Judicial Administration Structure for IP Disputes: Singapore
Information provided by:
Ministry of Law
| Court of Appeal | ||||||||
| Appellate Division of the High Court | ||||||||
| General Division of the High Court | ||||||||
| Registrars of Patents, Trade Marks, Registered Designs, Plant Varieties, and Geographical Indications (administrative instance) |
State Courts | |||||||
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| Administrative Jurisdiction Grant/registration of IP rights. Pre-grant/registration matters such as opposition. Post-grant/registration matters concerning the validity of patents and trademarks, design, and geographical indications. |
Civil Jurisdiction Post-grant/registration matters concerning the validity of IP rights. Infringement of all IP rights, excluding breach of confidence disputes up to S$250,000. |
Civil Jurisdiction Breach of confidence disputes up to S$250,000. |
Criminal Jurisdiction Criminal prosecutions. |
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The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”) is the government agency responsible for administering Singapore’s intellectual property (“IP”) regime.
Within IPOS, the Registrars of Patents, Trade Marks, Registered Designs, Plant Varieties, and Geographical Indications deal with the registration and grant of IP rights, pre-grant/registration disputes such as oppositions, and post-grant/registration disputes such as revocation, invalidation and cancellation (except invalidation of the grant of protection to plant varieties, which is heard by the General Division of the High Court). The Registrar’s decisions are appealable to the General Division of the High Court.
The Copyright Tribunal hears disputes relating to the licensing of copyrighted works and protected performances. Questions of law may be referred to the General Division of the High Court.
The General Division of the High Court has original jurisdiction over all post-grant/registration IP disputes such as revocation, invalidation and cancellation, and all civil IP infringement disputes except for breach of confidence cases with a sum-in-dispute of up to S$250,000, which are heard in the State Courts at first instance.
Decisions of the General Division of the High Court in civil matters, except those relating to patents, are appealable to the Appellate Division of the High Court. Decisions of the Appellate Division of the High Court are appealable to the Court of Appeal.
Under the Sixth Schedule of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, decisions relating to patents are appealable directly to the Court of Appeal.
Criminal matters are heard in the State Courts at first instance. Appeals are heard in the General Division of the High Court. Appeals from decisions of the General Division of the High Court in criminal matters are heard by the Court of Appeal.
The General Division of the High Court has a specialized hearing list of judges for IP and information technology cases, as well as an IP Court Guide for IP cases providing for specialized case management and practices such as expert evidence.
A Simplified Process for Certain IP Claims, an optional track for litigation in the High Court, was introduced in 2022 and facilitates streamlined and more cost-effective resolution of qualifying disputes. The Simplified Process is suitable for cases where the monetary relief claimed by each party is not likely to exceed S$500,000. If practicable, the trial will be completed within two days. If the case proceeds to trial, the total costs ordered against a party will not exceed S$50,000 in relation to the trial of the claim, with an additional S$25,000 in the case of a bifurcated assessment of monetary relief. The amount of monetary relief is capped at S$500,000.
From IPOS: https://www.ipos.gov.sg/manage-ip/resolve-ip-disputes/legal-decisions
From the courts: https://www.judiciary.gov.sg/judgments