This article is written by Kshitij, pursuing a Certificate Course in Intellectual Property Law and Prosecution from LawSikho.

Introduction

A registered trademark grants the owner of the mark the statutory right to use and exploit the mark in the jurisdiction of its registration and certain priorities and advantages is registering the trademark in other jurisdictions.

Types of trademarks that can be registered

Any design, stylized logo, slogans or catchphrases, wordmarks or character marks, series marks can be registered.

A portion of the key advantages includes: 

1. Right to the elite utilization of the imprint. 
2. Banning others from replicating it. 
3. Profiting by the expanding market estimation of the imprint. 
4. Quality confirmation for your clients. 
5. Marking through imprint acknowledgment. 
6. Permit for business use by outsiders subsequently making a wellspring of income. 
7. Up to 400% duty discounts from the Singapore Government under the Productivity and Innovation Credit Scheme to balance costs you cause for enrolling your Trademark.

Singapore is an excellent purview for brand name enlistment. One of the means Singapore specialists have taken towards establishing a business-accommodating climate is making an environment for the creation and assurance of Intellectual Property (IP) through positive guidelines. The legitimate reason for the Singapore brand name guideline is typified in the Singapore Trade Marks Act of 1998, last altered in 2007, and the Singapore Trade Marks Rules of 1998. These guidelines fused the IP “customary law,” whereby the brand name assurance is gotten by enlistment. They likewise put into impact certain worldwide shows on licensed innovation. The law covers the standards for brand name enlistment, the justification for refusal of enrollment, the enrollment system itself, the term and recharging cycle of enlisted brand names, rights, and cures of brand name proprietors, authorizing of imprints, offences identified with brand name exercises, worldwide enrollment of imprints, and different issue.

• Steps of registering a trademark in Singapore:

In Singapore, to be registrable a brand name should be an unmistakable and graphically representable sign equipped for recognizing merchandise or administrations of the owner and those of others, for example, words, names, abbreviations, letters, numbers, gadgets, tones, mixes, or shades of tones, sounds, marks, names, tickets, three-dimensional structures, the three-dimensional type of a decent or its bundling, and any mix of these credits. 

With the end goal for you to apply for a brand name in Singapore, you need to round out a structure called Form TM4. At that point, you need to present this structure to the IPOS (Intellectual Property Office of Singapore) alongside any appropriate charges. Moreover, you should remember a location for administration for Singapore too. 

In this way, you need to sort out where in Singapore you need your business to be found, on the off chance that you don’t have an office in Singapore. That way, the application can push ahead suitably. Moreover, you have various alternatives accessible when you apply for a brand name. You may choose to record multi-class applications on a solitary application or request separate applications in various classes for a similar brand name.

It is the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) that is answerable for enrolling exchange marks. Barring planning time, the enrollment ordinarily requires roughly 8-12 months. You may recruit an exchange mark specialist to help you or take the way yourself by following the means underneath.

• Step 1. Initial trademark search and enquiry:

Prior to applying to enroll a brand name, you (or your representative) should direct pursuit of the current imprints in the data set kept up by the Registry of Trademarks. This is to guarantee that there is no earlier brand name that is indistinguishable or like the one you expect to petition for enlistment, especially in the zone of your business. The hunt can be directed at the IP2SG stage, which is an incorporated e-administrations entrance for recording IP applications and related exchanges in Singapore.

Following trademarks should be avoided to get registered as we must create a distinctive trademark to get it registered:

1. Denote the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, the time of production of goods or of rendering of services.
2. Misleading or a mark which is confusing to the consumers.
3. A mark which consist of surnames of the person or the owner of the mark or the geographical names should be avoided.

Then, you need to build up a graphical representation of a brand name. You can either draw or type it yourself in any picture altering project or recruit a creator for more muddled work. The picture ought to be sufficiently large to guarantee that all subtleties plainly appear, yet not bigger than the A4 paper size.

If your brand name contains significant subtleties, make a point to mean them in your application. For instance, give a picture in shading on the off chance that you need to enlist it in explicit tones. On the off chance that a brand name has an intricate shape, presents numerous perspectives on the 3d article. If it isn’t just the shape that is significant yet its situation on an article, also, show it to the recorder. For example, a mark and an extravagant join line on pants pockets. On the off chance that you register a sound imprint, you will require melodic documentation as well as a sound record.

2. [Then slide this to search]

[Put any of the name or anything which describes your mark, whether it is a text in mark, image which describes your mark or any other character which you want to register for]

• Step 2: Identification of Applicable Class of Goods/Services:

Singapore follows the International Classification of Goods and Services as prescribed by the Nice Agreement to classify trademarks. In total there are 34 classes of goods and 11 classes of services. While deciding the appropriate classes, you ought not just consider the current business you are in yet in addition any business you are probably going to go into, soon.

2. [Select relevant class of your mark from here]

(Trademark search can be done by anyone. Its not at all mandatory that only trademark attorney should do it. You should be a trademark attorney of Singapore to login into your account for further process of registration)

• Step 3: Filing of the application:

The applicant may record the application structure for enrollment of a brand name by means of web-based documenting on the IP2SG stage or through paper accommodation. The individual should outfit the accompanying data in the pertinent structure.

• Minimum filing requirements are as follows:

1. Applicant name and address.
2. A complete list of goods and services that you are registering in relation with your mark.
3. A declaration of your specimen uses of the mark.
4. A statement by you requesting to get the mark registered.
5. The prescribed documentary evidence of the fee paid.
6. A clear graphical representation of the mark.

• Step 4: Reviewing the application, by Intellectual property office of Singapore (IPOS):

When the brand name application has been gotten, IPOS will audit it to guarantee that the application meets the base documenting necessities. 

When the base documenting prerequisites are met, the date of recording is agreed, and a Trademark number is given. This data is sent by means of the Acknowledgment Letter. 

On the off chance that at least one of the base documenting necessities are not met, a Deficiency Letter will be shipped off cure inside 2 months from the date of Letter. This course of events isn’t extendible. 

If the candidate doesn’t cure the lack of cures of inadequacies out of time, IPOS will send a letter advising the candidate that the application is Deemed Never to Have Been Made. Further, the examiner will check to ensure that the mark does not fall in areas not allowed by law. If the examiner has any objection to the mark, she/he will inform and grant the applicant time to respond to the objection.

• Step 5: Examine if there are other existing trademarks available:

When the above advance is finished, the enlistment center will direct a conventional quest for clashing imprints, geological names, and conformance to the worldwide characterization of merchandise and ventures. On account of drug items, the Registry of Trademarks will likewise have to check whether the imprint comprises a secured International Non-Proprietary Name (INN). The INNs, outfitted by the World Health Organization, are conventional names for explicit drug substances. 

The application will be analyzed to decide if the imprint is registrable as per Singapore Trademark Laws. 

If the prerequisites are not fulfilled, IPOS will give a letter expressing the refusals/necessities. The reaction should be submitted within 4 months from the date of issuance of the IPOS letter. If extra time is needed to react to the IPOS letter, a solicitation for an expansion of time before the expiry of the timeframe should be submitted. If no reaction or solicitation for an expansion of time is gotten inside the specified time span, the Trademark will be treated as Withdrawn.

• Step 6: Publication:

The step of publication is incorporated in the trademark registration process so that anyone who objects to the registration of the trademark can oppose the same. Upon successful completion of the above step, the application will be published and made available to the public. Within 2 months of the publication period, any interested party will be able to oppose the registration of the mark. If in case office receives an opposition from another party the applicant will be informed regarding the same.

• Step 7: Registration Certificate:

Once the application proceeds for trademark registration certificate under the seal of trademark office issued. A Certificate of Registration would be issued, and the Trademark would be granted protection for 10 years.

What is the validity period of a trademark registration in Singapore?

The registration of a trademark is valid for 10 years from the date of application. It can be renewed indefinitely for 10 years at a time by paying the applicable renewal fee.

Cost to apply for a trademark in Singapore?

The exact price is going to vary depending on the nature of the trademark for which you are applying. Documenting an online application with classes whose things have been chosen from a pre-endorsed data set, the cost is S$240 per brand name per class. For applications containing things that have not been determined from a pre-affirmed information base, this will cost S$341 per brand name per class. 

If you choose to record the application physically, this cost is S$374 per brand name per class. If you choose to look for proficient counsel from a legal counsellor or revise your application sometime in the not-too-distant future, this will cost extra. To make alterations, you should submit Form TM27. The cost for revisions is S$40 per class. All costs are in Singapore dollars.

What are the absolute grounds of refusal for registration of trademark in Singapore?

Under the Trademark Act, a trademark will be refused registration if:

1. It’s anything but a sign that can be addressed graphically. 
2. It comprises only of a shape which results from the idea of the merchandise, or which is important to get a specialized outcome, or which gives significant incentive to the products. 
3. It is tricky. 
4. It is in opposition to public approach or to acknowledged standards of profound quality. 
5. It is an exceptionally secured seal. 
6. The application is being made in dishonesty. 
7. The utilization of the imprint is denied by a standard of law. 

Moreover, it will be can’t if any of the accompanying rules apply, and it has not obtained peculiarity through use in the commercial center: 

1. It is without character. 
2. It comprises only of signs or signs which may assign the sort, quality, amount, or different attributes of the products or administrations. 
3. It comprises only of signs or signs which have gotten standard in the current language or in exchange rehearses.

Conclusion

Enlisting your image is anything but a troublesome interaction. Getting the correct information drives you towards effective enrollment for your image. All things considered, calls attention to clarified above figure what you lacking behind and get ® mark on your business.

References

1. https://www.corporateservices.com/singapore/trademark-registration-in-singapore/
3. https://www.singaporecompanyincorporation.sg/how-to/register-a-trademark-in-singapore/
5. https://osome.com/sg/blog/how-to-register-trade-mark/
7. https://www.ipos.gov.sg/media-resources/media/press-releases/ViewDetails/singapore-retains-top-spot-as-asia’s-most-innovative-nation/
9. https://www.mondaq.com/india/trademark/648484/how-to-register-a-trade-mark
11. https://ip2sg.ipos.gov.sg/RPS/WP/CM/TradeMarkSimilarSearch.aspx

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