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Key contacts
CEO: Tan Yan Shao
Senior IP Manager: Lim Hai Bee
Quick facts
Partners

2

Other qualified practitioners

1

Total number of practitioners

3

Practitioners (worldwide)

4

Languages

English, Chinese

Network memberships

ISTMA

Key practice areas
Trusted Talent
Firm overview

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 contacts & recent matter highlights
  • 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.

Other offices
Practice Areas & Sector Specialisations

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

 

Address:
9 Tai Seng Link
Singapore, 534053
Tel:+6589522258 Email:Contact Us Web Address:https://www.catandpillar.com
2026 Edition
Intellectual property*
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Testimonials

2026

“Experienced and knowledgeable in their work.”

“Good connections and can find out about many IP-related matters before applying for trademarks."

"Knowledgeable about IP laws and regulations.”

“Knowledgeable team and good support.”

“Personable service."

“Prompt and accurate in all the related services.”

“Prompt and professional service.”

“They are very responsive and take every action without any delays.”

“They are well experienced and capable of providing informed advice in a timely manner. They are already excellent in their overall services.”

"Very professional and knowledgeable about the IP industry and regulations.”

“Very responsive. Very knowledgeable. Very smooth.”    

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