Singapore legislation

Clause 74

Special exception in respect of industrial design

(1)

Where copyright subsists in an artistic work and a corresponding design is registered under any written law in force for the protection of designs, it shall not be an infringement of the copyright in the work —

(a)

to do anything, during the subsistence of the copyright in the registered design, which is within the scope of the copyright in the design; or

(b)

to do anything, after the copyright in the registered design has come to an end, which, if it had been done while the copyright in the design subsisted, would have been within the scope of that copyright as extended to all associated designs and articles:Provided that this subsection shall have effect subject to the provisions of the Schedule in cases falling within the Schedule.

(2)

Where copyright subsists in an artistic work, and —

(a)

a corresponding design is applied industrially by or with the licence of the owner of the copyright in the work; and

(b)

articles to which the design has been so applied are sold, let for hire, or offered for sale or hire whether in Singapore or elsewhere,subsections (3), (4) and (5) shall apply.

(3)

Subject to subsection (4), after the end of the relevant period of 15 years, it shall not be an infringement of the copyright in the work to do anything which at the time when it was done would, if a corresponding design had been registered under the provisions of any written law in force for the protection of designs immediately before that time, have been within the scope of the copyright in the design as extended to all associated designs and articles.

(4)

In subsection (3), “the relevant period of 15 years” means the period of 15 years beginning with the date on which articles, such as are mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (2), were first sold, let for hire or offered for sale or hire, whether in Singapore or elsewhere.

(5)

For the purposes of subsections (2) and (3), no account shall be taken of any articles in respect of which, at the time when they were sold, let for hire, or offered for sale or hire, the design in question was excluded from registration under the provisions of any written law by rules made under that written law (which relates to the exclusion of designs for articles which are primarily literary or artistic in character); and for the purposes of any proceedings under this Act a design shall be conclusively presumed to have been so excluded if —

(a)

before the commencement of those proceedings, an application for the registration of the design under that written law in respect of those articles had been refused;

(b)

the reason or one of the reasons stated for the refusal was that the design was excluded from such registration by rules made under that written law; and

(c)

no appeal against that refusal had been allowed before the date of the commencement of the proceedings or was pending on that date.