Sukumar Karuppiah (Sugu) is admitted to practice before both the Singapore and Malaysian (West Malaysia) Bars. He is well regarded for handling various contentious matters for clients in both jurisdictions. He has represented clients before the High Court and Court of Appeal in Singapore, as well as the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Federal Court in Malaysia. Some of the cases he handled, including trademark and copyright infringement, passing off, opposition and invalidation of trademarks, have helped shaped the IP jurisprudence, with a few being landmark cases.

Sugu also provides legal representation to domestic and international clients in non-contentious IP matters across various industries, such as luxury, fashion, consumer goods, electronics, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and entertainment. With over 30 years of experience in IP, he has been assisting clients in the development, protection, exploitation, and enforcement of their IP rights, covering areas such as copyright, trademarks, patents, designs, data protection, trade secrets as well as geographical indications.

Sugu is a member of various international IP organisations such as the International Trade Mark Association (INTA), and European Communities Trademark Association (ECTA). He is also a member of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators. Furthermore, he is a registered patent agent and registered Trade Mark Agent of the Institute of Singapore Trade Mark Agents (ISTMA) in Singapore and a registered trademark agent in Malaysia.

Sugu has contributed to the chapters on Singapore and Malaysia for “Intellectual Property Protection in Asia” published by LexisNexis and edited by Arthur Wineburg. He also contributed to the book “E-Discovery and Data Protection” published by Kluwer Law International BV and edited by Catrian Noorda and Stefan Hanloser.

In Sugu’s spare time, he enjoys cooking for his family and friends, as well as running and taking long walks in the parks.