Man’s lawsuit against HDB thrown out

SINGAPORE — A 54-year-old man who took the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to court — alleging it had stolen his invention — not only had his case thrown out, but has instead had his patent for the invention in question revoked.

Mr Yiap Hang Boon is also saddled with a S$160,000 debt, in the form of legal costs the High Court awarded to the HDB.

The suit began in March last year, when Mr Yiap said the design of the external clothes-drying racks of some HDB flats in Toa Payoh Central, Queenstown and Sengkang infringed the patent he got in 2004.

But Justice Chan Seng Onn ruled against his contention yesterday, because the HDB’s racks “do not take each and every one of the essential integers” of Mr Yiap’s patent.

In particular, the HDB’s racks were unlike Mr Yiap’s in that they do not serve as safety rails — his design had factored in the ability to bear a person’s load to minimise one’s risks of falling from the window while hanging clothes out.

The judge also allowed the HDB’s counter-claim against Mr Yiap and revoked his patent after finding there was “no inventive step” in his design.

He added that Mr Yiap’s claim was also “time-barred” as he had first mentioned possible patent infringement in 2006 but had filed his suit only last year, after the statutory time limit of six years.

On hearing the judge’s decision, Mr Yiap, who is jobless and fought the case without a lawyer, said: “I sold my flat ... I have exhausted everything.”

Asked how it will claim the legal costs the court awarded to it from Mr Yiap, the HDB told TODAY it will hear his proposal before making any decision.

During a three-day trial in July, the HDB’s lawyers, Mr Darrell Low and Ms May Tan from Yusarn Audrey, had argued that the racks were the result of the board’s own efforts in reviewing available racks around 2000.

In February 2001, Mr Yiap had proposed for the HDB to use a different clothes-drying rack design — which he earlier patented — for its flat upgrading programme, but the HDB turned it down after finding his design unsuitable.

The HDB said it has implemented its own external clothes-drying system since August 2001, but that Mr Yiap applied for the patent in question only in February 2003.