Need help? Startups may now get advice on using intellectual property 

Only less than half of businesses acted on protecting trade secrets.

Whilst safeguards on a business’ trade secrets is important, the majority of them failed to take steps to protect their intellectual property (IP).

Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong introduced the IP Start Programme, launched by Intellectual Property of Singapore (IPOS) International, which will lend a hand to startups’ IP concerns by providing resources, practical advice, and guidance. 

“Start-ups are hothouses for new ideas that could be very quickly brought to market, but may lack the expertise to identify and effectively exploit their innovations through IP,” Tong told the attendees of the IP Week 2022.

In a 2021 IPOS study, 98% of businesses find trade secrets as important for their growth but only 45% of these businesses implemented measures to protect their intellectual property.

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Assistance programme

Another programme that Tong revealed during his speech was WIPO Inventor Assistance Programme (IAP), which allows startups to connect volunteer patent attorneys to youths in colleges and universities to aid them in securing patent protection.

Volunteers from the Association of Singapore Patent Attorneys include Low Pei Lin from Allen & Gledhill, James Kinnaird and Edward Ng from Marks & Clerk Singapore, Martin Rainier Gabriel Schweiger from Schweiger & Partners, and Eugene Yang from Amica Law.

The IAP will be launched possibly in the fourth quarter of this year, Tong announced.