Where a design is registrable under the United Kingdom's Registered Designs Act 1949 (as amended) (the "RDA"), it is not protected in Singapore under the Copyright Act. To protect the said design, the design owner has to obtain a United Kingdom design registration. Singapore's United Kingdom Designs (Protection) Act confers on such a United Kingdom registrant like privileges and rights in Singapore as though the certificate of registration in the United Kingdom had been issued with an extension to Singapore. There is presently no independent system for the registration of designs in Singapore.

Singapore's United Kingdom Designs (Protection) Act further provides that where a defendant proves that at the date of the infringement, he was not aware nor had any reasonable means of making himself aware of the existence of the United Kingdom design registration, damages are not recoverable. Design owners would therefore be well advised to instruct Singapore solicitors to publish in the local newspapers a legal Warning Notice of the existence of their United Kingdom registered design.

Registered design protection is discussed in greater detail in a separate article.

This article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter and should NOT be treated as legal advice. Specific legal advice should be sought by you about your particular case and special circumstances.

For further information/enquiries, please contact:

Mr TAN Bok Hoay or  Mr Simon SEOW
Donaldson & Burkinshaw
24 Raffles Place
#15-00
Clifford Centre
Singapore 048621
SINGAPORE

Tel: (65) 533 9422
Fax: (65) 533 7806

You may also wish to read through related material on Intellectual Property matters in Singapore provided by Donaldson & Burkinshaw. You can view the entire archive via the Internet on Business Monitor Online (http://www.businessmonitor.co.uk), or via your online provider by entering "Donaldson & Burkinshaw" and "Business Monitor" as a free text search.