The Greatest Self-implosion Award goes to Singapore bag brand Aupen

SINGAPORE – It could have been a publicity coup. Instead, it ended in a Pofma order.

Home-grown handbag brand Aupen had public sympathy on its side when news first broke of American mega-chain Target’s intention to oppose its trademark registration application in the United States.

But Aupen founder Nicholas Tan might have stretched the David versus Goliath plot too far when, in comments to the press and eager Instagram mob, he pitched the brewing registry-level dispute as a full-blown lawsuit.

About a month before Target filed its challenge to the US Intellectual Property office, Mr Tan announced he had let his staff go. The brand’s catalogue of viral, asymmetrical leather handbags – worn by pop superstars Taylor Swift and Madonna – was also wiped from its website, leaving only an image of a tote bag stamped with gibberish legal terms.

Aupen’s official Instagram page, with close to 90,000 followers, was also scrubbed. In place of the usual celebrity sightings was a post containing a lawyer’s letter from Target.

The subtext was loud. Was he shutting down the brand?

As questions mounted, Mr Tan posted on his Instagram Stories: “A $100 billion giant is crushing an independent brand.

“The result can be years of court battles that block us from releasing new products – while a giant can replicate designs at a fraction of the price.

“This will erase us. And when we are gone, people may think that Auden is Aupen.”

Auden is the name of Target’s diffusion underwear line and the corporation’s basis for opposing Aupen’s US application.

Mr Jonathan Kok, an intellectual property lawyer and partner at Withers KhattarWong, told The Straits Times shortly after that trademark registration was not essential to Aupen doing business and that in his view, the brand had a strong defence. The greatest downside to operating without a registered trademark might be Aupen’s increased vulnerability to claims of passing itself off as Auden, he added.

Mr Tan’s reactions might have been waved off as an innocent gaffe in an unwelcome situation, had he not remarked that Singapore’s trademark office had advised him to back down from the fight.

The former national swimmer said the statutory board had dissuaded him from launching a counter-challenge to Target’s Singapore-registered trademark, as the system favoured foreign investment.

The charge landed him in the soup with the Pofma Office, which administers Singapore’s fake news law.

Mr Tan was forced to publish corrections on his Instagram account, with a link to the full timeline of events on the Government’s fact-checking website. The official account said the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore had reached out to Mr Tan to offer support before news of the potential trademark challenge had gained public attention and advised him to seek a lawyer’s opinion.

It added: “Mr Tan’s posts not only have the effect of attracting publicity for himself and Aupen, but they also denigrate Ipos’ impartiality and neutrality, as well as the integrity of Ipos and its officers.” 

Reputation thus bruised, Mr Tan and Aupen’s Instagram pages have been subdued since, though pictures of celebrities toting Aupen bags have slowly been making a comeback.

Target did end up challenging Aupen’s application and the case is pending, though news of this received more muted attention.

Do not count Aupen out just yet, though. On Dec 13, it quietly released a new collection, with some designs crediting St Clementi – the moniker under which Mr Tan made his art debut at Le Bon Marche, Paris on the same day.

The Nirvana Art Crown Gold bag ($1,164) is sold out. It features a broken crown, which Aupen’s website states is “an open gesture – where endings lead to new beginnings”.