Filing Patents & Trademarks in Singapore

In general, an invention is patentable in Singapore if it is new, involves an inventive step and is capable of industrial application.

However, an invention of a method of treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy or of diagnosis practised on the human or animal body will not be taken to be capable of industrial application. But this does not prevent a product consisting of a substance or composition being treated as capable of industrial application merely because it is invented for use in any such method.

Further, in the case of an invention consisting of a substance or composition for use in a method of treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy or of diagnosis practised on the human or animal body, the fact that the substance or composition forms part of the state of the art does not prevent the invention from being taken to be new if the use of the substance or composition in any such method does not form part of the state of the art.

PURSUING A NATIONAL PATENT APPLICATION TOWARDS GRANT

After the filing of a Singapore national application, the application will be subject to an examination for compliance with formal requirements. Where an application complies with all the formal requirements, the applicant may proceed by various routes to secure the grant of the patent:

It is not compulsory to register a trade mark in Singapore. An individual, firm or company, who owns a trade mark and uses it in connection with his goods or services, acquires common law rights in that mark by virtue of the use and reputation of the mark.

>> Common law generally refers to the law based on past decisions and general principles, serving as precedent or is applied to situations not covered by statutes.

For a mark that is not registered, the owner can only rely on the common law action of "passing off" to protect his mark against imitation or infringement. This remedy, however, requires the owner of the mark to prove his reputation and goodwill. The requirement of proving reputation and goodwill may pose some problems where the business, or the use of the trade mark, has not been established for a substantial period of time.

A registered trade mark, on the other hand, grants the owner of the trade mark a statutory monopoly. If someone else uses the same or a similar mark on the same or similar goods or services in respect of which the mark is registered, the registered trade mark owner can rely on his registration as proof of his right to the mark and sue for infringement.