Guide To Registering A Trademark In Singapore | Trademarks

By SimonRogove
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The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), a statutory board under the Ministry of Law handles trademark registration in the city state. An individual desiring to register his trade mark may either apply directly to the Registrar or authorize a trade mark agent to act on his behalf.

Any trade mark in Singapore must be symbolised in graphic form. It must be a sign of some sort, represented by any letter, word, name, signature, number, device, brand, heading, label, ticket, shape, colour and aspect of packaging, either by itself or in any combination using these symbols. Singapore trade mark laws differ from those in countries such as the United States in that you need not provide evidence of use to register a trade mark.

Your main concern when filing any trade mark design is that no one else had already registered a sign that is identical or similar to yours. This is particularly pertinent when it comes to the nature of your business activities. You should perform a thorough search of trade mark signs that are already filed with the Singapore Registry of Trade Marks and available for public scrutiny at the IPOS office or via the eTradeMarks website online.

Upon verifying that no prior trademarks exist that may conflict with the one being applied for, the applicant may already submit the completed trademark registration application to the Singapore Registry of Trademarks and Patents. Options for doing so include by hand, by registered post, or by filing online through the eTrademarks system. Filing fees for registering trademarks under each class is S$340 for manual processing and S$310 for online processing.

Once the IPOS has received the trademark application, the office will conduct an administrative review to verify that the application is complete and compliant with the provisions of the Trademarks Act, as well as all necessary fees having been already paid. When these conditions are met, a trademark application number will be provided, along with the date for filing.

The applicant will be notified by the Registry if there is any ground for objection, including the corrections required and the specified period of time granted given him to overcome the objection. The application is considered withdrawn if the applicant fails to respond to the notice within the period granted.

The next step is for the Registry Office to mount an extensive search for similar or conflicting trademarks. They will also review geographical names and ensure your sign conforms to the international classification of goods and services. If your sign represents pharmaceutical products, the Registry would make further investigations. They would check if your mark breaches the World Health Organisation's INN (International Non-Proprietary Name) list, which provides common names for pharmaceutical products.

Upon completion of this process of trademark conflict discovery, a further examination of the application will be made to ensure that the trade mark may be registered in accordance with Singapore Trademark Laws. If the trademark lacks a distinctive character, for example, it falls under areas not allowable by Singapore law-the examiner will make sure that this is not the case. Again, any problems in this stage will result in the applicant being informed of the nature of the objections and given a specific timeframe to resolve these issues.

Once it is verified that the trademark complies with Singapore Trademark Laws, the applicant will be notified of the acceptance of the application for registration which will be published in the Trade Marks Journal for public information. This will also allow any interested party to oppose the registration within two months for various grounds including issues such as the application is similar to a pending mark.

If no objections were made against the application in the allotted two months, or if all objections that are raised end up resolved in the applicant's favor, the trademark will finally be declared as registered. The applicant will be given a registration certificate attesting to the successful process of registering a trademark in Singapore.

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Before doing business in Singapore, make sure you check out Singapore business guide and Singapore trademark registration guidelines.

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