SINGAPORE - Mr Nicholas Tan, the Singaporean founder of popular home-grown handbag brand Aupen, has been ordered to post correction notices on his personal and business Instagram pages over accusations made against the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos).
The Pofma Office, which administers the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, was instructed by Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs Mr Edwin Tong to issue the correction direction to Mr Tan and Aupen under Singapore’s fake news law, the law ministry said on Sept 22.
Mr Tan had claimed on three separate occasions in September that Ipos told him not to pursue a trademark dispute with American retail giant Target as he would likely lose, and that Singapore’s trademark laws favoured foreign businesses over local ones.
He also said Ipos had told him legal reform against bad faith trademark registrations in Singapore were impossible and that the trademark office had flip-flopped on its advice to him in its public statement issued on Sept 11.
The statements were posted on Instagram, once to Aupen’s official Instagram page and thrice to Mr Tan’s personal page.
Mr Tan will have to provide a web link to the government’s clarification of his interaction with Ipos, on top of the correction notices.
These notices will state that the content he posted on Sept 9, 15 and 16 communicated false statements of fact.
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