Regulations under the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks

Rule 5
Details Concerning the Filing Date

(1) [Procedure in Case of Non-Compliance with Requirements] If the application does not, at the time of its receipt by the Office, comply with any of the applicable requirements of Article 5(1)(a) or (2)(a), the Office shall promptly invite the applicant to comply with such requirements within a time limit indicated in the invitation, which time limit shall be at least one month from the date of the invitation where the applicant’s address is on the territory of the Contracting Party concerned and at least two months where the applicant’s address is outside the territory of the Contracting Party concerned. Compliance with the invitation may be subject to the payment of a special fee. Even if the Office fails to send the said invitation, the said requirements remain unaffected.

(2) [Filing Date in Case of Correction] If, within the time limit indicated in the invitation, the applicant complies with the invitation referred to in paragraph (1) and pays any required special fee, the filing date shall be the date on which all the required indications and elements referred to in Article 5(1)(a) have been received by the Office and, where applicable, the required fees referred to in Article 5(2)(a) have been paid to the Office. Otherwise, the application shall be treated as if it had not been filed.

Rule 6
Details Concerning Communications

(1) [Indications Accompanying Signature of Communications on Paper] Any Contracting Party may require that the signature of the natural person who signs be accompanied by

(i) an indication in letters of the family or principal name and the given or secondary name or names of that person or, at the option of that person, of the name or names customarily used by the said person;

(ii) an indication of the capacity in which that person signed, where such capacity is not obvious from reading the communication.

(2) [Date of Signing] Any Contracting Party may require that a signature be accompanied by an indication of the date on which the signing was effected. Where that indication is required but is not supplied, the date on which the signing is deemed to have been effected shall be the date on which the communication bearing the signature was received by the Office or, if the Contracting Party so allows, a date earlier than the latter date.

(3) [Signature of Communications on Paper] Where a communication to the Office of a Contracting Party is on paper and a signature is required, that Contracting Party

(i) shall, subject to item (iii), accept a handwritten signature;

(ii) may permit, instead of a handwritten signature, the use of other forms of signature, such as a printed or stamped signature, or the use of a seal or of a bar-coded label;

(iii) may, where the natural person who signs the communication is a national of the Contracting Party and such person’s address is on its territory, or where the legal entity on behalf of which the communication is signed is organized under its law and has either a domicile or a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment on its territory, require that a seal be used instead of a handwritten signature.

(4) [Signature of Communications on Paper Filed by Electronic Means of Transmittal] A Contracting Party that provides for communications on paper to be filed by electronic means of transmittal shall consider any such communication signed if a graphic representation of a signature accepted by that Contracting Party under paragraph (3) appears on the communication as received.

(5) [Original of a Communication on Paper Filed by Electronic Means of Transmittal] A Contracting Party that provides for communications on paper to be filed by electronic means of transmittal may require that the original of any such communication be filed

(i) with the Office accompanied by a letter identifying that earlier transmission and

(ii) within a time limit which shall be at least one month from the date on which the Office received the communication by electronic means of transmittal.

(6) [Authentication of Communications in Electronic Form] A Contracting Party that permits the filing of communications in electronic form may require that any such communication be authenticated through a system of electronic authentication as prescribed by that Contracting Party.

(7) [Date of Receipt] Each Contracting Party shall be free to determine the circumstances in which the receipt of a document or the payment of a fee shall be deemed to constitute receipt by or payment to the Office in cases in which the document was actually received by or payment was actually made to

(i) a branch or sub-office of the Office,

(ii) a national Office on behalf of the Office of the Contracting Party, where the Contracting Party is an intergovernmental organization referred to in Article 26(1)(ii),

(iii) an official postal service,