The right to the grant of a patent belongs primarily to the inventor or inventors.
However, should the invention be developed in the course of work, under Singapore law, the rights to the invention may then vest with the employer. The Patents Act lays down the circumstances in which inventions by the employee belong to the employer and those in which they remain with the employee.
The owner of the invention may also assign his rights to another person or entity and the rights would pass over to the assignee.
Any person or corporation claiming to be the owner of an invention can apply for a patent in Singapore.
There are no restrictions or discrimination as to nationality or residency. However, an applicant who is not a resident in Singapore must provide the Registry of Patents with an address for service in Singapore to which all correspondences will be sent. If a patent agent is hired to act on the applicant's behalf, this address for service should be the practice address of the patent agent.
>> More information on "patent agents" can be found in paragraph 3.3.
If you are a ministry/department/organ of state filing on behalf of the Singapore Government, please reflect the applicant's name as "Government of Singapore" (or "Minister for Finance" if that is intended). For a statutory board, the application should be filed in the name of that statutory board if the enabling statute provides (as it generally does) for that statutory board to have the legal capacity to own property in its own name.
If "Government of Singapore" is used, please include in the address field, the name of the agency that is handling that application,
for example,
Name Government of Singapore
Address c/o Ministry of Manpower
18 Havelock Road
#07-01 Ministry of Manpower Building
Singapore 059764
As soon as a patent is granted, the patent owner can take civil legal action against an infringing party, seeking relief in the form of an injunction to stop the infringing action, demand for the profits gained by the infringing party at his expense and/or, seek damages for the loss suffered.
>> It should be borne in mind that a patent once granted, may be challenged by any one on the grounds for revocation e.g. that the invention is not a patentable. More information on "Revocation" can be found in paragraph 3.9.
Patent infringement occurs, when a person, without the consent of the patent owner:
· (in the case where the invention is a product) makes, disposes of, offers to dispose of, uses or imports the product or keeps it whether for disposal or otherwise
· (in the case where the invention is a process) uses the process or he offers it for use in Singapore when he knows, or it is obvious to a reasonable person in the circumstances, that its use without the consent of the proprietor would be an infringement of the patent or
· (in the case where the invention is a process) disposes of, offers to dispose of, uses or imports any product obtained directly by means of that process or keeps any such product whether for disposal or otherwise.
It is a criminal offence to make unauthorised claims about patent rights or patents applied for. If a party falsely claims his product is "patented" or "patent pending" or he claims to have applied for a patent for his product without actually doing so, he may be subject to legal proceedings.
Further, where a person groundlessly threatens another person with patent infringement proceedings, the person aggrieved by the threats may bring civil proceedings in court against the person making the threats.