03/02/2026
When does a trademark filing cross the line into bad faith?
According to IPOS, not every post-termination filing does.
In TNSG Biotech Co Ltd v Murray Colin Clarke [2025] SGIPOS 5, IP Adjudicator David Llewelyn dismissed an opposition brought by TNSG Biotech against Dr. Murray Colin Clarke over a Mandarin Chinese trademark. The opposition was based solely on an allegation of bad faith—a serious claim that the trademark was filed dishonestly.
Dr. Clarke is the founder of ChildLife, a well-known children’s supplement brand sold worldwide. TNSG had previously acted as a distributor of ChildLife products in China. After the distributorship ended, Dr. Clarke applied to register a Mandarin Chinese mark corresponding to the ChildLife brand for use in health products, food items, and business services.
To succeed, TNSG needed to show that Dr. Clarke knew he had no right to the mark and that his conduct fell below normal commercial standards. The evidence, however, pointed in the opposite direction.
Dr. Clarke genuinely believed he owned the ChildLife brand in all its forms, including its Mandarin Chinese version. The Chinese words in question had consistently been used together with the ChildLife name, reinforcing this belief. Adding to this, courts in other jurisdictions had found that TNSG itself had misused the ChildLife brand, including findings related to counterfeiting. This seriously weakened TNSG’s claim that Dr. Clarke had acted dishonestly.
