Registered Designs Rules

In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires —[Deleted by S 742/2014 wef 13/11/2014][Deleted by S 742/2014 wef 13/11/2014][Deleted by S 742/2014 wef 13/11/2014](2) For the purposes of this Part —

The fees set out in the First Schedule shall be payable to the Registrar in respect of the matters set out in that Schedule.

Unless otherwise provided for in these Rules, or the Registrar permits or directs otherwise —

Subject to paragraph (4), a fee must be paid using the mode of payment permitted or directed by the Registrar.

Where the electronic online system is used to carry out an act referred to in rule 58A(2), the fee payable in connection with that act must, unless otherwise permitted or directed by the Registrar, be paid using the mode of payment designated by the electronic online system.

The Registrar may refuse to accept or process any document filed at the Registry that fails to comply with the Act.

Every document filed at the Registry shall —

Every document filed at the Registry must be filed in accordance with the requirements relating to its size, durability, legibility or format specified in any practice direction issued by the Registrar.

Where the Registrar refuses to accept any document that does not comply with paragraph (2) or (3), the Registrar shall give the applicant a notice stating the manner in which the document does not comply with paragraph (2) or (3), as the case may be.

Where any document filed at the Registry is a copy, the Registrar may —

The Registrar may require the filing of a hard copy of any document filed using the electronic online system.

The Registrar shall publish on the Office’s Internet website at http://www.ipos.gov.sg the forms to be used for any purpose relating to the registration of a design or any other proceedings before the Registrar under the Act.

The Registrar may modify any form in any particular case or class of cases.

Any reference in these Rules to a numbered form shall be construed as a reference to the current version of the form which bears the corresponding number and is described in the Second Schedule.

The matters referred to in the Act, including sections 11, 14(1), 15(1), 27(5), 28(1) and 35(2) of the Act, shall be filed with, made to or given to, the Registrar, or done in an effective and efficient manner by means which may be specified by the Registrar by the issuance of practice directions.

A document to be signed for or on behalf of a partnership shall contain the names of all the partners in full and shall be signed by —

A document to be signed for or on behalf of a body corporate shall be signed by a director, the secretary or other principal officer of the body corporate, or by any other person who satisfies the Registrar that he is authorised to sign the document on behalf of the body corporate.

A document to be signed by or on behalf of an unincorporated body or association of persons may be signed by any person who appears to the Registrar to be qualified to so sign.

Where the Act or these Rules authorise or require any document to be given or sent to, filed with or served on the Registrar or the Registry, the giving, sending, filing or service must be effected on the Registrar or the Registry (as the case may be) by sending an electronic communication of the document using the electronic online system.

Where the Act or these Rules authorise or require a party to give or send a document to, or serve a document on, another party (other than the Registrar or the Registry), the giving, sending or service may be effected —

Where the Act or these Rules authorise or require any notice or other document to be given or sent to or served on any party by the Registrar or Registry, the Registrar or Registry may effect the giving, sending or service on the party —

Subject to paragraph (3B), the Registrar may, in a particular case, permit the giving, sending, filing or serving of a document in a manner other than provided by paragraph (1) or (2).

However, the use of electronic means under paragraph (2)(d), (3)(b) or (3A), other than the use of the electronic online system, must be with the consent (express or implied) of —

Where any notice or other document is sent by post under paragraph (2) or (3), the giving, sending or service, as the case may be, of the notice or other document shall, until the contrary is proved, be treated as having been effected at the time at which the notice or document would have been delivered in the ordinary course of post.

For the purposes of paragraphs (2) and (3), a notice or other document is sent to a party by post if the notice or other document is sent by pre-paid post to the party at his address for service referred to in rule 7 or 8.

[Deleted by S 435/2020 wef 05/06/2020]

Notwithstanding the availability of an address for service filed in accordance with rule 7, where any notice or other document is given, sent, filed or served by sending an electronic communication in the manner permitted by paragraph (2)(ca) or (d), (3)(b) or (3A), that notice or document shall be taken to have been duly given, sent to or served on the person.

Service of any notice or other document under the Act or these Rules on a person by electronic communication using the electronic online system may be effected only if the person is registered as an account holder in accordance with any practice directions issued by the Registrar under rule 58A(3).

A notice or other document sent, filed or served by means of an electronic communication (other than the electronic online system) is treated as sent, filed or served —

A notice or other document that is —

For the purposes of paragraph (7B), the notice or other document is treated as sent to, filed with or served on, and received by, the Registrar or Registry or the party if and only if the last byte of the transmission containing the notice or other document is received by the server mentioned in that paragraph.

Any person who sends, files or serves a notice or other document by means of the electronic online system may produce a record of transmission issued through that system as evidence of —

This rule shall not apply to notices and documents to be served in proceedings in court.

For the purposes of any proceedings before the Registrar, an address for service in Singapore shall be filed in accordance with paragraph (2) or (5) by or on behalf of —

Where the application for a matter requires an address for service in Singapore to be furnished, the address for service in Singapore shall be furnished on the form filed for the matter.

The filing of an address for service in accordance with paragraph (2) shall be effective only for the matter for which the form is filed.

Notwithstanding paragraph (3) —

In a case where paragraphs (2) and (4) do not apply, the address for service shall be furnished in writing.

Where an address for service is not filed by or on behalf of a person as required by paragraph (1), and no address for service is effective for the purposes of any of the proceedings mentioned in paragraph (4), the Registrar may, subject to paragraph (7), treat the person’s trade or business address in Singapore as that person’s address for service for the purposes of those proceedings.

Where the trade or business address of the person is not known to the Registrar, the Registrar may send to the person, at an alternative address of the person, a notice to furnish an address for service for the purposes of those proceedings, within 2 months after the date of the notice.

Where the Registrar does not have any alternative address of the person to send the notice under paragraph (7) or where the Registrar has sent a notice under that paragraph but no address for service is provided within 2 months after the date of the notice—

Anything sent to or served on a person at his address for service shall be taken to have been duly sent to or served on the person.

In paragraphs (7) and (7A), “alternative address” means —

The Registrar may, in dealing with any matter under the Act or these Rules in respect of which a person has been authorised to act as an agent on behalf of another, require the personal signature or presence of either the agent or his principal.

The Registrar may, by notice in writing sent to an agent, require the agent to produce evidence of his authority.

Where an agent has been appointed by a person for any application or proceedings, the agent’s address for service in Singapore shall be treated as the address for service of that person.

The appointment of an agent for a matter shall be notified to the Registrar in the form for that matter.

The following shall be notified to the Registrar in Form CM1:

Where an agent for a party to any matter intends to cease to so act, the agent —

On receipt of the form mentioned in paragraph (6)(a), the Registrar must send to the party a notice requesting the party to provide an address for service within 3 months after the date of the notice.

The notice in paragraph (7) must be sent to the address of the party filed under paragraph (6)(a)(ii) or any alternative address of the party.

Rule 7(7A)(a), (b), (c) or (d) (whichever is applicable) applies, with the necessary modifications, if —

In paragraphs (8) and (9), “alternative address” has the meaning given by rule 7(9).

An application —

Where an application under paragraph (1)(c), (d), (e) or (f) is filed other than by means of the electronic online system, the application must be signed by or on behalf of each relevant party.

Where an application under paragraph (1)(c), (d), (e) or (f) is filed by means of the electronic online system, the application must be authorised by each relevant party and validated by such means as the Registrar considers fit.

In paragraphs (2) and (3), “relevant party” means —

Where an application under paragraph (1)(c), (d), (e) or (f) is not signed in accordance with paragraph (2), or not authorised and validated in accordance with paragraph (3), the application must be accompanied —

The Registrar may require the applicant to furnish such other document, instrument or information in support of the application as the Registrar thinks fit within such time as the Registrar may specify.

The Registrar must refuse an application under paragraph (1) if paragraph (2), (3) or (5) is not complied with.

In this rule, a reference to a licence includes a sub-licence, and a reference to a licensee includes a sub-licensee.

After the extension of the period of registration of a relevant design from the expiry of its initial period of registration, and upon the filing of a request by any person and the payment of the applicable fee referred to in the First Schedule, the Registrar shall —

Rule 30(3) and (4) shall apply, with the necessary modifications, in relation to an inspection of documents under this rule.

Where a representation of the name, initials, armorial bearings, insignia, orders of chivalry, decorations, flags or devices of any state, settlement, city, borough, town, place, society, body corporate, government body, statutory board, institution or person appears on a design which is the subject of an application for registration, the Registrar may, before proceeding to register the design, require the applicant to furnish the Registrar with the consent to the registration and use of the matter in question of such official or other person as appears to the Registrar to be entitled to give consent.

The Registrar shall refuse to register the design if no such consent is furnished within the time specified by the Registrar.

Where the name or representation of any person appears on a design which is the subject of an application for registration, the Registrar may, before proceeding to register the design, require the applicant to furnish the Registrar with the consent of the person or, in the case of a person recently dead, of his legal representatives.

Where such consent is not furnished within the time specified by the Registrar and the applicant fails to satisfy the Registrar that it is impossible or impracticable in the circumstances of the case to obtain the consent, the Registrar shall refuse to register the design.

For the purposes of section 9 of the Act, on or after 30 October 2017 but before 30 October 2018, a design is to be regarded as having been applied industrially in relation to articles, if —

For the purposes of section 9 of the Act, on or after 30 October 2018, a design is to be regarded as having been applied industrially in relation to articles, if —

For the purposes of section 9 of the Act, on or after 30 October 2018, a design is to be regarded as having been applied industrially in relation to non‑physical products or devices for projecting non‑physical products, if —

For the purposes of paragraphs (1), (2) and (3), the date on which the design is applied to an article or a non‑physical product is irrelevant.

The Registrar may issue practice directions to indicate, for each design in an application for registration —

The representation of a design or, where there is more than one view filed as representation of a design, the representation of each view of the design shall be in the form of a drawing or photograph that is suitable for reproduction.

Where the application is made for the registration of a design intended to be applied to a set of articles, the representation shall show the design as applied to each different article in the set.

Where the application is made for the registration of a design intended to be applied to a set of non‑physical products, the representation must show the design as applied to each different non‑physical product in the set.

Where the application is made for the registration of a design intended to be applied to a set of articles and non‑physical products, the representation must show the design as applied to each different article and each different non‑physical product in the set.

The application form must contain, for each design, a statement describing the features of the design that the applicant considers to be new.

Paragraph (1) does not apply to any features of pattern or ornament to be applied to any textile article, wallpaper or similar wall covering, lace or set of textile articles or lace.

If the applicant claims that section 8, 8A or 8B of the Act applies in relation to any design in his application, he shall include in the application form a statement to that effect.

The statement shall —

The applicant may file additional information or documents in support of his claim.

If the applicant claims that section 10 of the Act applies in relation to any design in his application, he shall include in the application form a statement to that effect.

The statement shall include such details of the previous registration or, as the case may be, the previous application for registration of the design as the Registrar may require.

The applicant may file additional information or documents in support of his claim.

If an applicant claims a right of priority in relation to any design in the application by reason of an application for registration of a design (referred to in this rule as the priority application) filed —

The particulars referred to in paragraph (1) are —

For the purposes of section 12(1)(d) of the Act, an applicant for registration of a design in a Convention country or the applicant’s successor in title must provide the application number of each priority application (where available) within 3 months after the date of the Registrar’s request for it.

The Registrar may at any time require the applicant to file a certificate by the registering or other competent authority of the country or territory concerned certifying or verifying to the satisfaction of the Registrar —

Where the certificate referred to in paragraph (2A) is not in the English language, there shall be annexed to the certificate a translation in English of the contents of the certificate, certified or verified to the satisfaction of the Registrar.

Where any design in an application for registration is a 2‑dimensional design intended to be applied to a textile article, the application may be accompanied by a sample of the article.

The sample of the article shall not exceed such size or weight as the Registrar may specify.

The Registrar may, in his discretion, refuse the acceptance of any sample of article.

A request under section 15 of the Act to amend an application for registration of a design must be made —

This rule does not apply to a request to change the name or other particular of the applicant in the application.

This rule applies where a person (X) makes a request under rule 24(1) on or after 26 May 2022 for the correction in an application of an error or a mistake in —

If the Registrar determines that the interests of any person may be affected by the proposed correction, the Registrar may publish the request and the nature of the proposed correction in the Designs Journal and in any other manner that the Registrar determines.

Any person (Y) may, at any time within 2 months after the date of the publication, give a written notice to the Registrar of opposition to the request.

The notice of opposition must be supported by a statement setting out fully the facts on which Y relies.

Y must, at the time the notice and the statement are filed, serve on X a copy of the notice and a copy of the statement.

If Y does not comply with paragraph (5), Y’s notice of opposition is treated as not having been filed.

If X desires to proceed with the request, X must —

If X does not comply with paragraph (7), X is treated as having withdrawn X’s application.

The Registrar may give such directions as the Registrar thinks fit with regard to any aspect of the procedure for the request or the opposition to the request.

The Registrar must consider the opposition in deciding whether to grant the request.

Any person whose —

A request for the reinstatement of any application, right or thing referred to in paragraph (1) —

Subject to paragraph (4), where a request is filed under paragraph (2), the Registrar shall allow the reinstatement unless there is a good and sufficient reason to refuse the request.

The Registrar shall not allow the reinstatement unless paragraph (2) is complied with.

Paragraphs (1) to (4) do not allow the reinstatement of —

(BA)section 27 of the Act or Part VI of these Rules; or

(BB)section 27 of the Act and Part VI of these Rules, read with rule 12 of the Registered Designs (International Registration) Rules 2005 (G.N. No. S 177/2005),in any proceedings for the revocation of the registration of a design;

(BA)any act under rule 24A(3), (4) or (7), or rule 24A(3), (4) or (7) as applied by rule 33(2) or 65(6), in any proceedings relating to an opposition to a request for correction;

For the purposes of paragraph (b) of the definition of “formal requirements” in section 2(1) of the Act, the requirements of rules 10, 11, 13, 14, 14A, 15, 17, 18 and 19 (being rules made for the purposes of section 11 of the Act) are formal requirements.

For the purposes of section 16 of the Act and this rule, the Registrar need not take into account any document filed by an applicant after the Registrar has started examining the applicant’s application for registration of a design.

If, in the course of an examination of an application for registration, it appears to the Registrar that the formal requirements for registration are not met, the Registrar shall give a written notice of this to the applicant.

Except in the case mentioned in paragraph (3A), the applicant must, within 3 months after the date of the written notice mentioned in paragraph (2), respond to the written notice by doing at least one of the following acts:

Where the written notice mentioned in paragraph (2) states that the application (called in this paragraph the original application) fails to comply with either or both of the formal requirements of section 11(2)(c) and (4)(a) of the Act, and the Registrar, by the written notice, invites the applicant under section 16A(1) of the Act to correct the non‑compliance by filing one or more new applications under section 11 of the Act, the following apply:

If the applicant fails to comply with paragraph (3) or (3A) (whichever is applicable), the application is treated as withdrawn.

If the applicant responds to the written notice in paragraph (3A) by doing one or more of the acts mentioned in paragraph (3A)(a)(i) and (iii)(B) and (b)(i), the Registrar may, after considering the applicant’s representations in writing (if any) —

Paragraphs (3A), (3B) and (3C) apply with the necessary modifications to a written notice mentioned in paragraph (3C)(a) as they apply to a written notice mentioned in paragraph (2).

If the applicant wishes to have an extension of time to comply with paragraph (3) or either or both of paragraph (3A)(a) and (b), whether as applied to a written notice mentioned in paragraph (2) or as applied with the necessary modifications to a written notice mentioned in paragraph (3C)(a), he shall file with the Registrar a request for extension in Form CM5 before the expiry of the period of 3 months or any extended period previously allowed by the Registrar.

Where the applicant has applied to the Registrar in Form HC4 for a hearing, the Registrar shall give notice to the applicant of a date on which the Registrar will hear the applicant’s arguments.

For the purposes of the hearing, the applicant shall file with the Registrar his written submissions and bundle of authorities at least 14 days before the date of the hearing.

The decision of the Registrar, in respect of the representations of the applicant given either during the hearing or in writing, shall be communicated to the applicant in writing or in such other manner as the Registrar thinks fit.

Where the applicant wishes to have the Registrar’s grounds of decision —

The date on which the Registrar’s grounds of decision are sent to the applicant shall be deemed to be the date of the Registrar’s decision for the purpose of an appeal.

An applicant may, when applying for the registration of a design in Form D3, request in that form that any publication of the design be deferred for 18 months.

A request made under paragraph (1) shall be accompanied by the applicable fee specified in the First Schedule.

A request under section 28 of the Act for information, or for permission to inspect any document, relating to a registered design which has been published under section 18 of the Act, shall be made in Form CM10 and shall be accompanied by the applicable fee set out in the First Schedule.

Subject to sections 28 and 29 of the Act and paragraphs (3) and (4), the Registrar shall permit the inspection of such document as may be specified in the request.

The person making a request to inspect any document must file such evidence as the Registrar considers sufficient to prove that —

The Registrar may refuse a request to inspect any of the following documents: