Notaries Public. Commissioners for Oaths
​Intellectual Property (IP) refers to creations of the mind that are considered valuable enough to receive legal protection. IP rights cover amongst others, the following: –
A trade mark is a sign or a mark that you can use to differentiate the goods or services
that you deal with in your business from those of other business traders. A trade mark
identifies the brand of the product or service that you are selling or offering for sale
and can be in the form of a word or a slogan, a logo or symbol associated with the
product or service, or even a specific colour tone or musical ringtone.
You can register your trade mark in order to protect your brand and prevent other people
from using your trade mark. You can practically own a trade mark forever, as long as you
or your successors renew it every 10 years. As a registered trade mark is a form of IP,
you may also license or assign it to others.
A design refers to the physical features such as the appearance, physical shape,
configuration [how different parts of a design are arranged together] and the
decoration of the ornament. If you register a design, you will be protecting the
external appearance of the goods.
Registered Designs are used primarily to protect designs for commercial or
industrial use. Examples are watches, jewellery or furniture. Such designs may
be registered in order to prevent replication.
When you compose a song or its lyrics; write a story, article or computer
programme; choreograph a dance; produce a video or a film; make a drawing or an
illustration; make any artwork including taking a photograph; only you alone
have the rights to copy, distribute, perform or display your work publicly.
Unlike the Registration of Trade Marks however, there is no regime for the
registration of copyrights in Singapore. Hence, Copyright protection is mainly
through the common law. You may sue others for a breach of copyright laws if
they reproduce, perform, or copy your work without permission. Hence, like any
other IP asset, Copyright may can be bought and sold or be licensed to others.
Protection of a copyrighted work depends on the type of work, but is generally
deemed to start from the time of the creation/publication, and lasts for the
life of the author or creator plus another 70 years from the end of the year in
which the author or creator dies.
Hoh Law Corporation can perform the following services in relation to IP:
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