This post is also available in: 简体中文 (Chinese (Simplified))

Get Your Trademark Exclusive Rights and Protection by Registering It

Trademark Registration Guidelines in SingaporeHow hard can it be to register a trademark that you have carefully thought through with or without your business partners? Getting a business off the ground is hard and coming up with a unique mark is difficult too if you are contending on similar grounds. But when you do have a trademark, it is as easy as pie to get it registered. The following are trademark registration guidelines in Singapore.

 

Survival of the First

No, it is not always the first business in an industry that survives the longest. It can be the umpteenth competitor with a unique selling point and remarkable trademark that evolves with the times. It is also a survival of business for those who registered their trademark first. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get registered.

 

Why Register, It is Just an Idea

An idea is intellectual property. It came out of your mind. That mind belongs to you. Hence, whatever that is produced from that property is intellectual property, and every property deserves rights or protection. That trademark idea of yours can eventually become your saviour as it can be franchised or licensed.

 

The Registration Process

All good and ready? Here is how you register your trademark with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). You have three options of registering: via paper application, via an online form or a mobile app.

Steps for registering a trademark:

  1. You must be the owner of the unique mark and genuinely want to use it for as long as possible.
  2. Fill up Form TM4 and attach the graphic form of your trademark, state your name and address as well as goods and services according to the classes. Find out about it here.
  3. Pay up. For online application, you will pay $341 per class, and $371 for manual form application per class.
  4. Next, IPOS will check all the formalities of the application. If all is good, a filing date will be given, and you will get a mark number after 15 days.
  5. IPOS will review the trademark if it can be registered and complies with the Trademark Act. You will receive a trademark report after four months.

 

What to Expect?

Your report will consist of whether or not your trademark is acceptable.

  • If it is acceptable, you will get to see it in the Trademark Journal. However, your trademark can be opposed by any parties claiming to have a similar mark. They have two months to file an opposition. Unless parties cannot settle the opposition, there will be an opposition hearing.
  • If the trademark is not acceptable, IPOS will state why your trademark is not acceptable. You will have four months to make any amendments. If you require more time, you may fill up form CM5 at no cost.

Finally, if IPOS accepts your trademark with no opposition, IPOS will issue a certificate of registration, making your registered trademark usable and protected for ten years. You may renew your trademark at every ten years.

But if you do not use the registered trademark for five years, IPOS will dismiss your registered trademark, and another party can register such mark. So, you better use that registered trademark to its full capacity.

Trademark Registration Guidelines in Singapore