Intellectual Property Rights in Singapore

 

Intellectual property has a wide understanding; it can refer to tangible or intangible intellectual assets and it can be offered to business owners, artists or inventors. 

 

Intellectual property rights can apply to the following:

 

• trademarks of any kind, representing any type of company; the business owner is granted with intellectual property rights on the trademark as long as the distinctive representation of the company is an original work;

• copyrights are given to artists, for the creation of original work in the field of literature, music, art or drama;

• inventors receive patents for their creations in various fields of activity. 

 

 

Singapore joined WTO in 1995 and, since then, it had aligned its intellectual property laws with the ones provided by the TRIPS. As such, at the moment, Singapore applies the following: 

 

• Patent Act;

• Trade Marks Act;

• Geographical Indications Act;

• Copyright Act;

• Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits Acts.

 

The Copyright Act, amended in 1999, had extended the meaning of intellectual property to electronic creations. The two main amendments of the Act were to create a secure environment for digital copyright owners and sustain a legal framework which would clarify the rights and obligations of digital copyright in the online environment. As such, multimedia creation became protected by a legislative body, as well as the creators of such property. Our lawyers in Singapore can provide you with more details referring to the protection of copyright materials. 

 

If you need further information on the intellectual property rights in Singapore, please contact our law firm for a detailed presentation on the legislation available here.