By Clara C.F. Yip

NEW SINGAPORE CEO

We are pleased to welcome Mr. Neville Young, an ex-patent examiner of the Australian Patents Registry and a registered Australian patent and trademark attorney, as the latest addition to the Henry Goh group of intellectual property practice. Mr. Young is now heading our Singapore firm and apart from daily office administration, he handles our clients’ Singapore patent, trademark and industrial design matters. All clients and associates seeking intellectual property protection in Singapore are advised to refer their inquiries directly to Mr. Young at the Singapore office.

HENRY GOH VOTED BEST PATENT FIRM AGAIN

The current year’s emerging market survey statistics compiled and published by Managing Intellectual Property establishes our company’s standing as the No.1 Patent Firm in Malaysia for the second consecutive year. The Award was officially presented to our CEO and President, Mr. Henry Goh at a separate ceremony coinciding with the INTA Meeting in Seattle in May 1999 and hosted by the Euromoney Legal Publications Group. We wish to record a note of thanks to all those who have given us their unwavering support.

On the trademark scene, our company was listed as one of the top five trademark firms in Malaysia for 1999.

PATENT AGENTS EXAM RESULTS

Congratulations to our colleague, Mr. Dave Wyatt who passed the previous Patent Agents Examination set by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs and subsequently obtained his Malaysian patent agent licence. For the record, Mr. Wyatt is the first non-Malaysian to be registered locally as a patent agent. He is a UK Chartered Patent Agent and a European Patent Attorney who has been practising in the patent profession for over 10 years.

FIGURE THIS OUT

According to statistics provided by the Malaysian Registry of Patents, patent and utility innovation filings in Malaysia fell by 7% in 1998 instead of rising by about 15% if the trend up to 1997 had been maintained. The deficit is mostly caused by the reduction in filings from Japan (about 20%), Korea (about 50%) and Taiwan (about 20%).

Overall, the USA generated the highest number of filings, contributing about 36% of the applications filed since the Patents Act came into force on 1st October 1986, followed by Japan (about 20%), UK (about 9%) and Germany (about 7%) who together accounted for just over 70% of the total.

Interestingly, of the almost 42,800 applications filed over the same period, only about 10,700 were approved for grant. The reason for this is not known as no figures are available to indicate how many applications have been refused or withdrawn.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

If you require more information or if there is any way we can serve you, please contact us.