The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore introduced a phased fee revision, with most changes taking effect on 1 September 2025 and the remaining measures applying from 1 April 2026. For patents, excess-claim fees under Forms PF11 and PF12 now begin above 15 claims rather than 20, while the charge has increased from S$40 to S$80 per excess claim. From April 2026, certain excess-claim payments linked to relevant examination requests filed on or after 1 September 2025 are also brought forward to the PF13A response stage. Extension requests across IP procedures are no longer free for the...
Singapore’s Intellectual Property Office (IPOS) has refined its practice guidance for trade mark applications covering virtual goods and Web3.0 services. Descriptions in Class 9 for downloadable virtual goods, Class 35 for retail services involving virtual goods, and Class 41 for virtual entertainment services are expected to identify the digital content or service with greater precision; broad wording such as “virtual goods” or generic NFT-related services may attract objections or require narrowing.The more consequential point concerns revocation for five years’ non-use. Displaying a...
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) reopened requests for both SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast on 1 September 2026 after a suspension lasting more than half a year. The updated operating guidance introduces tighter annual quota management for patent acceleration, more detailed limits on claim numbers, and closer attention to technology fields. Patent applications will generally need to stay within 20 claims, while areas such as artificial intelligence and green technologies may receive priority examination resources. For qualifying cases, IPOS is targeting an...
IPOS has launched a feedback exercise on the UK Supreme Court’s Emotional Perception ruling, with submissions open from 17 April to 14 May 2026. The official questions go well beyond whether the UK case is merely interesting. IPOS is asking whether the decision is relevant to Singapore patent practice, whether it brings greater clarity to patentable subject matter and its interaction with inventive step, and what practical issues the approach could create for applicants and practitioners.That is why this development deserves more attention than a routine consultation notice. Singapore is...
IPOS has used its supplemental AI patent guidance to make one point much harder to ignore: for AI and data-heavy inventions, the fight is often no longer about whether software-related subject matter can be patented in the abstract. It is about whether the claim and the specification show a real technical contribution tied to a specific problem, rather than a mathematical model dressed up with industry language.That is why the latest clarification matters. The practical pressure is now falling on the parts of an application that many teams still treat too loosely: training-data...
Recent market commentary has started linking Singapore’s IPOS to a supposed AIGC-only green channel. Based on the current official record, that is not the safest way to describe what exists. What can be verified is narrower and more concrete. In 2019, IPOS launched AI², an AI-specific initiative that could take qualifying patent applications from filing to grant in as fast as six months. In 2025, Singapore shifted to SG Patents Fast, a broader programme designed to accelerate office actions rather than guarantee grant timing. Since 4 January 2026, new acceleration requests under SG Patents...
IPOS has now drawn a cleaner timeline for applicants using the Patent Prosecution Highway in Singapore. For PPH requests filed on or after 1 July 2026, the Office says it will endeavour to issue a first office action in about 6 months, down from about 10 months for existing requests. For patent owners already holding allowable claims from a partner office, that changes more than queue position. It brings prosecution timing, internal decision-making and commercial milestones forward together.The more interesting point is that the speed benefit and the fee benefit do not start on the same...
From 1 July 2026, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) aims to issue a first office action within about six months for Patent Prosecution Highway requests filed on or after that date, down from roughly ten months for existing requests. As the new standard moves into operational use, PPH becomes more useful not only as an acceleration route but also as a planning tool for funding, product launches and parallel prosecution.A related cost measure will run from 3 August 2026 to 31 December 2027: where a PPH request is filed together with a new request for a search and/or...
Editor’s note (24 September 2026): as of publication we have not located an official announcement of the measures described below; this article is based on industry briefings and is subject to official confirmation.
Under joint guidelines issued on 28 July 2026, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) introduced a 72-hour notice-and-takedown standard for social media and e-commerce platforms handling deepfake infringement, voice cloning and AI-derived content based on protected works. The move places AIGC-related complaints...
Editor’s note (24 September 2026): as of publication we have not located an official announcement of the measures described below; this article is based on industry briefings and is subject to official confirmation.
On 5 August 2026, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) launched a bilateral Collaborative Search and Examination (CS&E) pilot for patent applications in artificial intelligence and green technology. An applicant may file a CS&E request with either office, after which examiners from both sides...
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) announced on 14 August 2026 that it will resume accepting new requests under SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast from 1 September. Both routes had stopped taking new acceleration requests on 4 January while IPOS reviewed the programmes and reassessed internal resource allocation. Applicants and agents planning accelerated filings should consult Patents Circular No. 5/2026 and Trade Marks Circular No. 3/2026 for the detailed operational requirements.The reopening restores a useful planning option for businesses working toward product...
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) introduced a pilot through Patents Circular No. 4/2024 on 19 August 2024 allowing eligible applicants to obtain up to 18 months of additional time to request a search and/or examination report without paying the official extension-of-time fee. IPOS then extended the pilot for another year through Circular No. 4/2026 dated 12 August 2026. The current window covers relevant prescribed deadlines falling between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2027.The measure is more significant than a simple fee waiver. It gives applicants additional time to...
According to an update dated 28 August 2026, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has upgraded its industrial design e-filing system to align more closely with the WIPO Hague System. For graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and animated digital icons in Hague applications designating Singapore, applicants no longer need to provide an additional static-state screenshot purely to satisfy a local filing formality. Native motion files, including formats such as MP4 and GIF, can instead be used for the relevant record. The change should reduce the need to repackage international...
On 11 September 2026, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), together with relevant digital-governance bodies, issued updated practical guidance on generative-AI content creation and copyright responsibility for digital platforms. The guidance further clarifies the operational conditions platforms should satisfy when relying on copyright safe-harbour protections, including machine-readable and rapid notice-and-takedown processes. It also offers more specific industry guidance on how existing copyright exceptions may apply when protected works are used in large-model...
The ASEAN Secretariat announced on 20 September that the fourth ASEAN Economic Ministers–WIPO (AEM-WIPO) Consultation, held in Manila, welcomed the launch of new value-added services on the ASEAN IP Register: an IP Portfolio service and an IP Intelligence service, intended to give ASEAN stakeholders better data to inform their innovation decisions. The meeting also reviewed progress under the ASEAN–WIPO Memorandum of Understanding on the Expansion of Cooperation in Specific Areas, which currently oversees 44 activities for the advancement of the IP ecosystem in ASEAN.The ASEAN IP...
The Registry of Trade Marks of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) issued Circular No. 4/2026 on 25 September, confirming that the 13th Edition, Version 2027 of the Nice Classification (NCL 13-2027) will enter into force on 1 January 2027. Singapore trade mark applications filed on or after 1 January 2027 will be classified in accordance with the new version, and the circular states for the avoidance of doubt that there will be no reclassification of goods and services for applications filed before that date. An electronic publication of NCL 13-2027 is already available on...
