Registrar of Designs and other officers
49.—(1) There is to be a Registrar of Designs who has control of the Registry of Designs.
(2) There are to be one or more Deputy Registrars of Designs who, subject to the control of the Registrar, have all the powers and functions of the Registrar under this Act, other than the powers of the Registrar under section 50.
(3) There are to be one or more Assistant Registrars of Designs.
(4) The Registrar and all the other officers under this section are to be appointed by the Minister.
Delegation by Registrar
50.—(1) The Registrar may, in relation to a particular matter or class of matters, by writing under the Registrar’s hand, delegate all or any of the Registrar’s powers or functions under this Act (except this power of delegation) to an Assistant Registrar of Designs, any public officer, or any person with the relevant qualifications for or experience in the matter or class of matters, so that the delegated powers and functions may be exercised by the delegate with respect to the matter or class of matters specified in the instrument of delegation.[4/2014]
(2) A delegation under this section is revocable at will and no delegation prevents the exercise of a power or function by the Registrar or by any Deputy Registrar of Designs.
(3) A person with the relevant qualifications or experience referred to in subsection (1) is, when exercising the delegated powers and functions, deemed to be a public servant for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871.[4/2014]
Registry of Designs
51. For the purposes of this Act, there is to be an office known as the Registry of Designs.
Seal of Registry
52. There is to be a seal of the Registry and impressions of the seal are to be judicially noticed.
Register of Designs
53.—(1) The Registrar must maintain a register to be known as the Register of Designs.
(2) There must be entered in the Register in accordance with this Act —(a)
particulars of registered designs, including the dates of registration;
(b)
the names of registered owners;
(c)
particulars of transactions affecting rights in registered designs and applications for registration of designs; and
(d)
such other matters as the Registrar may think fit.
(3) No notice of any implied or constructive trust may be entered in the Register, and the Registrar is not affected by any such notice.[4/2014]
(4) A notice of an express trust or of the beneficiary of an express trust, or both, may be entered in the Register; but —(a)
the Registrar is not affected by any such notice in the Register; and
(b)
to avoid doubt, a failure to enter such notice in the Register does not affect any rights or duties under the trust.[4/2014]
(5) The Register may be kept in whole or in part using a computer.
(6) Any record of a particular or other matter made by using a computer for the purpose of keeping the Register is taken to be an entry in the Register.
Rectification of Register
54.—(1) The Court may, on the application of any person aggrieved, order the Register to be rectified by the making, or the variation or deletion, of any entry therein.
(2) In proceedings under this section, the Court may determine any question which may be necessary or expedient to decide in connection with the rectification of the Register.
(3) The Registrar must, on receipt of the notice of an order of the Court to rectify the Register, rectify the Register accordingly.
(4) A rectification of the Register under this section has effect as follows:(a)
an entry made has effect from the date on which it should have been made;
(b)
an entry varied has effect as if it had originally been made in its varied form;
(c)
an entry deleted is deemed never to have had effect,
unless, in any case, the Court directs otherwise.
Inspection of and extract from Register
55.—(1) The Register must be available at the Registry for inspection by any person during the hours when the Registry is open for business.[16/2012]
(2) If the Register, or any part of the Register, is kept by using a computer, subsection (1) is satisfied if a person who wants to inspect the Register or that part of the Register is given access to a computer terminal from which the person can read on a screen, or obtain a printed copy of, the particulars or other matters recorded in the Register or that part of the Register.
(3) Any person who applies for a certified copy of an entry in the Register or a certified extract from the Register is entitled to obtain such copy or extract on payment of the prescribed fee.
(4) In relation to any portion of the Register kept otherwise than in documentary form, the right to a copy or an extract conferred by subsection (3) is a right to a copy or an extract in a form in which it can be taken away.
(5) In this section, “certified copy” and “certified extract” mean a copy and an extract certified by the Registrar.[16/2012]
Division 3 — Powers of Registrar
Costs in proceedings before Registrar
56.—(1) The Registrar may, in proceedings before the Registrar under this Act, by order award to any party such costs as the Registrar may consider reasonable and direct how and by what parties they are to be paid.
(2) The rules may provide for the assessment of the costs, or any part thereof, by the Registrar.[Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]
(3) A party desirous to obtain costs or to have the costs assessed must apply to the Registrar in accordance with the rules.[Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]
(4) If a party is ordered to pay the costs of another party, the costs may be recovered in a court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due by the first party to the other party.
Correction of Register
57.—(1) The Registrar may, in accordance with the provisions of this section and the rules mentioned in section 74(2A), correct any clerical error in the Register.[Act 7 of 2022 wef 26/05/2022]
(2) A correction may be made under this section either upon a request in writing made by any person interested, or on the Registrar’s own initiative.
(3) A request referred to in subsection (2) must be made in the prescribed form and be accompanied by the prescribed fee.
(4) The Registrar is not obliged to correct on his or her own initiative any error not due to the default of the Registrar.
(5) Where the Registrar proposes to make any correction on his or her own initiative, the Registrar must give notice of the proposal to every person who appears to the Registrar to be likely to be affected by the correction, and must give the person an opportunity to be heard before making the correction.
Powers of Registrar
58. The Registrar may, for the purposes of this Act —(a)
summon witnesses;
(b)
receive evidence on oath, whether orally or otherwise; and
(c)
require the production of documents, articles or devices for projecting non‑physical products.[29/2017]
Disobedience to summons an offence
59.—(1) A person who has been summoned to appear as a witness before the Registrar must not, without lawful excuse, fail to appear in obedience to the summons.
(2) A person who has been required by the Registrar to produce a document, an article or a device for projecting a non‑physical product must not, without lawful excuse, fail to produce the document, article or device.[29/2017]
(3) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.
Refusal to give evidence an offence
60.—(1) A person who appears before the Registrar must not, without lawful excuse, refuse to be sworn or to make an affirmation, or to produce documents, articles or devices for projecting non‑physical products, or to answer questions, which the person is required by the Registrar to produce or answer.[29/2017]
(2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.
Immunity of Office and Registrar as regards official acts
61. Neither the Office nor the Registrar nor any person acting under its, his or her authority —(a)
is to be taken to warrant the validity of the registration of any design registered under this Act or under any treaty, convention, arrangement or engagement to which Singapore is a party; or
(b)
is subject to any liability by reason of, or in connection with, any examination required or authorised by this Act, or any such treaty, convention, arrangement or engagement, or any report or other proceedings consequent on such examination.
Appeal from decision or order of Registrar
62.—(1) Except as provided by rules made under this Act, an appeal lies to the Court from any decision or order of the Registrar under this Act.
(2) Any appeal under this Act which concerns an application for registration of a design must be heard in private unless the Court otherwise directs.[Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]
(3) An appeal does not lie to the appellate court from a decision of the Court on appeal from a decision or order of the Registrar under this Act unless permission to appeal is given by the appellate court.[23/2019; 40/2019]
[Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]
(4) In this section —“appellate court” means the court to which an appeal under subsection (3) is to be made under section 29C of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1969;
“decision” includes any act of the Registrar done in the exercise of a discretion vested in the Registrar by or under this Act.[40/2019]
Exercise of discretionary power
63. Where any discretionary power is given to the Registrar by this Act, the Registrar must not exercise the power without giving to any person who may be adversely affected by the Registrar’s decision an opportunity to be heard.
Division 4 — Hours of Business of Registry
Hours of business and excluded days
64.—(1) The Registrar may issue practice directions to specify —(a)
the hours of business of the Registry; and
(b)
the days which are to be treated as excluded days.
(2) The Minister may prescribe the effect of doing any business under this Act —(a)
on any day after the hours of business of the Registry; or
(b)
on any day which is an excluded day.
(3) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) —(a)
different hours of business may be specified for different classes of business;
(b)
different excluded days may be specified for different classes of business; and
(c)
different effects of doing business —(i)
outside the hours of business of the Registry; or
(ii)
on an excluded day,
may be prescribed for different classes of business.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
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