Question 1

Working with her friend Adrian, an engineer, Samantha has developed a 3D printing filament (the raw material used to produce 3D prints) in half the time needed compared with conventional filaments. Samantha is very excited with this development and has launched a 3D printing business known as QuickiePrint, which she dreams will one day expand to a network of stores throughout Singapore and in other countries as well. As she is an avid anime fan, to drive the popularity of her QuickiePrint business, Samantha developed a mobile app that can allow users to generate 3D prints of their favourite anime characters from a library of her favourite clippings and screen grabs from the Internet, which the users can customise and purchase. She has also added her favourite Pokemon characters as she finds them very adorable and thinks this will also appeal to children. Without Adrian's knowledge, Samantha has filed a patent for the new filament. When confronted by Adrian, Samantha claims that whilst Adrian had helped out with some ideas, the patent she filed makes use of another active compound which is the primary contributor to the reduced printing speed. Angered by this turn of developments, Adrian filed a trade mark registration for QuickiePrint without informing Samantha. Please answer the following questions:

(a) Classify and differentiate between the various types of intellectual property rights that are relevant to the facts described above. 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) Samantha is eager to work with third party business partners to expand her QuickiePrint business. Analyse how Samantha may best manage the risk of infringement claims identified in (a) above. Identify and analyse at least two options Samantha may consider offering to such business partners. For each option that you identify, identify and discuss the advantages and disadvantages thereof.