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  • How this Singapore National Day song reflects evolving views of IP

    Singapore marks its National Day every August, and one of the unique features of this annual celebration is the commissioning of a new National Day theme song. While the 2021 theme song The Road Ahead has been warmly received, that’s definitely not a sure thing every year — in fact, one of the hallmarks of the run-up to the National Day Parade is a spirited public debate over whether the theme son

  • Photographer thunderstruck by photo rip-off

    Photographer Sean R. Heavey claims a 2010 photo he took of a supercell thunderstorm, which he called The Mothership, was used by Netflix in their hit series Stranger Things and a Netflix feature-length movie, How It Ends. Netflix denies this. But for photographers, seeing their work reproduced is unfortunately a very common occurrence.

  • A rude Jolt for a creator

    Mark Robinson was watching television when he got a rude jolt – his invention, Jolt My Car, had appeared on screen under a different name, marketed by a different company.

  • Can a national greeting be stolen?

    The government of Fiji says it is contesting the trademark of the word “bula”, which was registered by an American company operating a chain of bars in Florida called Bula Nation.
    “Bula” apparently means “life”, but is used as a greeting and good wishes, and is used only on the island of Fiji.
    Calling it a case of “heritage-hijacking”, Fiji said it is preparing legal action against the owner

  • The fight over Mandela's R2.1billion smile

    South African's Government Communication Information System (GCIS) has been accused of misappropriating a famous photograph of Nelson Mandela. It shows yet again to PitchMark your work to stop such issues from arising.