SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Tony Yeo, Meryl Koh, Rozalynne Asmali and Javier Yeo, Drew & Napier LLC
9. Alternative Dispute Resolution 9.1 ADR Options Under Order 5 of the ROC 2021, the parties are obliged to consider ADR options before commencing a claim. IP disputes are capable of being resolved by arbitra ‑ tion as between parties to that dispute under Sin ‑ gapore law, although this is not a common dispute resolution option for patent matters as it requires both parties to agree to refer the matter to arbitration. Mediation is another possible, and more common, ADR option. The parties can request to refer the dis ‑ pute to mediation at any time before the case has been decided. In general, the court and/or IPOS will ask parties to consider ADR options such as mediation to resolve the dispute. This is especially when Order 5 of the ROC 2021 requires the parties to attempt an amicable resolution to the dispute. There are various mediation service providers in Sin ‑ gapore. Apart from the Singapore Mediation Centre and the Singapore International Mediation Centre that handles general mediation disputes, the World Intel ‑ lectual Property Organization Arbitration and Media ‑ tion Centre is a global mediation provider that special ‑ ises in IP disputes. If parties attempt mediation, the court and/or IPOS will, at the request of the parties, generally allow a stay of proceedings pending the outcome of the media ‑ tion. A failure or refusal to genuinely consider ADR options may lead to an adverse costs order being made against the refusing party.
10. Settlement/Antitrust 10.1 Considerations and Scrutiny
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Sin ‑ gapore has released guidelines on the licensing of SEPs on FRAND terms. Where an owner of an SEP has a dominant position in the market, its refusal to license its SEP on FRAND terms to any application for a licence may give rise to competition concerns under Section 47 of the Competition Act 2004. How ‑ ever, there is no known decision in Singapore regard ‑ ing SEPs yet. Further, the life sciences industry has not had to deal with SEPs yet. Group claims are available pursuant to Order 4 Rule 6 of the ROC 2021, where numerous persons that have a common interest in proceedings may sue or be sued as a group, with one or more of them representing the group. For claims initiated by a group of persons, all members in the group must give their consent in writing to the representative to represent all of them in the action and they must be included in a list attached to the originating claim or the originating application. Where there is a class of persons and all or any mem ‑ ber of the class cannot be ascertained or cannot be found, the Court may appoint one more persons to represent the entire class or part of the class and all the known members and the class must be included in a list attached to the order of Court. Any judgment or order given in such proceedings is binding on all the persons and the class named in the respective lists. Group claims are not common in the life sciences/ pharma sector in Singapore. 11. Collective Redress 11.1 Group Claims
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