Developments in IP Law – Trade Marks

The final seminar in the 13th Developments in IP Law Series on trade marks was held on 5 February 2026 at the Suntec City Convention Centre. About 150 participants signed up for this session ranging from trade mark examiners from IPOS to organisations and law firms such as Cambridge University Press, Defence Science & Technology Agency, Fraser and Neave, National Heritage Board, Singapore Tourism Board, Bird & Bird ATMD, Drew & Napier and Lee & Lee. EW Barker Centre for Law & Business is proud to continue to be a co-organiser of this event with IPOS International.

Professor David Tan, co-director of TRAIL at NUS Law (and concurrently Head (Intellectual Property at EWBCLB), presented the update on judicial decisions on trade marks in the United States for the year 2025. His presentation covered the US Supreme Court’s decision on application of the principle of corporate separateness in determining an award of account of profits, registration of single colour marks, the use of marks in relation to non-fungible tokens and whether the presence of parody in the Bad Spaniels squeaky dog toy could excuse the defendant from trade mark infringement and dilution. In particular, he highlighted how the judicial evaluation of parody in infringement in the US would differ from the Staywell approach in Singapore, with the undesirable result of an unprotection of parody in Singapore. He was joined by Mr Gabriel Ong (Principal Legal Counsel (Hearings & Mediation Department), IPOS), Professor David Llewelyn (Managing Director, David Llewelyn & Co LLC), and Justice James Mellor (Judge of the High Court of England & Wales) via Zoom.

We also had the pleasure of Justice Kwek Mean Luck (High Court Judge of the Singapore Supreme Court) joining us for the post-presentation panel discussion moderated by Ms Anna Toh (Director, Amica Law LLC).