REGISTERED DESIGNS (AMENDMENT) BILL

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REGISTERED DESIGNS (AMENDMENT) BILL: Order for Second Reading read.

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The Senior Minister of State for Law (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Overview

Sir, Members of this House will recall that earlier this year, we enacted four Bills relating to trade marks, patents, copyright and new plant varieties, to ensure that we meet the needs of the new industries we are grooming, as well as remain competitive in this fast changing IP landscape. The proposed changes relating to the Registered Designs (Amendment) Bill represent one more aspect of our continuing efforts to strengthen Singapore's intellectual property (IP) legislative framework.

Sir, these amendments were put up for public consultation for about two weeks in August. We did not receive any comments.

Singapore has seen an increasing number of design applications and registrations since we enacted the Registered Designs Act in 2000. To continue to encourage Singapore-based design owners to protect and exploit their intellectual assets, it is timely to review the Act to keep pace with international and domestic developments.

Sir, these proposed amendments will benefit design owners in two ways. Firstly, design owners seeking to protect their designs in different countries will now have an easier route to register their designs in other jurisdictions. Secondly, design owners who are also seeking other forms of IP protection can do so more easily as common practices and procedures will be aligned across the different registries of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS),

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namely, the Registries of Trade Marks, Patents, Designs and Plant Varieties.

Let me elaborate briefly on these amendments.

Making it simpler to register a design in other jurisdictions

As we encourage our Singapore-based design owners to expand their businesses and venture into markets outside Singapore, we should ensure that they have a convenient avenue to obtain protection for their designs in these overseas markets. Currently, a design registration in Singapore, like the registration of other forms of IPs, only gives the owner protection within Singapore. If a design owner wishes to seek protection in another country, he has to file separate applications in each of the countries where he has a commercial interest, thus incurring additional costs and waiting time. If he chooses to file in five other non English-speaking countries, there is the further expense of translation costs.

To simplify the process of obtaining design protection in overseas markets, we propose that Singapore become a contracting party to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (the "Hague Agreement"). As a member of the Hague Agreement, our design owners who are seeking protection in the other member states would only need to file a single application with one office in one language, and pay only a single set of fees in one currency. Our design owners will thus be able to cut down on time and costs when seeking design protection in overseas markets. The accession to the Hague Agreement will also allow Singapore to fulfil our obligation under the Free Trade

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Agreement with the European Free Trade Association States.

_According greater administrative ease for IP owners who apply for different forms of IP protection
_

Sir, the other set of amendments to the Registered Designs Act will assist IP owners in the registration of their IPs at IPOS. This is done by aligning the provisions of the Act relating to priority dates, hours of business and amendments to the forms with equivalent provisions of IPOS' other registries. This is important for an IP owner because IP is usually a bundle of rights. For example, an IP owner may have a patent grant for his invention, a design registration for the 3-dimensional shape of that invention, and perhaps even trade mark registration for the owner's mark applied onto that invention. The alignment of these provisions will make it easier for the IP owner to file all his applications.

In conclusion, Sir, this Bill will enhance our designs regime, and make it easier for our local design owners to protect their intellectual assets.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.