Duane Morris and Selvam

April 11, 2022April 18, 2022 by Duane Morris and Selvam

Pitfalls to Avoid When Chinese Companies with Singapore Subsidiaries Seek an IPO

In 2020, there were 1,415 initial public offerings (IPOs) globally, which raised a total of USD $331.3 billion in proceeds for the companies involved. This represented a significant increase year-on-year in terms of both volume of transactions and proceeds raised. In contrast, there were only 1,040 IPOs globally in 2019, which raised a combined capital of USD $199.2 billion. The 2020 figures are even more remarkable considering that the COVID-19 pandemic had slowed IPO activity around the world dramatically in April and May 2020.

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March 14, 2022April 13, 2022 by Duane Morris and Selvam

Singapore Implements Sanctions Against Russia

Ever since Russia’s act of aggression against Ukraine that began on 24 February 2022, the United States and several of its key allies have successively imposed significant sanctions against Russia. These sanctions range from prohibitions on trade and investment in certain regions of Ukraine and the designation of specific nationals that cannot interact with the market and financial system of United States, to imposing new sovereign debt restrictions and even cutting Russia further off from the global economy by removing them from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (aka SWIFT) messaging system and disconnecting them from the international financial system, making them no longer able to operate globally. On 8 March 2022, the Biden administration also announced that the United States would be banning the import of Russian oil.

Singapore has joined these efforts, with Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan issuing a Ministerial Statement in Parliament on 28 February 2022, stating that Singapore intends to impose its own sanctions against Russia. On 5 March 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued a press statement with two factsheets that set out the details of the economic sanctions and restrictions.

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March 8, 2022March 8, 2022 by Philip K. Yu

The Metaverse and Its IP Implications – It is still a “Wild, Wild West” out there

The topic of the Metaverse has generated a great deal of enthusiasm and debate in recent months. For example, Facebook changed its name to “Meta” with lots of fanfare. In another headline, Nike purchased an NFT (non-fungible token) designer company, RTFKT Studios, and appeared ready to use virtual athletic shoe NFTs to generate exposure, as well as to begin selling virtual shoes. Also, a personal injury law ﬁrm in New Jersey decided to open an oﬃce in Decentraland, claiming to be the ﬁrst-ever personal injury law ﬁrm in the Metaverse.

Even more recently, as of the week of 2 February 2022, a major law ﬁrm is opening a virtual oﬃce in the Metaverse in the fashion and retail district of browser-based 3D platform Decentraland.[1][2] It is the ﬁrst major law ﬁrm to open in the Metaverse.

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March 6, 2022 by Duane Morris and Selvam

在缅甸债务的回收

新冠疫情在全球引发了严重的经济冲击，尤其对于缅甸这种高度依赖劳动力密集型产业的国家。最近政府的更迭更加重了人们对缅甸政局的担忧。最近出现的一些情况让我们看到外国投资者和供货方所面临的债务难以回收的困境。本文列出了债权人针对向缅甸公司追讨债务可以采取的一些法律行动，希望能起到抛砖引玉的效果。

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March 6, 2022March 6, 2022 by Duane Morris and Selvam

Debt Collection in Myanmar

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered severe economic shock, particularly in countries like Myanmar that rely heavily on labour-intensive industries. The recent change in the government has added further concerns to the political state of Myanmar. With this recent set of events, we have seen foreign investors and suppliers face difficulty in recovering debts in Myanmar. This Alert sets out actions that may be considered by creditors towards recovering debts from a Myanmar company.

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February 16, 2022February 17, 2022 by Duane Morris and Selvam

A Litigation Vehicle for More Than 1,000 Plaintiffs: The Implications of POA Recovery Pte Ltd v Yau Kwok Seng on Representative Actions and the Doctrine of Maintenance in Singapore

How do 1,102 investors, who claim they have been duped into investing in a Ponzi scheme, bring an action in the Singapore courts? To many, the first thing to do would be to launch a class-action lawsuit against the respondents.

In Singapore, such “class-action” lawsuits operate differently from those in U.S. litigation. Traditionally, a group of litigants in Singapore with a common interest would have to band together to commence what is known as a “representative action,” pursuant to Order 15, Rule 12 of the Rules of Court (Cap 322, 2014 Rev Ed). The alternative would be for the litigants to each commence separate proceedings and later consolidate them into one single action.

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February 10, 2022 by Duane Morris and Selvam

Singapore and Pacific Alliance Sign Free Trade Agreement

On January 26, 2022, the Pacific Alliance and Singapore signed the Free Trade Agreement (Agreement) at the 16th Summit of the Pacific Alliance. With the signature of the Agreement, Singapore became a member state of this international organization, whose members are Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

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January 17, 2022January 20, 2022 by Duane Morris and Selvam

构建一个全方位的知识产权策略

创新是企业在市场竞争中脱颖而出或屹立不倒的硬实力。一个创新的社会不但可以让本地市场充满活力，也可以使整个国家在国际市场上更具竞争力。知识产权一方面代表着企业的创新成果，另一方面也意味着企业在该竞争领域内建立了一定程度的保护屏障。习近平主席和中央政府近期也就全面加强知识产权工作作出重大部署，其中包括印发《知识产权强国建设纲要（2021-2035年）》。该纲要对中国知识产权事业未来发展蓝图进行了规划，充分彰显了中国想要建设成为知识产权强国的决心。

笔者曾在一家知名跨国企业担任知识产权（Intellectual Property, “IP”）顾问多年，愿借此平台梳理一下笔者在IP领域的实战经验并与各位同仁分享。对于涉足高科技产业的企业来说，专利与商业秘密是企业经常使用的保护研发成果的两种方法，保护的都是以技术为背景的改进或发明。

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January 9, 2022January 12, 2022 by Philip K. Yu

Intellectual Property Protection

What does IP mean?

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. IP represents property rights and is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright, industrial design and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create.

What advantages do IP confer upon a company?

Companies, large and small, need to set themselves apart from others in order to compete successfully in the market place. For technology companies, their R&D efforts are often captured as inventions and proprietary technology. Inventions and proprietary technology are generally protected as patents and trade secrets, respectively. Without adequate protection, which often requires setting up an internal process to document and harvest the fruits of their R&D efforts, companies would be replaced by competitors, and lose out. Companies such as Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Nvidia, Apple, and Huawei are such IP owners, to name just a few.

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September 22, 2021May 26, 2022 by Duane Morris and Selvam

Duane Morris & Selvam LLP acts on Platinum Equity’s US$306m Sale of Singapore-based Electronics Manufacturer PCI Limited to Celestica Inc.

SINGAPORE, 22 September 2021 – Duane Morris & Selvam LLP (DMS) acted as international counsel to Platinum Equity on the sale of PCI Limited (“PCI”) at US$306m to Celestica Inc. The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, Platinum Equity is a global investment firm with more than $25 billion of assets under management and a portfolio of approximately 50 operating companies that serve customers around the world. The firm is currently investing from Platinum Equity Capital Partners V, a $10 billion global buyout fund, and Platinum Equity Small Cap Fund, a $1.5 billion buyout fund focused on investment opportunities in the lower middle market. The company acquired PCI in April 2019 in a public-to-private transaction.

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