Singapore legislation
Clause 12
Clause 12
Claim to priority
(1)
If —
a person has filed an application for registration of a design in a Convention country (referred to in this section as the basic application); and
within 6 months after the date on which the basic application was filed, he or his successor in title files an application for registration of the design under this Act in respect of all or any of the same articles in respect of which registration was sought in the Convention country,he or his successor in title may, when filing the application under this Act, claim a right of priority for the registration of the design in respect of all or any of those articles.
(2)
Where a right of priority is claimed in respect of an application for registration of a design in accordance with subsection (1), the application shall be treated, for the purpose of determining whether that or any other design is new, as filed on the date the basic application was filed.
(3)
Subsection (2) shall not be construed as excluding the power to give directions under section 5(3) in relation to the application for registration.
(4)
Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this Act, where a right of priority is claimed in respect of an application for registration of a design, the application shall not be refused, and the registration of the design under this Act shall not be revoked, by reason only of the fact that the basic application has been published at any time after the filing date of the basic application.
(5)
Any filing of an application for protection of a design in a Convention country which is equivalent to a regular national filing under its domestic legislation or any international agreement shall be treated as giving rise to the right of priority.
(6)
For the purpose of subsection (5), “regular national filing” means any filing which is adequate to establish the date on which the application was filed in the Convention country, whatever the subsequent fate of the application may be.
(7)
Where a subsequent application for registration of a design that was the subject of an earlier basic application was filed in the same Convention country, and —
the earlier basic application has been withdrawn, abandoned or refused, without having been laid open to public inspection and without leaving any rights outstanding; and
the earlier basic application has not yet served as a basis for claiming a right of priority,the period of 6 months referred to in subsection (1)(b) shall be reckoned from the date on which the subsequent application was filed, and the earlier basic application may not thereafter serve as a basis for claiming the right of priority.
(8)
The Minister may make rules as to the manner of claiming a right of priority under this section.