Trade Marks Act 1998 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Registration of Trade Marks
10. Claim to priority of Convention application
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Subject to subsection (6), where —
a person has filed an application for the registration of a trade mark in a Convention country in respect of certain goods or services;
that application is the first application for the registration of the trade mark to be filed in any Convention country in respect of those goods or services (called in this section the first Convention application); (c)within 6 months after the date on which the first Convention application is filed, that person or that person’s successor in title applies under this Act for the registration of the trade mark in respect of all or any of those goods or services; and
that person or that person’s successor in title provides to the Registrar in the manner specified by the Registrar any prescribed information within a prescribed time, and provides to the Registrar any supporting document requested by the Registrar, within the time specified by the Registrar,that person or that person’s successor in title may, when filing the application under this Act, claim a right of priority for the registration of the trade mark in respect of all or any of the goods or services for which registration was sought in the first Convention application.
Where any person claims the right of priority mentioned in subsection (1), the person has priority from (and including) the date on which the first Convention application was filed.
Where the right of priority mentioned in subsection (1) is claimed in respect of a trade mark, the registrability of the trade mark is not affected by any use of the trade mark in Singapore in the period between —
trade mark
“trade mark” means any sign capable of being represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing goods or services dealt with or provided in the course of trade by a person from goods or services so dealt with or provided by any other person;
the date the first Convention application was filed; and
the date the application under this Act was filed.
Any filing which in a Convention country is equivalent to a regular national filing, under its domestic legislation or an international agreement, is to be treated as giving rise to the right of priority.
Convention country
“Convention country” means —(a)in section 10 and paragraph 13 of the Third Schedule, a country or territory, other than Singapore, which is —(i)a party to the Paris Convention; or(ii)a member of the World Trade Organisation; and(b)in any other provision of this Act, a country or territory which is —(i)a party to the Paris Convention; or(ii)a member of the World Trade Organisation;
In subsection (4), “regular national filing” means a filing which is adequate to establish the date on which the application was filed in the Convention country, whatever may be the subsequent fate of the application.
Where a subsequent application concerning the same subject as an earlier application is filed, whether in the same or a different Convention country, and these are the first 2 applications concerning that subject to be filed in any Convention country, the subsequent application is to be considered the first Convention application if, at the date the subsequent application is filed —
the earlier application has been withdrawn, abandoned or refused, without having been laid open to public inspection and without leaving any rights outstanding; and
the earlier application has not yet served as a basis for claiming a right of priority.
To avoid doubt, where subsection (6) applies —
the date on which the subsequent application was filed, rather than that of the earlier application, is to be considered the starting date of the period of priority under subsection (2); and
the earlier application may not thereafter serve as a basis for claiming a right of priority.
The Minister may make rules as to the manner of claiming priority under this section.
A right of priority arising under this section may be assigned or otherwise transmitted, either with the application or independently, and the reference in subsection (1) to the applicant’s “successor in title” is to be construed accordingly.