Mothership - POFMA order issued to S'pore bag brand Aupen & founder Nicholas Tan for false statements about IPOS

[Shalomp]

POFMA order issued to S'pore bag brand Aupen & founder Nicholas Tan for false statements about IPOS​

Aupen and its founder are required to publish correction notices on their Instagram pages.

Singapore bag brand Aupen and its founder Nicholas Tan have been issued a correction direction by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office, as instructed by Minister for Law Edwin Tong.

According to a Sep. 22 press release from the Ministry of Law, the directions were issued to Aupen and Tan for their publications, which communicated false statements of fact concerning:

• 
  
  
• Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS)'s interactions with Aupen and Tan,
• 
  
  
• The stance IPOS takes towards local businesses, and
• 
  
  
• Design of Singapore's trademark laws.
• 
  

These allegations were made in Tan's Instagram stories on Sep. 9, as well as Instagram posts on Tan's and Aupen's pages on Sep. 15 and 16.

Following the POFMA order, Tan and Aupen are required to publish correction notices on their Instagram pages.

"These notices will state that the content communicated false statements of fact, and provide a link to the Government’s clarification."

Background​

In September 2025, Aupen confirmed that it had laid off staff following the brand's legal dispute with the U.S. retailer Target over trademark applications.

Aupen alleged that IPOS advised the brand to "back down because they will prioritise foreign investments" and also told the brand to "stand down".

IPOS have since disputed these statements as inaccurate.

https://mothership.sg/2025/09/aupen-bag-singapore-pofma/

 

[TTFUUU]

Strong mandate, guys lets move on

 

[Sen Sen]

I hope he wins against that d shop

 

[BaChorMee]

Correct me if I am wrong. I think the AMDK brand registered the name first then SG guy copy it.

 

[sango65]

haha, dishonest guy, kena targeted

 

[fire]

Correct me if I am wrong. I think the AMDK brand registered the name first then SG guy copy it.

Think it depends on registered where. If they registered only in US, doesn't mean it's valid in sg.

 

[DulanMax]

He gg liao, kena hoot by left right center

 

[fire]

He gg liao, kena hoot by left right center

He ought to be smart enough to know to make such accusation, he has to have proof either in black&white or recording.

 

[Shalomp]

He ought to be smart enough to know to make such accusation, he has to have proof either in black&white or recording.

must be like kf seetoh

 

[dxdx999]

Lol hope he got gpgt

 

[Shalomp]

I hope he wins against that d shop

he lost already

he had to fire all his staff if im not wrong

 

[Shalomp]

Lol hope he got gpgt

stir until big big?????

 

[ghregular]

maybe in this forum u can humtum anything unless moderators are not alert!

 

[madcampus]

In the social media realm, many ppl will fake stories to capture ppl’s attention and sympathy. Need to lay out the facts without the ra ra.

 

[xdivider]

Correct me if I am wrong. I think the AMDK brand registered the name first then SG guy copy it.

Amdk licenced auden....

 

[tokong]

Why cannot think of another name?
Very funny, if you open a fried chicken stall would you name it kffcc? You would avoid this kind of resemblance right? Will definitely get you into legal troubles. I even saw 'Abidas' tshirt before. Lol.

 

[menthol28]

Correct me if I am wrong. I think the AMDK brand registered the name first then SG guy copy it.

Sinkie guy brand is Aupen
Target is Auden
Different brand name

 

[fortunehunter]

Why can't just change name to supen or zupen

 

[TiedInsurer]

Correct me if I am wrong. I think the AMDK brand registered the name first then SG guy copy it.

Target registered "Auden" in the USA in 2019. Nicholas registered "Aupen" in SG in 2023. Note that there's a one letter difference.

Then Nicholas go and register "Aupen" in the USA on an unknown date. Target challenged it. Say it's too similar to their "Auden". Nicholas probably lost.

Then probably in retaliation, Target came to SG to register "Auden" as well. I guess Nicholas tried to fight it and lost as well?

Anyway all these copyright and trademark, is down to who has more money to burn. Just drag until the other party no more money to fight the legal battle and you win by default. I also kena similar. Tried to register a trademark in SG. Then some AMDK company that has zero presence in SG that i've never even heard of sent me lawyer letter, because "similar" to their brand. We're not even selling the same things. Haha instead of trying to fight it, i just used a different name, and this time didn't bother to try and register trademark. Never going to become large enough to have the resources to fight these gangsters anyway.

 

[TiedInsurer]

Why can't just change name to supen or zupen

His bag is carried by Hollywood celebrities. People already know Aupen. If change name, his loss will be large.
He's just being bullied by Target because they know he don't have enough money to fight them. Everyone knows Target, but who the hell knows about Auden? It's just a sub-brand for a budget line of clothes sold by a budget retailer.