Mobile clinic inventors drop suit against Mindef
Source: Business Times
Date: 08 Jan 2014
Author: Grace Leong
THE inventors of an emergency mobile clinic who took the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) to court for intellectual property infringement have thrown in the towel, discontinuing their suit just days before a second tranche of trial was to start yesterday.
MobileStats Technologies' patent rights for its Mobile First Aid Post, the design concept of which was inspired by the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, were revoked from yesterday, although its patent rights in seven other countries remain intact, said Ting Choon Meng, the company's director.
He told The Business Timesyesterday: "We are discontinuing the suit because of financial reasons. Our patent rights in Singapore are revoked because we're not able to fight the case anymore. Settlement negotiations over the past three months have failed. We are unable to afford this war of attrition."
Dr Ting, chief executive officer of HealthStats International and a board member of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore ((IPOS), filed the suit with Mak Koon Hou, a cardiologist and MobileStats director. They alleged that their patent for the Mobile First Aid Post, granted here in September 2005, was infringed when Syntech Engineers Pte Ltd, a Mindef vendor, produced a similar emergency mobile clinic without getting a licence from them.
Andy Leck, the managing principal of Wong & Leow LLC who represented Syntech, told BT yesterday: "We're happy Mindef will be permitted to use the Battalion Casualty Station without having to pay licensing fees to MobileStats."
Court documents state that 58 medical shelters had been delivered to the ministry by March 2011.
Mr Leck said the second tranche of trial was scheduled to run from yesterday until Jan 22, but that he was notified by MobileStats lawyers last Friday about its decision to drop the suit. "We understand that the company is financially under-resourced," he said.
Dr Ting, who is also an adjunct professor at Nanyang Technological University, said: "I'm not a bottomless pit. It's very intimidating. They have three sets of lawyers. For my case, only Dr Mak and myself are funding MobileStats' legal costs. If they want to chase us for costs, the company may have to wind up."
In defending against the company's claim that Mindef had knowingly copied its emergency mobile vehicle, Mr Leck had argued that the concept was not new and "lacked inventive step".
The government counterclaimed, seeking a declaration that the patent granted to MobileStats had always been invalid and an order for it to be revoked.
But Dr Ting argued: "IPOS had granted the patent to us, but Mindef was trying to revoke it. Are they saying something is wrong with IPOS's decision?"
Dr Ting said he intends to resign from the IPOS board. "How am I going to be able to carry out the mandate to help make Singapore an IP global hub in clear conscience when our own IP rights cannot be protected?"
Source: Business Times
Date: 08 Jan 2014
Author: Grace Leong
THE inventors of an emergency mobile clinic who took the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) to court for intellectual property infringement have thrown in the towel, discontinuing their suit just days before a second tranche of trial was to start yesterday.
MobileStats Technologies' patent rights for its Mobile First Aid Post, the design concept of which was inspired by the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, were revoked from yesterday, although its patent rights in seven other countries remain intact, said Ting Choon Meng, the company's director.
He told The Business Timesyesterday: "We are discontinuing the suit because of financial reasons. Our patent rights in Singapore are revoked because we're not able to fight the case anymore. Settlement negotiations over the past three months have failed. We are unable to afford this war of attrition."
Dr Ting, chief executive officer of HealthStats International and a board member of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore ((IPOS), filed the suit with Mak Koon Hou, a cardiologist and MobileStats director. They alleged that their patent for the Mobile First Aid Post, granted here in September 2005, was infringed when Syntech Engineers Pte Ltd, a Mindef vendor, produced a similar emergency mobile clinic without getting a licence from them.
Andy Leck, the managing principal of Wong & Leow LLC who represented Syntech, told BT yesterday: "We're happy Mindef will be permitted to use the Battalion Casualty Station without having to pay licensing fees to MobileStats."
Court documents state that 58 medical shelters had been delivered to the ministry by March 2011.
Mr Leck said the second tranche of trial was scheduled to run from yesterday until Jan 22, but that he was notified by MobileStats lawyers last Friday about its decision to drop the suit. "We understand that the company is financially under-resourced," he said.
Dr Ting, who is also an adjunct professor at Nanyang Technological University, said: "I'm not a bottomless pit. It's very intimidating. They have three sets of lawyers. For my case, only Dr Mak and myself are funding MobileStats' legal costs. If they want to chase us for costs, the company may have to wind up."
In defending against the company's claim that Mindef had knowingly copied its emergency mobile vehicle, Mr Leck had argued that the concept was not new and "lacked inventive step".
The government counterclaimed, seeking a declaration that the patent granted to MobileStats had always been invalid and an order for it to be revoked.
But Dr Ting argued: "IPOS had granted the patent to us, but Mindef was trying to revoke it. Are they saying something is wrong with IPOS's decision?"
Dr Ting said he intends to resign from the IPOS board. "How am I going to be able to carry out the mandate to help make Singapore an IP global hub in clear conscience when our own IP rights cannot be protected?"
