Application Process in Singapore
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The plant variety protection system in Singapore operates on a first-to-file basis. In other words, the first person to file an application will, in general, have priority over others.
Singapore, as a member of the UPOV Convention, allows priority claims in the application for the grant of protection. If an applicant has a corresponding application filed earlier in a UPOV Convention member country, he may claim priority from this first-filed application, provided the Singapore registration is filed within 12 months from the date of the first filing. Similarly, an application which is first filed in Singapore can be used to claim priority in a corresponding application filed in a UPOV Convention member country, provided that the corresponding application is filed within 12 months from the date of the first-filed Singapore application.
>> A corresponding application is a separate application filed outside Singapore for the same plant variety.
The applicant must file the application form, the technical questionnaire, and necessary supporting documents together with the prescribed fee, at the Registry of Plant Varieties at IPOS. The application will be administered by IPOS and the technical examination will be conducted locally by the Agri-Food Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).
>> Propagating material of the candidate plant variety is not required upon submission of the application. The applicant will be notified in due course to provide the material of the plant variety for the technical examination.
If an applicant wishes to claim priority, the declaration of priority has to be made at the point of filing the application. The priority documents and translations (if applicable) must be furnished within the prescribed period.
An address for service in Singapore must be provided in an application for the grant of the plant variety protection. This is the address to which all correspondences from the Registry of Plant Varieties will be sent. Where there is a change in the address for service, the applicant will have to notify the Registry of Plant Varieties.
All forms are available at the Registry of Plant Varieties and are downloadable here.
The application may be submitted in person to the Registry or mailed to the address below:
Address:
Registrar of Plant Varieties
Registry of Plant Varieties
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore
51 Bras Basah Road
#04-01 Plaza By The Park
Singapore 189554.
Registry's operating hours :
Monday to Friday: 8:30am to 5:30pm
Cashier's operating hours :
Monday to Friday: 8:30am to 5:00pm
Payment can be made by NETS, cashcard, GIRO, cheque (crossed), money order and bank draft (in Singapore dollars) made out to Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.
For submission by mail, the application form must be completed and duly signed together with all the required documents and a cheque/money order/bank draft/request for GIRO payment.
Customer Enquiry Hotline: (65) 6339 8616
Fax: (65) 6339 0252
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Once a completed application form is filed together with the technical questionnaire and the prescribed fee, it will be assigned a number and a filing date.
After the applicant has filed all the necessary documents, the Registry of Plant Varieties examines the documents to ensure that the formalities have been met, conducts a novelty search and checks the proposed denomination.
The application will be published in the Plant Varieties Protection (PVP) Journal, which is produced by the Registry of Plant Varieties, once the preliminary examination is completed. Any interested party may object to the registration of the mark within two months of the publication.
Any member of the public, or any interested third party may object to the grant of the candidate plant variety by filing a Notice of Objection at the Registry within 2 months from the date of publication. The party who objects, or the "objector", may object to the denomination or object on the ground that the plant variety did not meet the required novelty criterion.
If the objection to the registration is resolved in favour of the applicant, or if there is no objection, the Registry would notify the applicant that the application is in order and invite him to submit a request for technical examination. The prescribed fee for the technical examination must be paid upon submission of the request.
In the technical examination, the AVA may require the breeder to furnish all the necessary information, documents and propagating material of the candidate plant variety within the prescribed period. During the examination, the examiner would:
- verify whether the candidate variety belongs to the stated botanical taxon;
- establish whether the candidate variety is distinct, uniform and stable; and
- establish an official description of the variety after (a) and (b) have been met.
For the purpose of the DUS test, the AVA may consider the following:
- information provided by the applicant in the technical questionnaire;
- technical protocol under the UPOV guidelines
- the results from the growing tests (this may be carried out in cooperation with the applicant); and/or
- DUS test reports by other Examination Authorities.
Upon completion, the outcome of the examination will be documented in a report which will be sent to the Registrar.
>> If a variety has been granted protection in another UPOV Convention member country, it is possible to rely on the examination report of that country for the purposes of the examination in Singapore. This report, called the corresponding examination report, will be forwarded to AVA for examination. If the report is not relevant or not applicable, it may be rejected and the applicant may be requested to submit the plant for local testing.
Based on the report of the technical examination, the Registrar will decide whether to grant or reject the application based on the outcome of the technical examination.
The term of protection is 25 years from the date of grant, subject to the payment of annual fees. Annual fees are payable every year starting from the end of the first year of grant.
The owner of the protected plant variety is entitled to provisional protection and is able to take legal proceedings in respect of the plant variety for infringement activities that took place between the date of publication of the application and date of grant. However, such legal proceedings should commence only after the plant variety protection has been granted.
Any party may apply to the Court to challenge the validity of the grant of protection on the grounds that:
- the plant variety was not novel and distinct at the time of grant;
- the plant variety was not uniform or stable at the time of the grant and was essentially based upon information provided by the breeder; or
- the protection has been granted to a party who is not entitled to the grant.
Any party may also apply to the Court to challenge the validity of a registered denomination on the ground that it did not meet the required registration criteria.
Any party may apply to cancel the grant of protection on specific grounds such as the plant variety is no longer stable or uniform.
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