Drew & Napier - Partners' Profiles

Dedar is the Head of Drew & Napier’s Intellectual Property Department. He joined the firm in 1984 and was made a Partner in 1989, becoming a director of Drew & Napier LLC after corporatisation on 1 May 2001.

Dedar has been recommended as a leading individual in Singapore for Intellectual Property work by Asia Pacific Legal 500 2010/2011 Edition for the 10th consecutive year with an earlier edition acknowledging that he is “active in trade mark matters, with a heavyweight client base”. Recently, he was selected by his peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers Singapore® 2009 in the field of Intellectual Property. He is also named as a leading expert in the field of trade mark law by Expert Guides: Guide to the World’s Leading Trade Mark Practitioners (2008 Edition). Dedar is highly recommended by the Practical Law Company Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2009 for Intellectual Property work and is described as “one of the country’s most recognizable names for IP” with “an exceptional track record on trade mark issues.” Chambers Asia 2009 has ranked Dedar in Band 1 for Intellectual Property and describes him as “an outstanding litigator with an amazing grasp of IP law” who “excels in all his work”. Dedar is listed in the The International Who’s Who of Trademark Lawyers as a pre-eminent Intellectual Property practitioner. He is also listed in AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers 2007 for the area of Intellectual Property. The Global Counsel Handbook: Intellectual Property 2003, also highly recommends him for Intellectual Property practice in Singapore. He is recommended by Euromoney Legal Media Group’s publication, Expert Guides (1999), as one of the leading patent law experts.

Ozone Community Corp v Advance Magazine Publishers Inc [2010] SGHC 16 where he successfully appealed at the High Court against the Trade Mark Registry’s decision refusing the registration of Ozone Community Corp’s “HYSTERIC GLAMOUR” trade mark on the basis of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc’s earlier “GLAMOUR” trade mark registration. The High Court’s decision was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Virtual Map (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Singapore Land Authority and Anr [2009] SGCA 2 where he successfully defended Singapore Land Authority, in a highly publicised case, at both the Court of Appeal and the High Court in the appeal by Virtual Map (Singapore), against earlier judgments that its online maps infringed the copyright of SLA.
Love & Co. Pte Ltd v The Carat Club Pte Ltd [2008] SGHC 158 where he successfully represented Love & Co. in the High Court, to invalidate the “Love” trademark previously registered in Singapore by The Carat Club on the basis that it was devoid of distinctive character and described the intended purpose of the goods claimed.
“Warman” [2007] SGHC 59 where he acted for Research & Development Pty Limited in defending against a trade mark invalidation and revocation action against the client’s WARMAN mark in a factually complex case where bad faith, non-use, fraud and misrepresentation were alleged.
RH Macy & Co Inc v Trade Accents [1992] 1 SLR 581 where the Applicant successfully expunged the “Macy’s” mark which had been registered by a local company from the Trade Mark Register.
Cheng Kang Pte Ltd and Others v Sze Jishian [1992] 2 SLR 214 where the Applicant was successful in expunging the Respondent’s marks with the pictoral likeness of a Chinese ‘Yuan Bao’ from the Trade Mark Register.
Lance Court Furnishings Pte Ltd v Public Prosecutor [1993] 3 SLR 969 where the Applicant successfully set aside the issuance of the search warrants on the basis that no copyright infringement was committed under the Copyright Act.
Swanfu Trading Pte Ltd v Beyer Electrical Enterprise Pte Ltd [1994] 1 SLR 625 where the Applicant was successful in revoking the Respondent’s mark on the grounds of non-use.
Pestmasters Pte Ltd v Pestbusters Pte Ltd [1997] 1 SLR 377 where the Appellant successfully struck out an appeal by the Respondent who had objected to the Registrar of Companies’ registering the Appellant company.
CDL Hotels International Ltd v Pontiac Marina Pte Ltd [1998] 2 SLR 550 where Pontiac Marina successfully prevented CDL Hotels from using the “Millenium” mark in Singapore on the basis of passing off.
Tiffany & Co v Fabriques de Tabac Reunies SA[1999] 3 SLR 147 where Tiffany successfully appealed against the use of the Tiffany trade mark on cigarettes by the Respondent.
Stratech Systems Limited v Guthrie Properties (S) Pte Ltd & anor [2001] SGHC 77 where the Defendants successfully defended against a claim for breach of confidential information and passing off.
Bluestar Exchange (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Teoh Keng Long and others (trading as Polykwan Trading Co) [2003] 4 SLR 92 where the Defendant successfully resisted an application for non-use of their “Blue Star” trade marks.
Future Enterprises Pte Ltd v McDonald’s Corporation [2007] SGCA 18 on behalf of McDonald’s, he successfully defended an appeal to the Court of Appeal by Food Empire Holdings’ unit, Future Enterprises, over Future’s application to register the “MacCoffee” mark on the basis of McDonald’s earlier “McCAFE” registration.
Richemont International SA v Da Vinci Collections Pte Ltd [2006] SGHC 150 on behalf of the Richemont Group, he successfully obtained judgement in relation to a trade mark infringement action commenced by the Richemont Group against Da Vinci Collections Pte Ltd and successfully defended the appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Johnson & Johnson v Uni-Charm Kabushiki Kaisha (Uni-Charm Corporation) [2006] SGHC 241 acting on behalf of Johnson & Johnson the owner of the “Carefree” mark in Singapore in relation to female hygiene products succeeded in its appeal in the High Court against the Trade Mark Registry’s decision to allow Uni-Charm Kabushiki Kaisha’s application to register the trademark “Careree” for its incontinence products.