Intellectual property rights: Maintain a practical balance

SMU Associate Professor of Law Locknie Hsu made reference to Mr Tan Tee Jim's observation in his article on “Become an Asian intellectual property hub? Here's what it takes” (The Straits Times, Jul 20) and wrote that for a country such as Singapore that is seeking to encourage innovation as well as maintain a strong IP system, a balance must be carefully sought between regulation that effectively protects and rewards innovation and other wider concerns. Providing leadership in successful balancing can lend persuasiveness when trying to forge a consensus to achieve what Mr Tan refers to as 'a common and coordinated IP protection regime' in Asia.