Registered Designs Act

(CHAPTER 266)

(Original Enactment: Act 25 of 2000)

REVISED EDITION 2005

(31st July 2005)

An Act to provide for the registration of designs in Singapore.

[13th November 2000]

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Registered Designs Act.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“application for registration”, in relation to a design, means an application under section 11 for the registration of the design;

“article” means any article of manufacture and includes —

(a)	any part of an article if that part is made and sold separately; and
(b)	any set of articles;

“artistic work” has the meaning assigned to it in section 7(1) of the Copyright Act (Cap. 63);

“Convention country” means a country or territory, other than Singapore, which is a party to the Paris Convention or a member of the World Trade Organisation;

“corresponding design”, in relation to an artistic work, means a design which, when applied to an article, results in a reproduction of that work;

“Court” means the High Court;

“design” means features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article by any industrial process, but does not include —

(a)

a method or principle of construction; or

(b)

features of shape or configuration of an article which —

(i)	are dictated solely by the function which the article has to perform;
(ii)	are dependent upon the appearance of another article of which the article is intended by the designer to form an integral part; or
(iii)	enable the article to be connected to, or placed in, around or against, another article so that either article may perform its function;

“designer”, in relation to a design, means the person who creates it or, if there are 2 or more such persons, each of those persons;

“exclusive licence” means a licence from the registered owner of a registered design authorising the licensee, or the licensee and persons authorised by him, to the exclusion of all other persons (including the registered owner), to use the design in the manner authorised by the licence and “exclusive licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“International Bureau” means the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation;

[Act 16 of 2012 wef 07/03/2014]

“Office” means the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore incorporated under the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Act (Cap. 140);

“owner” has the meaning assigned to it in section 4;

“Paris Convention” means the Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property signed at Paris on 20th March 1883, as revised or amended from time to time;

“Register” means the Register of Designs maintained under section 53;

“registered design” means a design registered under this Act;

“registered owner”, in relation to a registered design, means the person whose name is for the time being entered in the Register as the owner of the design or, if there are 2 or more such persons, each of those persons;

“Registrar” means the Registrar of Designs referred to in section 49 and includes any Deputy Registrar of Designs referred to in that section;

“Registry” means the Registry of Designs established under section 51;

“set of articles” means 2 or more articles of the same general character that are ordinarily on sale together or intended to be used together, and to each of which the same design, or the same design with modifications or variations not sufficient to alter the character or substantially to affect the identity of the design, is applied.

[3/2001]

(2) Unless the context otherwise requires —

(a)	any reference in this Act to the filing of a document shall be construed as a reference to the filing of the document with the Registrar;
(b)	any reference in this Act to an article in respect of which a design is registered shall, in the case of a design registered in respect of a set of articles, be construed as a reference to any article of that set; and
(c)	any reference to the infringement of a registered design shall be construed as a reference to the infringement of any right in the design conferred by this Act.

Act binds the Government

3. Subject to Part IV, this Act binds the Government.

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