Singapore Court of Appeal considers scope of the own name defence in trade mark infringement claim

29 Apr 2016

In the landmark case of The Audience Motivation Company Asia Pte Ltd v AMC Live Group China (S) Pte Ltd [2016] SGCA 25, the Court of Appeal held that AMC Live Group China (S) Pte Ltd was not able to rely on the own name defence under s 28(1) of the Trade Marks Act (Cap. 332, Rev. Ed. 2005) as its use of its marks did not follow honest practices. Consequently, the Court of Appeal allowed The Audience Motivation Company Asia Pte Ltd’s claim for trade mark infringement under s 27(2)(b) of the Trade Marks Act.

This is the first time that the Court of Appeal has explored the scope and application of the “own name” defence under the Trade Marks Act, making it a benchmark case for this area of the law.

AMC Asia was represented by Drew & Napier lawyers, Dedar Singh Gill and Gabriel Ong.

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