Investment Guarantee and Protection

There is no law guaranteeing against the expropriation of property by the government. Nevertheless, there are no nationalized industries in Singapore.

Singapore has concluded investment guarantee agreements with various countries, including Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium and Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Libya, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Qatar, the Riau Archipelago, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The bilateral agreement between Singapore and Indonesia expired on 20 June 2016.

multilateral investment protection agreement exists among the ASEAN members.

Singapore is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Although Singapore is not a member of any convention relating to intellectual property, it is indirectly affected by the various treaties to which the United Kingdom is a signatory due to its reliance on UK legislation for the protection of certain intellectual property (i.e. patents and registered designs).

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Law, which is an innovation agency that uses its IP networks and expertise to drive IP commercialization for Singapore’s future growth.

Singapore is a signatory to the WTO’s Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) in 1994, following the Uruguay round GATT agreement.

A foreign owner of intellectual property does not have special rights or a priority to registration in Singapore (except for the registration of trademarks). However, once he registers in Singapore, he will generally obtain the same rights to protection as local owners enjoy.

There is no patent processing system in Singapore. An applicant has to first register a patent in the UK under the UK Patents Act 1977 (UKPA), and then apply to register the patent in Singapore under the Patents Act 1994 for protection in Singapore. The effect of registration in Singapore is that privileges and rights are conferred on the applicant similar in all respects to those of a patentee in the UK under the UKPA.

Similarly, there is no system for the registration of an industrial design. The UK Designs (Protection) Act (Cap. 339) is the law which confers monopoly over designs. It provides that once a design is registered in the UK under the Registered Designs Act 1949, it will receive the same privileges and protection in Singapore. The design protection regime under the UK Designs (Protection) Act complements the copyright protection under the Copyright Act.

Trademarks and service marks are regulated by the Trade Marks Act.

Trade secrets and know how are not afforded statutory protection although the common law of confidence applies. Furthermore, Singapore is obligated under the TRIPS Agreement to provide protection to undisclosed secret information, misappropriation of information and unfair commercial use of information provided to member governments.

Generally, there are no regulatory controls on the import and export of intellectual property. Specifically, no approvals are required for sale arrangements, and licence agreements or assignments, involving intellectual property, even where foreign parties are involved.