Dr Ting justifies his patent for SWIFT against Mindef – Extract 2

The Online Citizen earlier reported on how Dr Ting Choon Ming had sued the Ministry of Defence for allegedly infringing on intellectual property for his invention, the Station With Immediate First-Aid Treatment (SWIFT) vehicle. When he dropped the case due to a lack of funds to finance the suit, Mindef countered by applying for a court order to revoke his patent.

The following is an excerpt from court transcripts of how Mindef had cross-examined Dr Ting on whether SWIFT contained any “inventive step”.

Defence: The fact that you were to open up the sides, I already showed you pictures earlier for, let’s say, hot dog stands, they are available. So if you decide to use it, instead of a hot dog stand, for medical purposes, to me it is obvious. Do you agree?

Ting: That’s where you are mistaken. What looks obvious is not. You see, both sides of the panel actually serve certain different purposes, and the flow of it serves different purposes.  So does it mean when you open a panel and put a bed there, it becomes an A and E? The basic whole concept is that this is has become a mobile A and E. When it’s deployed, in five minutes, it becomes an A and E… There are certain flows of work and therefore, you can’t open up a hot dog stand and put a bed, and say that this also becomes a first aid post. It does not work that way, because you require the panel to do certain things for you.