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

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.

Related stories

Top image from Aupen's Instagram and MinLaw's website