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 thing that is manufactured (whether by an industrial process, by hand or otherwise), and includes —

(a)	any part of an article, if that part is made and sold separately; and
(b)	any set of articles; [Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]

“artistic work” has the meaning given by section 20(1) of the Copyright Act 2021;

[Act 22 of 2021 wef 21/11/2021]

“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 or a non‑physical product, results in a reproduction of that work;

[Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]

“Court” means the General Division of the High Court;

[Act 40 of 2019 wef 02/01/2021]

“design” means features of shape, configuration, colours, pattern or ornament applied to any article or non‑physical product that give that article or non‑physical product its appearance, but does not include —

(a)

a method or principle of construction;

(b)

features of shape, configuration or colours of an article or a non‑physical product that —

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

(c)

features consisting only of one or more colours that —

(i)	are not used with any feature of shape or configuration; and
(ii)	do not give rise to any feature of pattern or ornament; [Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]

“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;

“formal requirements” means —

(a)	the requirements of section 11(2)(c) and (4)(a); and
(b)	any other requirements of section 11, or of rules made for the purposes of that section, that are prescribed as formal requirements; [Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]

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

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

“non‑physical product” —

(a)

means any thing that —

(i)	does not have a physical form;
(ii)	is produced by the projection of a design on a surface or into a medium (including air); and
(iii)	has an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not merely to portray the appearance of the thing or to convey information; and

(b)

includes any set of non‑physical products;

[Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]

“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]

[Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]

“set of articles and non‑physical products” means one or more articles and one or more non‑physical products —

(a)	all of which are of the same general character and are ordinarily on sale together or intended to be used together; and
(b)	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; [Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]

“set of non‑physical products” means 2 or more non‑physical products 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.

[Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]

(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 is, in the case of a design registered in respect of a set of articles or a set of articles and non‑physical products, a reference to any article of that set; [Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]
(ba)	any reference in this Act to a non‑physical product in respect of which a design is registered is, in the case of a design registered in respect of a set of non‑physical products or a set of articles and non‑physical products, a reference to any non‑physical product of that set; and [Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]
(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.

(3) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, a device for projecting a non‑physical product —

(a)	is any device that when activated projects the non‑physical product on a surface or into a medium (including air); and
(b)	includes any product or component that is used in or with a device mentioned in paragraph (a) to project the non‑physical product on a surface or into a medium (including air). [Act 29 of 2017 wef 30/10/2017]

Act binds the Government

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

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