- Registration is optional, but it gives you statutory rights under the Trade Marks Act.
- Without registration, you usually have to rely on passing off, which means proving goodwill, misrepresentation and damage.
- A registered owner is treated as the owner unless someone proves otherwise.
- Registration lasts ten years at a time and can be renewed.
- A registered mark is easier to license, sell or transfer.
Rights you have without registering
A business can build up rights in a name or logo simply by using it in the market. Singapore law protects those unregistered rights mainly through a common law claim called 'passing off'.
Passing off is not easy to win. To succeed, you generally have to prove three things:
- Goodwill: that your business has an established reputation that customers connect with your sign.
- Misrepresentation: that the other trader's use is likely to make the public think their goods or services come from you, or are connected with you.
- Damage: that you have suffered, or are likely to suffer, harm such as lost sales or limits on your plans to expand.
Goodwill attaches to how you actually present your business. In a 2022 appeal involving a restaurant, the court looked at the full branding the business actually used rather than one word taken from it. Building up that kind of reputation, and the evidence for it, takes time and consistent use.
What registration adds
A registered trade mark gives you statutory rights under the Trade Marks Act 1998. In practical terms:
- You are treated as the owner of the mark unless someone proves otherwise, so you do not start a dispute by having to prove ownership.
- You have a right to act against infringement and counterfeiting without first proving goodwill.
- The court can grant remedies such as injunctions, damages, an account of profits, and orders for infringing goods to be delivered up or destroyed.
- The mark becomes an asset that is easier to license, sell or transfer.
Registration lasts for ten years and can be renewed for further ten-year periods, so long as the mark is kept in use (see our guide on keeping a trade mark registered).
Unregistered rights still count
Having no registration does not leave a business entirely without options. Singapore's Intellectual Property Office (IPOS) has refused to register a brand where an earlier, unregistered user showed it could succeed in passing off. In a 2025 decision, a foreign company that had not yet launched in Singapore stopped another trader registering the same name, because its pre-launch activity aimed at Singapore customers was found to have generated goodwill.
Well-known marks can also receive protection in Singapore even if they are not registered here. These routes are useful, but they are harder, slower and less certain than relying on a registration.
Is it worth registering?
If a brand matters to your business, registering it early is usually the simpler path. It is far easier to deal with a copycat when you can point to a registration than when you must first prove your reputation. A lawyer can look at your brand and plans and advise whether and how to register.
This article is general information on Singapore law and is not legal advice. Rules and agency policies change, and every situation is different. For advice on your own circumstances, speak with one of our lawyers.
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