Cat and Pillar

Cat and Pillar is a specialized boutique firm providing comprehensive trademark prosecution strategy for 
founders, established global brands, and growing businesses. By combining eight years of direct experience as a trademark examiner at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) with a focus on procedural efficiency, the firm has established a reliable method for protecting brand assets in Singapore and international jurisdictions.

Scope of Expertise:

The practice manages the entire trademark lifecycle, ensuring that intellectual property is defended at every stage. Services include:

Strategic Pre-filing: Conducting thorough searches and delivering highly accurate assessments (98% accuracy) of a brand’s prospects before filing.

Classification Strategy: Advising on optimal class selection aligned with the client’s business model to maximize protection and mitigate the risk of registry refusals.

Application Management: Overseeing the full filing process to ensure applications align with registry 
requirements.

Contentious Matters: Proactively responding to refusals, managing complex oppositions, and representing clients in negotiations and mediations for disputes.

Global Reach: Providing consistent, expert representation for both Singapore and international filings.

Why Clients Choose Cat and Pillar

The firm’s reputation is built on consistent, high-stakes results and the long-term trust of the organizations it serves. Cat and Pillar is the preferred choice for those who value:

Senior Practitioner Oversight: Every case is vetted by a senior practitioner within the firm, ensuring that strategy is handled with professional care and deep technical oversight.

Straightforward Communication: The firm provides practical, actionable advice without unnecessary legal jargon or evasive disclaimers.

Proven Track Record: Recognition in the WTR 1000 and IP STARS rankings reflects the firm’s ability to secure registrations for brands that require reliable, expert support.

Cat and Pillar is privileged to represent a diverse portfolio of clients, ranging from agile startups to established international organizations such as Paradise Group, Yeahka, Transtek, and Shein.

The firm is dedicated to providing professional and results-oriented service, prioritizing brand security through focused, examiner-level expertise.

Key practice areas: 

Intellectual property (contentious), Intellectual property (prosecution), Trade mark, Trade mark (contentious), Trade mark (prosecution)

Sector expertise: 

Accounting, Artificial intelligence, Computer technology & services, Consumer goods and services, Fashion & luxury goods, E-commerce, Financial services, Food and beverage, Furniture, Government and public policy, Gaming, Healthcare, Hospitality & leisure, ICT & software, FMCG, Medical device, Not-for-profit, Retail, Pharmaceutical, Technology hardware, Professional services

• Tan Yan Shao, Trade mark (prosecution), yanshao.tan@catandpillar.com 
  
  1. Overcoming Absolute Grounds Refusals: We success fully secured registration for a client in the healthcare sector after a previous firm advised that registration was impossible without years of evidence of use. By crafting a precise argument for inherent distinctiveness, we overcame the refusal in a single round.
  
  2. Defensive Revocation Against Cited Marks: We identified that a citedmark blocking our client's
  application was not in use in Singapore. We success fully initiated a non use revocation proceeding, which compelled the opponent to negotiate and ultimately resolved the matter in a way that preserved our client's commercial position.

• UNIT 5.72, LEVEL 5, WISMA CENTRAL, 147, JALAN AMP ANG, KUALALUMPUR, 50450, Malaysia, enquiry@catandpillar.com 
• 85 William Street, Darlinghurst NSW, Sydney, 2010, Australia, enquiry@catandpillar.com