Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has announced yesterday (6 May) that it is considering all options, including legal recourse, against new website Straits Times Review (STR) for using the name of its flagship newspaper, The Straits Times.
SPH also claims that it has also lodged a trademark infringement complaint to Facebook against STR for its Facebook page, calling for it to be removed.
“We understand that Facebook is looking into our complaint,” said SPH.
However, STR has posted on its Facebook page this morning that it has “applied for Trademark registration for “Straits Times Review”. $120 only. A search on trademarks with IP Australia revealed that there is no trademark on “Straits Times”.”
STR is believed to be registered on 18 April, based in Australia. It is supposedly run by blogger and former political candidate Alex Tan.
Tan is also known to be a co-founder and former editor of The Real Singapore, which has recently been shut down by the Media Development Authority (MDA) for posting objectionable material, although a current court case against TRS is still pending.
MDA has earlier told media that it is looking into mirror sites that are potentially cloning content from TRS.
