Patent applicants in Singapore will benefit from two new initiatives released by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). These aim to reduce the burden on applicants when dealing with examination requests.
The patent application process in Singapore has been significantly simplified in recent years, and currently applications proceed by either a request for examination based on a suitable search report, or a request for combined search and examination.
IPOS has now introduced initiatives to reduce extension fees and the formalities associated with certain PCT search reports, thereby providing cost and time savings to applicants.
Proposed pilot initiative to waive official extension fees when requesting search and/or examination report
In a circular no. 4/2024 dated 19 August 2024, IPOS has issued a pilot initiative through which applicants can seek an extension of 18 months to request search and/or examination without incurring any official extension fees.
In order to benefit from this pilot initiative, the 36-month due date to file the request for examination, or the request for combined search and examination, must fall between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2026 (both dates inclusive). The extension of time request can be made retroactively, provided that it is within 18 months of the due date.
If the 36-month due date falls between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2026, and an extension of less than 18 month has already been obtained, a request under the pilot initiative is still possible and will allow the remaining period to be extended at no cost, up to the maximum of 18 months.
The above initiative can provide substantial cost savings to applicants wishing to have more time to consider whether and how to proceed with the search and/or examination of their Singapore patent applications, for example, in view of commercial developments or outcomes of corresponding foreign applications.
Simplified formalities when requesting examination based on an International Search Report (ISR) issued by the IPOS under the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT)
Additionally, in circular no. 3/2024 dated 15 August 2024, IPOS has amended Rule 42(1B) of the Patents Rules in order to simplify the documents required to request examination specifically based on an ISR established by IPOS as the International Searching Authority under the PCT. The amendment came into force from 16 August 2024.
Accordingly, when requesting examination based on the ISR established by IPOS as the International Searching Authority under the PCT, applicants need to submit only the examination request (i.e. Patents Form 12) and there is no need submit any additional documents, including cited patent and non-patent documents.
This simplified procedure helps to remove the confusion caused by the previous procedure whereby only patent documents could be omitted from the examination request while non-patent documents could not.
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