GSP171e: James is a Serial Entrepreneur and is Keen to Launch a new Electricity supply Company in Singapore: Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Law in Singapore Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Question 1

James is a serial entrepreneur and is keen to launch a new electricity supply company in Singapore to offer an innovative product that will tap into growing local consumer demand for environmentally sustainable power sources.

James intends to offer customers electricity plans where high-efficiency solar panels will be installed at their homes, bundled with a smart-meter which will monitor excess electricity generated by these panels and automatically sell such excess to offset the customer’s monthly electricity bill.

To offer this product, James wishes to combine the following innovations which he has come across:

1. A high-efficiency solar power cell technology invented by a scientist at a Japanese university, Prof Taiyo; and

2. A software platform is known as REC-Track published by an Australian software company, AustPower, which tracks the generation and consumption of renewable energy certificates (“RECS”) from clean energy sources (such as solar panels) and allows for trading in RECs;

James also intends to name his company SolarEnergy, but he has recently found out that a competitor BigCo has also filed a trademark application in Singapore to register this same trademark. In spite of this, James is still very keen to adopt SolarEnergy as the name and brand of his product.

Please answer the following questions:

(a) Classify and differentiate between the various types of intellectual property rights that are relevant to James’ planned product launch. For each of these types of rights, define how these rights are infringed under Singapore law, who may assert such infringement claims, as well as identify and analyse if there is any risk of infringement of these intellectual property rights. Explain the legal remedies that the courts in Singapore may award in the event that there is a finding of intellectual property infringement.

(b) In view of the intellectual property infringement risks identified in (a), analyse at least two options James may have in dealing with the intellectual property rights of each of Prof Taiyo, AustPower and BigCo in order that he may launch his product without risk of infringement claims. For each option that you identify, identify and discuss the advantages and disadvantages thereof.