Paul Teo graduated from the National University of Singapore and was called to the Singapore Bar in 1999. His main practice areas are intellectual property and commercial and corporate litigation.
Paul has extensive experience on all aspects of intellectual property matters such as enforcement (both civil and criminal enforcement action) and High Court and Court of Appeal litigation, domain name recovery actions, drafting, advisory and review of intellectual property related agreements.
Prior to joining Ravindran Associates, Paul was a director of one of Singapore's largest law firms. Paul's portfolio of IP clients included big multi-national corporations in the food & beverage, entertainment, computer, pharmaceutical, fashion and telecommunications industry.
On the commercial and corporate front, Paul has been involved in a variety of matters, including civil and contractual matters, obtaining interim injunctions, enforcement of bankers' guarantees, employment matters and Companies Act applications.
In addition to acting on behalf of clients, Paul also speaks at conferences and seminars, in particular on intellectual property matters. He is also a contributor to Atkin's Singapore Court Forms - Trademarks (published by LexisNexis).
Apart from frequently representing clients at the Trade Mark Registry in trade mark oppositions and invalidations, applying via the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Procedure (both under WIPO and in Singapore via the SDRP), Paul has also frequently been involved in various High Court matters:
- Successfully defended the trade mark application ANGRY BITE from the proprietors of ANGRY BIRD (Rovio Entertainment Ltd v Kimanis Food Industries Sdn Bhd[2015] SGHC 216)
- Acted for Richemont International SA against Da Vinci Collections Pte Ltd (Richemont International SA v Da Vinci Collections Pte Ltd [2006] SGHC 150) for infringement of Singapore registered trade mark "DA VINCI" in respect of "watches" belonging to Richemont International SA.
- Appeal to 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 in light of Johnson & Johnson's "Carefree" mark in Singapore (Johnson & Johnson v Uni-Charm Kabushiku Kaisha (Uni-Charm Corporation) [2006] SGHC 241)
- Resisting pre-action discovery by Fila in a multi-jurisdictional trade mark counterfeiting case (Fila Sport S.P.A v Ramesh Tulsidas Wadhiwani & Anor [2002] SGHC 35)
- Acted in first local case on invalidation under the Singapore Trade Marks Act 1998 (Sime Darby Edible Products Ltd v Ngo Chew Hong Edible Oil Pte Ltd [2000] SGHC 145
- First local case on revocation for non-use under Singapore Trade Marks Act 1998 (Bluestar Exchange (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Teoh Keng Long and Others [2003] SGHC 169
- Acted for Singapore's largest mobile operator in successfully defending a trade mark infringement suit (Mitac International Corporation v Singapore Telecommunications Ltd [2009] 4 SLR(R) 961)
- Acted for Singapore's largest Media Company in a copyright infringement suit (RecordTV Pte Ltd v Mediacorp TV Singapore Pte Ltd [2010] SGCA 43)
- Groundless threats action under Patents Act (Bean Innovations Pte Ltd and Another v Flexon (Pte Ltd) [2001] SGCA 42)
Paul also maintains an active practice in non-contentious intellectual property matters including
- Advising clients on legal enforcement activities and processes
- Reviewing and drafting IP agreements including licensing, distribution and franchising agreements for major corporations
- Conducting IP due diligence
- Speaking at conferences and seminars on IP matters, such as how to manage one's IP rights, how to deal with enforcement matters, IP rights and the internet
- Participating in round table discussions organised by the IP Academy, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore
- Contributor to Atkin's Singapore Court Forms (Trade Marks) published by Lexis Nexis
