SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Tony Yeo, Meryl Koh, Rozalynne Asmali and Javier Yeo, Drew & Napier LLC
SGD50,000 for the trial, and an overall cap of SGD25,000 for any bifurcated assessment of monetary relief. In line with the spirit of stream - lining intellectual property dispute resolution, the court will also give directions on all matters that are necessary for the dispute to proceed expedi - tiously and where practicable, will give directions to ensure that the trial is completed within two days. 5.6 Relevance of Claimant/Plaintiff
In this regard, the HSA has wide powers of enforcement, including the power to search premises that are suspected to be used for or in connection with the manufacture, import or supply of counterfeit health products. The HSA can also seize any health products that are sus - pected to be counterfeit. In addition, the HSA continually monitors the safety, integrity and quality of health products, acting on its own independent surveillance reports as well as in response to reports or com - plaints from the public. The HSA also maintains a publicly accessible list of illegal health prod - ucts in Singapore that have been detected and tested. 6.2 Copyright Copyright disputes in the life sciences and phar - ma sector are not common. 6.3 Trade Secrets Trade secrets disputes in the life sciences and pharma sector are not common, save for situa - tions where a patent infringement suit has com - menced and the defendant has to disclose its manufacturing process to the patent proprietor to prove non-infringement. The generic’s manu - facturing process may be a trade secret. In such situations, the generic will typically apply to establish a confidentiality club to limit the disclo - sure of its manufacturing process to only named individual members of the confidentiality club. 7. Appeal 7.1 Timeframe to Appeal Decision A party intending to appeal against a prelimi - nary injunction decision has to file an application to the appellate court for permission to appeal within 14 days of the decision. If permission to
Conduct to Relief See 5.5 Legal Costs .
6. Other IP Rights 6.1 Trade Marks
A health product is counterfeit if it is presented in such a manner as to resemble or pass off as a registered health product when in fact it is not, or it is presented with any false information as to its manufacturer or origin (Section 2(2)(b), HPA). The principal regulatory agency tackling the problem of counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical sector in Singapore is the HSA. All health products (which includes Western medicines – also known as therapeutic prod - ucts) must be granted a licence by the HSA before they are allowed to be marketed and sold in Singapore. This better enables the HSA to detect counterfeit, adulterated and/or illegal health products at the first instance. The manufacture, import or supply of a coun - terfeit health product in Singapore is an offence under the HPA and is punishable by a fine not exceeding SGD100,000 and/or imprisonment for up to three years.
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