As part of a new series exploring industry associations of interest to the legal profession, Legaljobscentre spoke with Dedar Singh, president of the Singapore group of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA).

ALB: Tell us about the APAA
DS: The APAA is headquartered in Japan, with group member meetings held each year, lasting 3-4 days. Our last meeting was held this month on Jeju island, off Korea. There were around 1300 participants. Members are from Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand and non-member countries from Europe or the US can attend meetings as observers. To become a member you have to be a practising patent and trademark attorney of good standing and pay a fee. Your membership will be decided by an executive committee. Non-member countries pay a higher fee to attend the annual meetings held by the APAA.

ALB: What do you think are the benefits of being a member?
DS: The first is probably the annual meetings, where we hear presentations and learn what new developments in patent law have happened over the past year. We also have an excursion day where between 100 and 300 people can experience the local culture together and use the opportunity to network on a more personal level. This year we went mountain climbing and when the meeting was held in India we went to the Taj Mahal.
Another benefit that not so many will be aware of is that members of the APAA are able to sit in on dialogues at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. This allows us to hear firsthand what issues are being discussed. Members also get the opportunity to raise any questions or concerns they may have about what is being discussed or matters they feel should be brought to people’s attention. We also publish a summary at the end of the year of all the patent and trademark cases that have been heard that year and this is only available to members.

ALB: What other events or activities do you hold with the APAA and how much work is involved in being a member?
DS: There are a few local events, for example on 1st November we have Daniel Alexander QC coming from London to speak about recent developments in European and UK patent law. He will also address the differences between the patent laws over there and here in Singapore and the rest of Asia. Daniel is very well known and respected in this field and has been before the European Court of Justice, so his opinion and input are useful for patent lawyers everywhere. Only members are able to attend.
There isn’t much work involved in just being a member, the benefits are the access to information that others don’t get but the lawyers who give presentations at the annual meetings will have to do quite a bit of preparation for that in advance.

ALB: What other organisations or affiliations does the APAA have?
DS: We have quite a strong affiliation with the International Trademark Attorneys Association (ITAA) and there are also other groups within Asia, such as the Association of Singapore Patent Agents. ITAA has a much larger membership and about 8000 attorneys attend their meetings each year.