Geographical Indications Act 2014

Geographical Indications Act 2014 2020 REVISED EDITION This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021 An Act to provide for the protection of geographical indications in relation to goods, and for matters connected therewith. [1 April 2019: Except sections 4(6) to (9), 15, 16 and 55 to 76 ; 21 November 2019: Sections 4(6) to (9), 15, 16, 75 and 76 ] PART 1 PRELIMINARY Short title and commencement 1.—(1) This Act is the Geographical Indications Act 2014. (2) Part 6 comes into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint. Interpretation 2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “Court” means the General Division of the High Court; “earlier geographical indication”, in relation to an application for registration of a geographical indication made under section 39 (called in this definition the application in question), means a geographical indication — (a) which has been registered under section 48; or (b) an application for registration of which has been made under section 39, before the date of the application in question; “geographical indication” means any indication used in trade to identify goods as originating from a place, provided that — (a) the place is a qualifying country or a region or locality in a qualifying country; and (b) a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to that place; “goods” means any natural or agricultural product or any product of handicraft or industry; “homonymous geographical indication” means a geographical indication that, in part or in whole, has the same spelling as, or sounds the same as, a geographical indication for any goods having a different geographical origin; “interested party”, in relation to goods identified by a geographical indication, means a producer of the goods, a trader of the goods, or an association of such producers or traders or of such producers and traders; “international trade mark (Singapore)” has the meaning given by the Trade Marks Act 1998; “Office” means the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore established under the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Act 2001; “Paris Convention” means the Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property signed at Paris on 20 March 1883, and any revision or amendment thereto which has come into force and has been accepted by the Government; “place”, in relation to a geographical indication, means a country or territory and includes a region or locality in a country or territory; “producer” means — (a) in relation to agricultural products, a person who produces those products for sale or other commercial purposes; (b) in relation to natural products, a person who exploits those products for sale or other commercial purposes; or (c) in relation to products of handicraft or industry, a person who manufactures those products for sale or other commercial purposes; “proprietor” means — (a) in relation to a registered trade mark, the person in whose name the trade mark is registered; (b) in relation to an unregistered trade mark that is a well known trade mark, the person to whom the trade mark belongs; or (c) in relation to a trade mark referred to in section 41(5)(b), the person who used the trade mark in accordance with that provision; “qualifying country” means any country or territory which is — (a) a member of the World Trade Organization; (b) a party to the Paris Convention; or (c) designated by the Minister as a qualifying country under section 83; “register” means — (a) when used as a noun, the register of geographical indications maintained by the Registrar under section 21; and (b) when used as a verb, to enter in the register; “registered geographical indication” means a geographical indication that is registered under section 48; “registered trade mark” means a trade mark registered under the Trade Marks Act 1998; “registrant”, in relation to a registered geographical indication, means the person in whose name the geographical indication is registered; “Registrar” means the Registrar of Geographical Indications appointed under section 17 and includes any Deputy Registrar or Assistant Registrar of Geographical Indications appointed under that section; “Registry” means the Registry of Geographical Indications established under section 19; “repealed Act” means the Geographical Indications Act (Cap. 117B, 1999 Revised Edition) repealed by this Act; “trade mark” has the meaning given by the Trade Marks Act 1998; “trader”, in relation to goods, means any person — (a) who sells the goods in Singapore; or (b) who supplies the goods in Singapore for the purpose of their being sold by another person in Singapore; “use” means use as part of, or in connection with — (a) any transaction, including a purchase, a sale or an exchange; (b) any importing or exporting; (c) any advertisement; or (d) any invoice, wine list, catalogue, business letter, business paper, price list or other commercial document; “variant”, in relation to a geographical indication, means a variant of the indication constituting the geographical indication, and includes any translation, transliteration or other variation of the indication; “well known trade mark” has the meaning given by the Trade Marks Act 1998. [40/2019; 5/2020] (2) There may be 2 or more variants constituting the same geographical indication. [5/2020] (3) A geographical indication, and each variant constituting the geographical indication (if any), may contain 2 or more words. [5/2020] Application of Act 3.—(1) Unless expressly provided otherwise in subsection (2) or elsewhere in this Act, this Act applies to all geographical indications, whether or not registered under section 48. (2) Sections 4(6) to (9), 75, 76 and 79, Division 2 of Part 3, Division 2 of Part 5, and Part 6 only apply to registered geographical indications.