Partners
Murgiana Haq
DID: (65) 6438 6601
Email: M.Haq@hslegal.com.sg
Murgiana Haq is the Managing Partner of hslegal LLP. She is an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court, Singapore and a Registered Patents Agent. Her principal area of practice is in Intellectual Property law.
Murgiana has an illustrious career in intellectual property matters since 1974. She was in the forefront of many intellectual property developments in Singapore where she played a key role. She was the first President of Asian Patent Attorneys Association–Singapore Group and served on the main Group Council from 1992 to 2000 as a Councillor and Vice-President. She was instrumental in setting up ASEAN Intellectual Property Association for which she was President from 1999 to 2001. She was the first Chair of the Women Business Lawyer’s Committee from 1996 to 1998 of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association.
When Singapore started promoting franchises, she served on its Franchise Advisory Committee from 1993 to 1997. To promote innovation and patenting, the National Patents and Innovation Centre was formed in which she was an Advisory Committee member from 1995 to 2000. She was also a Committee member of the Advisory Board of the Innovation & Enterpreneurship Development Committee formed in 1997 to promote entrepreneurship and innovation. Murgiana was also active in promoting education and training in intellectual property and played an active role in the development of the SEAD Course of FICPI where she was a member of its education and training committee for many years. She was also the Chair for the ASEAN Sub-Committee of INTA from 2002 to 2004.
Murgiana shows willingness to break new ground in her work. During her practice with Drew & Napier where she was Head of its Intellectual Property Department (1974 to 1997), she obtained the first IP-related Anton Pillar Order in Singapore from the High Court. She also acted successfully for IBM in the first copyright case involving software in Singapore. She represented the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation in the first referral to the Copyright Tribunal in Singapore. She also argued the first copyright case on the applicability of the UK Copyright Act 1911 to Singapore before Singapore passed its own Copyright Act in 1987.
Murgiana has been nominated as a leading IP lawyer for Singapore in several publications such as Asia Law Profiles (1997), Legal 500 and Experts Guide on Leading IP Lawyers. She was nominated top lawyer in IP in Singapore by IP Asia. She has contributed many articles to various IP publications such as –
- International Laws and Developments on Security Interests in Intangible Assets in IP in the Global market place
- Mysteries of patents unraveled – value of goodwill – Singapore Law Gazette
- Security interests in IP Assets – The new role of IP commercial transactions
- Ideas as assets - International Financial Law Review
- a contributor to Katzarov - “Manual on Industrial Property”.
She holds the Chair of the Intellectual Property Committee of The Law Society of Singapore from 1995 and to-date and is a Panelist on the Domain Name Disputes Resolution Board. She sits on the Patents Examination Board for Singapore Patent Agents Qualifying Examination.
Tasneem Haq
DID: (65) 6438 6602
Email: tasneem@hslegal.com.sg
Tasneem specialises in both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters including filing strategy advice, prosecution, exploitation and enforcement of intellectual property rights. She has six years of practice experience as a solicitor with a London law firm, specialising in brand protection and enforcement issues. Her recent articles include an assessment of evidence requirements in trade mark registrability, opposition and invalidity proceedings and reviews on the level of protection rendered through the Madrid Protocol and Madrid Agreement filings. Her articles have been published in Trade Mark World, Managing Intellectual Property and IP Scan.
Tasneem was called to the Bar of England and Wales (Middle Temple) and is an Advocate and Solicitor in Singapore. She is a member of Marques, a European brand owner's Association, the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA) and the International Trade Mark Association (INTA). Tasneem is also on the Law Society of Singapore's Intellectual Property Committee and represents Singapore in APAA'S Trade Marks Standing Committee.
Vanita Davendra
Vanita has extensive experience in intellectual property protection and specializes in domestic and international tr ade mark prosecution and in the overall management and coordination of clients’ trade mark portfolios. She handles key client accounts and assists a diverse range of local and international clients.
Her experience in intellectual property includes providing advice on registrability prior to filing, clearance searching, trade mark filing and prosecution, advice on international registration of trade marks under the Madrid Protocol, trade mark maintenance, filing of assignments, mergers, licenses and other changes in title.
Vanita graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree (Honours) and is the Trade Marks Manager at Haq & Selvam.
Fareeza Mohamed
Fareeza is a Patents Executive and manages an extensive patents portfolio of both local and overseas patent applications. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in Electrical Engineering and a Minor in Law. She started her career with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore where she was a Senior Patents Executive in charge of the development of the e-filing system. This was her introduction to the world of intellectual property.
She joined Haq & Selvam in 2004 as a Patents Executive handling prior art searches, patent prosecution rights from filing to grant in various jurisdictions, and maintenance of patents and due diligence of patents portfolios. She manages a large patent portfolio comprising of both local and foreign clients.
Cindy Siew
Cindy is the Manager of the firm, currently responsible for administration, human resource and accounts. She has extensive experience in due diligence searches for trade marks, advice on availability and filing of new applications. Cindy’s all round experience adds to the efficiency of the firm, as she ensures the day-to-day running of the practice.
Adelaine Goh
A Patents Executive, Adelaine has since 1984 been exposed to a wide variety of work involving prosecution of patents, trade mark and design applications, both locally and internationally.
Her current focus is patent filings and patent prosecution work in various jurisdictions, monitoring and managing large patent portfolios of the firm’s clients.
Our Staff
The key to a firm’s success is its people. We have a dynamic support team who are highly experienced, dedicated, meticulous and committed towards producing work of the highest standard at a fast turnaround. They ensure the seamless operation of our firm.
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