Seminar on “Intellectual Property in the marketplace” and Networking Event
A joint seminar on “Intellectual Property in the marketplace” was organised by LES Singapore in association with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) in Singapore on 4 April 2011 and held at Biopolis Singapore. The event was well attended by over 70 participants from the areas of business, science, technology as well as by legal and IP practitioners. Two talks were presented at the seminar on “Dirty Negotiating Tricks” by Mr. Alan Lewis, (current President of LES International and Partner of Adams & Adams South Africa) and “Patent Harvesting” by Dr. Robert Harrison (European Patent and Trade Mark Attorney with the 24IP Law Group).
Mr. Chiew Yu Sarn, President of LES Singapore and Founding Partner of IP Boutique practice Yu Sarn Audrey & Partners, extended thanks to Mr. Lewis and Dr. Harrison and welcomed participants to the seminar and outlined the benefits of becoming an LES member, as part of the larger family under the LESI network. Mr. Lewis’ talk was aimed at teaching participants how to conduct themselves in a proper LES manner and how to identify and respond to really dirty tricks in the world of IP. Dr. Harrison’s talk described the techniques used to establish a patent harvesting session and illustrated some of the tools available to identify the most commercially relevant ideas. Both talks were well received and was followed by an interactive question & answer session.
BioSingapore was a supporting organisation for the seminar and co-organiser of the Networking event held after. BioSingapore was established in May 2004 as an industry association for life sciences businesses in Singapore with the support of the Economic Development Board of Singapore and was formally launched on 12 October 2004 at Biomedical Asia 2004. This is the first of such collaboration with LES Singapore, although Mr. Pat O’Reiley, immediate past President of LESI had been a guest speaker at their Bio Breakfast talk when he visited last year in 2010. LES Singapore hopes to co-organise many more focused biotech and pharmaIP & licensing events with BioSingapore in the future.
The Networking Event was held at a local pub in the city, Hog’s Breath, which followed on from the Seminar was also well attended by 30 participants from the various fields. It was a lively affair and Dr. Harrison delivered a brief talk on the need for patent harvesting sessions to focus on goals but, at the same time, encouraging a free flow of ideas. The Networking Event was both educational and interesting and gave participants an informal forum to network with others from different industries.
Both events were supported by CIArb and marketed to their members. CIArb or The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators is a not-for-profit, UK registered organisation working in the public interest through an international network of branches. It has a global membership of around 12,000 individuals who have professional training in private dispute resolution.
