Public Consultation on Proposed Changes to Singapore’s Registered Designs Regime

Public Consultation on Proposed Changes to Singapore’s Registered Designs Regime

Consultation Period:
12 Oct 2015 to 7 Dec 2015

1. Introduction

1.1. The Ministry of Law (“MinLaw”) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”) are seeking feedback on proposed changes to Singapore’s registered designs regime. The public consultation period is from 12 October 2015 to 7 December 2015.

2. Background

2.1. Design protection, like other forms of intellectual property (“IP”) rights, aims to encourage innovation by granting rights owners a de facto monopoly over the use of their designs in return for disclosing them and releasing them for public use after a prescribed period.

2.2. Singapore aspires to be a global city for design creativity and excellence in Asia. Design is a critical aspect in Singapore’s move towards a knowledge-based economy. In this regard, we have seen an increasing sophistication in the use of designs to differentiate products, create economic value, and also to enrich our lives. The protection of good design is worthwhile from both an economic and social perspective. 3. Invitation for feedback

2.3. Singapore’s current registered designs regime is governed by the following legislation:

• Registered Designs Act (Revised Edition 2005) ("RDA")
• Registered Designs Rules
• Registered Designs (International Registration) Rules
• Copyright Act

2.4. It is timely to conduct a review of the RDA, which was enacted in 2000, in order to ensure that Singapore’s registered designs regime continues to meet the needs of our designers, businesses, and the wider society. MinLaw and IPOS are reviewing our regime, with the objectives of:

1. supporting modern business practices, in light of technological advances and the increasing sophistication in the use of designs as a business strategy;
2. providing business certainty, particularly in relation to the scope of design protection and threshold of infringement;
3. nsuring that our design protection regime is cost-effective; and
4. balancing the interests of creators and users.

2.5. In our review, MinLaw and IPOS have consulted a range of local stakeholders, including design associations and companies, industry associations, product-focused companies, institutes of higher education, and IP practitioners. We have also obtained feedback from several foreign design associations, IP offices, as well as multi-national companies that actively use and protect designs internationally. The key points of feedback that we have received from our consultations will be presented as we discuss the areas/issues below.

2.6. The preliminary proposals arising from our review are categorised into five areas, namely:

1. Scope of protection (Section 3 – Page 3)
2. Substantive examination (Section 4 – Page 21)
3. Formalities and operational issues (Section 5 – Page 24)
4. Infringement and enforcement (Section 6 – Page 30)
5. Utility model protection (Section 7 – Page 33)

2.7. Please refer to this Annex(909KB) for the full publication paper.

1. Invitation for feedback

3.1. We seek your feedback to these proposals to improve the registered designs regime in Singapore and would appreciate any feedback by 7 December 2015. The feedback may be sent in electronic or hardcopy form to:

3.2 Thank you.

Last updated on 4 Jul 2018