Singapore Trademark Registration

What is a Trademark and How to Identify one?

A trademark is a sign, either by name, letter, word, numeral, signature, brand, device, label, shape, color or heading, used in a course of a trade or business to distinguish a person’s good or service from those of others.

You can identify a trademark by the symbol ® or TM. The symbol ® refers to a registered and protected trade mark according to trade mark laws, while the other symbol TM is merely an identification that is used and identified as a trademark by the owner, but may or may not be registered or protected under trademark laws.

What are the Requirements to be Eligible for Trademark Registration?

To register a trademark, the good or service must meet the following criteria:

• it must be distinctive;
• it must be capable of distinguishing itself from other goods or services;
• it must be capable of being represented graphically;
• it must not be customary in current language, nor be descriptive of the goods or services, or an establish practice of a trade; and
• it must not be identical, or confusingly similar to an existing trademark on the register.

What do We Require for the Trademark Application?

To proceed with a Singapore Trademark Registration, we require the following documents:

• a copy of the applicant company’s business profile from ACRA;
• the intended trademark in a high-resolution image file;
• a summary of the applicant company describing its business activities, covering the intended good or service to be protected by the trademark; and
• a cheque (or bank transfer) payable to Timcole Pte Ltd for the filing fee and service.

What is the Validity Period of a Registered Trademark?

The validity period of a registered trademark is 10 years from the application filing date. It can subsequently be renewed (renewal fees applicable) for another 10 years and so on.

It is important to note that the trademark may be revoked if:

• there is no genuine use of the registered good or service within 5 years; or
• the registered good or service has not been used for an uninterrupted period of 5 years upon the registration date, with no proper explanation to back the non-use.