1 May, 2016
IPOS operating as PCT ISA
In September 2015, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore IPOSA commenced operations as an International Searching and Preliminary Examining Authority ISAA under the Patent Cooperation Treaty PCTA. With this new option of IPOS as a competent ISA for PCT applications filed in Singapore, applicants have greater choice. In choosing IPOS to prepare the International Search Report, applicants can expect written opinions of high quality as 90% of the patent examiners are PhD holders with deep technical expertise, having been trained by a number of overseas offices including the European Patent Office. The patent examiners are also able to conduct searches both in English as well as directly in Chinese, since many examiners have bilingual capability and this can be useful to applicants intending to protect their inventions in China.
In terms of fees, there are refunds for search and examination fees of 25 to 75% in selecting IPOS as ISA for applicants with a Singapore application in respect of which an existing search report was conducted by IPOS.. This also means that applicants would need to be clear about their filing strategy and intended markets, so that the invention’s patent portfolio can be managed accordingly. For applicants with a higher volume of patent filings annually, IPOS can also provide status reports so they have an overview of their patent portfolio in Singapore.
Foreign route to be retained for 3 years
At the same time, an announcement was made recently by IPOS that supplementary examination will be phased out gradually over 3 years. This latest development supersedes previous indications by IPOS that supplementary examination would be removed entirely for new application filed in 2017. This is welcome news. However, a fee will be introduced for supplementary examination from 2017 and the impact of this change will be reviewed after one year. For the time being, foreign applicants can continue to rely on foreign grants and supplementary examination to save costs.
For further information, please contact:
Joyce Tan, Partner, Joyce A Tan & Partners
