law
Ho Peng Kee is aimed largely to grow the pharmaceutical and biomedical
industries. It provides, for instance, for the extension of patent terms
to compensate for delays in obtaining a patent grant or marketing
approval. 'We want to assure the pharmaceutical industry that the patent
period available to them in Singapore would not be unfairly shortened,'
Professor Ho said.



Pharmaceutical firms rely considerably on patent protection to recoup
huge investment and research and development costs involved in
developing new drugs. Unreasonable curtailment of the protection period
will have a big impact on their business viability, because they will
have a shorter period of market exclusivity.

There is another new provision in the amended patents bill: A patent
owner can act to stop a parallel importer from importing the patent
owner's patented pharmaceutical product, if the product has not been
sold or distributed in Singapore.

The Manufacture of Optical Discs bill tabled by Raymond Lim, Minister of
State for Trade and Industry, seeks to tighten regulations against
pirated disc manufacturing - another obligation under the US-Singapore
FTA. With the passing of the bill, optical discs maker will be required
to obtain a licence from the Economic Development Board. The licence is
renewable. Currently, only a one-time registration is needed.

Manufacturers under the amended bill will also have to imprint a code on
optical discs, identifying them as the disc's manufacturer. Authorised
officers and the police can carry out inspections without notice, and
penalties are increased.

Among other changes in the IP laws are:

# An extension of copyright protection for literary, musical, dramatic
and artistic works by an additional 20 years; and

# An alternative scheme to the patent law for protection of new plant
varieties.