TL;DR IPOS has now introduced a general acceleration programme for fast-tracking patent applications in Singapore
As some readers may be aware, we have recently been experiencing a significant backlog in examination of patent applications at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).
In the good old days, we would typically expect an office action (whether a Written Opinion or more rarely a Notice of Intention to Grant) to issue within 3-6 months of requesting examination on a Singapore patent application. Nowadays, it is not unusual for a year or two to pass before IPOS even acknowledges that examination has been requested.
We and others in the profession, including the Association of Singapore Patent Attorneys (ASPA, where I sit on the executive committee) have discussed this issue at length with IPOS. The Singapore Patent Office, to its credit, has recently started recruiting and training patent examiners. It is clear, however, that it will be a few years before these trainee examiners can be considered fully fit to undertake the challenging jobs of examining patent applications in Singapore.
Meanwhile, IPOS has been looking at other ways to solve this problem.
The good news is that applicants pursuing patent applications in Singapore now have an opportunity to “fast track” their cases before IPOS. Thus, the recently announced revised “FAST” programme at IPOS now allows search and examination of patent applications to be accelerated.
The not so good news is the significant additional official fees that are required to get an application into the programme.
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore will implement major revisions to the official fees payable for patents, trade marks, registered designs and plant varieties matters at the Singapore IP office from Q3 2025. This was announced in IPOS Circular No. 3/2025 of 21 July 2025.
The changes are generally effective 1 September 2025, with some changes taking effect on 1 April 2026.
This post deals with the impact on trade marks and trade mark applications, registered designs and registered designs applications as well as plant variety protection applications. For patents, please see the blog post “IPOS Official Fee Increases (Patents) 2025”.
Please contact us if you would like more information on the fee changes, or if you have any questions.
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore will implement major revisions to the official fees payable for patents, trade marks, registered designs and plant varieties matters at the Singapore IP office from Q3 2025. This was announced in IPOS Circular No. 3/2025 of 21 July 2025.
The changes are generally effective 1 September 2025, with some changes taking effect on 1 April 2026.
Given the complexity of the excess claims fees rules for Singapore patent applications, you might be asking yourself “How do I determine if an excess claims fee is payable on a patent application?” “What is the excess claims fee for a patent application when responding to a Written Opinion” and “What is the excess claims fee for a patent application on grant?”.
We set out a number of rules which may be used to calculate whether or not excess claims fees are payable when requesting examination or combined search and examination, when responding to a Written Opinion (where applicable) and when paying the grant fee.