Rogue mindef wants sg to give up his patent for his invention to them

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

MINDEF WANTS MAN TO GIVE UP HIS PATENT FOR HIS INVENTION TO THEM

Post date:
15 Jan 2015 - 3:34pm








[photo credit: The Straits Times]
A ex-military man who have been fighting the Ministry of Defence over his patent rights have become completely disillusioned with the Singapore government and no longer believes that Singapore has what it takes to become a global IP hub.

“I am completely disheartened,” Dr Ting Choon Meng told The Online Citizen.

“After this incident, suffice to say that I have lost confidence in Singapore’s ability to be a global IP hub.”

Dr Ting is the owner of Mobilestats Technologies Pte Ltd.

After the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, Dr Ting and his partners invented the Station With Immediate First-Aid Treatment (SWIFT) vehicle.
SWIFT is a mobile clinic that can be deployed in times of emergency.

Dr Ting later applied for patent rights for his vehicle in at least nine countries and obtained intellectual property (IP) rights in nearly all these countries, including Singapore.

He applied to the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) on 27 December 2002 whereby checks were made with the Danish Patent and Trademark Office.

He got his IP from IPOS on 6 July 2005.

Dr Ting then filed for patent rights and also got them in Australia, Japan, Israel, Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the United States of America and Europe.

However, his patent in Singapore will now most likely be revoked because of an overbearing government which believes that they have the right to brush him aside for his work.

In 2004, Dr Ting and his partners presented SWIFT to the Commissioner of the Singapore Civil Defence Force Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Mr James Tan.
They were asked to help build a prototype.

In 2006, SCDF then called for a tender to manufacture SWIFT. Bidders were required to sign a licensing agreement with Mobilestats before SCDF in order for their bid to be considered.
Later, SCDF would call SWIFT an “SCDF innovation”.

That was fine and all but in 2005, Dr Ting met BG (Dr) Wong Yue Sie at a trade fair where Dr Ting's vehicle was on display. BG Wong was then chief of the SAF Medical Corps.

“He told me that changes would have to be made to the vehicle if it were to be adapted for SAF’s use,” Dr Ting said.

“For example, the vehicle would have to be painted to camouflage and it needed to be ruggedized. I told him that such changes would not be a problem, but I informed him the vehicle was patented.”

“He told me that he would contact SCDF and said to me that, “maybe we can do it on our own” or words to that effect. I remember that clearly because I remember telling him that he could not do that because the vehicle was patented.”

And then, that was the last contact that Dr Ting has with Mindef, until the shock came.

In April 2009, the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) called for a tender to procure a “Mobile First-Aid Post”.

The tender also said bidders had to obtain licensing agreements for IP.

But DSTA did not mention Dr Ting's SWIFT.

DSTA eventually awarded the contract to Syntech Engineers Pte Ltd to produce the vehicle but they never contacted Dr Ting and his partners.

“In fact, I didn’t know that they infringed our IP until we saw the vehicle exhibited at National Day Parade 2011,” Dr Ting said.

During the 2011 National Day Parade, Mindef then brought out their own version of the SWIFT vehicle to display and it was already fully operational.
So Dr Ting decided to take legal action against Mindef.

“I can’t take it up with the vendor – they will just throw it back to Mindef, because they set out the tender. In any case, it was Mindef who drew up the specifications, they decided on the vehicle, so they should uphold the IP."
It was found later found that Mindef knew that it could be infringing Dr Ting's patent rights but it went ahead to build its own vehicle.

Mindef’s lawyers from Wong and Leow LLC had accidentally faxed a letter to Dr Ting. => Heaven got eyes!

The letter was sent from Syntech to Mindef in March 2009.

“We noted your concern with regards to the possible infringement of their patent rights under their SG Publication Number 113446," Syntech said.

"Together with our legal advisors, we have studied their patent design as compared to our Medical Shelter design submitted under Tender Ref No. 7108105610.

"We have conclude that there is no infringement of their patent rights. Moreover, we have also concluded that their patent lacked novelty and/or inventive step… As such, it will be very difficult for them to defend their patent rights.”

Wong and Leow LLC wanted Dr Ting to shred the letter to pieces.

“It’s clear that Mindef is aware of potential infringement and had asked Syntech about it, but the company has decided not to obtain the IP license from us," Dr Ting said.

“Why did Mindef let that happen? Instead, they have effectively decided that our IP can be contested. And this was after IPOS has certified the patent!”

But Mindef didn't care. It was going to wear Dr Ting out.

“It’s a war of attrition,” Dr Ting said.

“Mindef not only had the Attorney General defending them, they also contracted Wong and Leow. Why did they need so many lawyers? They kept delaying the case, claiming that their witness was not available. Meanwhile, every delay cost me in legal fees. I have no more money to fight this case.”

After two years, it became too expensive for him to fight. He had to give up the case in January 2014.

The government successfully wore him out.

But that was not the last of the government's attacks against Dr Ting.

When Mindef wanted to "settle" out of court, Dr Ting said they could each pay their own legal fees and he would not ask Mindef to pay him the IP license fees. He would also let Mindef use the vehicles royalty-free for up to three years but if Mindef were to make vehicles later, they should pay charges to him.

He thought that this was reasonable.

But Mindef got back to him two weeks before the scheduled trial and gave him a "counter-offer". Mindef wanted Dr Ting to pay them legal costs, drop all claims to IP and give up his patent to Mindef not just in Singapore but in the seven countries that Dr Ting has registered the patent.

Dr Ting would lose everything.

The government wanted to take everything from him.







In October 2014, the court took the side of Mindef and said Mindef could revoke Dr Ting's patent but Mindef has not got to IPOS to revoke Dr Ting's patent yet.

“When I dropped the case, my conditions was that I would not claim for the vehicles Mindef has made, so long as they stop infringing on my IP,” Dr Ting said.

“Instead, they countered by demanding that I pay their legal fees, and grant them free use of the patent.”

And now, Wong and Leow LLC has asked him to pay them $580,000 in legal fees.

But Dr Ting has no more money and he is now forced to sell his company, Mobilestats.

“I honestly have no idea what Mindef is now planning to do with the IP for SWIFT,” said Dr Ting.

“What I do know is that Mindef has produced up to 58 copies of the same vehicles. What for? I was a battalion commander in the Medical Corps before, and by my estimate, the entire SAF would only need about 12 to 14 SWIFT vehicles for its entire operational needs. Why produce 58?”

Did Mindef wanted Dr Ting's patent so that it could produce vehicles to sell them for profit?

Ironically, Dr Ting was also appointed to the board of directors at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) since April 2013.

But he has since stepped down in January 2014 after he decided to stop fighting.

“It has come to a point whereby I am honestly convinced that there is no true conviction right at the top of our government for Singapore to be transformed into a Global IP Hub,” he wrote in his resignation letter.

“Recent events and processes in my own encounter have unfortunately shown me that without real conviction and internalization from the top, what we are trying to do in IPOS are but lip service.”
Another man bites the dust.

And Singapore's dream to become and IP hub has become a laughing stock.


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.