Current situation

Between 2023 and 2025, the timelines for patent applications undergoing examination at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”) have, increasingly, been prolonged beyond typical durations due to delays within the examination department. These delays created various issues for applicants, such as those who had intended to use examination outcomes in Singapore to expedite counterpart applications via the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) route or the ASEAN Patent Examination Cooperation (ASPEC) route. Furthermore, such delays may reduce the attractiveness of filing patent applications in Singapore, and, in particular, may adversely affect Singapore’s ability to serve as a regional intellectual property (“IP”) hub and to connect ASEAN with the rest of the world.

Recent changes

To address the preceding issues, IPOS recently embarked on several initiatives.

1. 18-month extension of time to request examination with no official fees

On 19 August 2024, IPOS announced a two-year pilot programme through which applicants could seek an extension of 18 months to request search and/or examination without incurring any official fees. This programme applied to requests with initial deadlines falling between 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2026 (inclusive). Given that these fees were previously about USD 160/month, the program would lead to substantial cost savings for applicants.

2. 4- or 8-month patent prosecution acceleration programme

On 20 May 2025, IPOS announced a new programme, SG Patents Fast, to help applicants receive faster office services for their patent filings. This programme replaces the prior “SG IP FAST” initiative. Broadly, the programme offers two acceleration tracks:

SG Patents Fast 4: Receive first office action within four months of a valid acceleration request, which attracts an additional official fee of ranging from about USD 1000 to 1400.

SG Patents Fast 8: Receive first office action within eight months of a valid acceleration request, which attracts an additional official fee of ranging from about USD 500 to 1400.

Subsequent office actions under the programme will also be expedited, with a turnaround time of up to four months, provided that the requisite payment of about USD 120 is made along with the filing of the request.

To make a valid acceleration request, the following conditions must be met:

• the application must not be a divisional application;
• the application must not have more than 20 claims; and
• the request must be submitted at the time of requesting search and/or examination, together with the requisite acceleration fees.

A monthly cap of five acceleration requests per entity applies, though this does not include subsequent office action requests.

3. Changes to payable excess claim fees and payment timing

On 21 July 2025, IPOS announced increases to certain official fees, with some taking effect on 1 September 2025, and others on 1 April 2026. The headline changes relate to:

• quantum of excess claim fees;
• a reduced number of claims that are not subject to the excess claim fees; and
• timing of payment of excess claim fees .

Quantum of excess claim fees

Each excess claim will incur an official fee of about USD 65 when requesting examination from 1 September 2025 onwards, representing a doubling of the current fee level.

Lower number of claims that are not subject to the excess claim fees

From 1 September 2025, each claim from the 16^th claim onwards will be subject to the excess claim fee when requesting examination, instead of from the 21^st claim onwards prior to 1 September 2025.

Revision of juncture/instances when excess claim fees are payable

For applications where examination is requested from 1 September 2025, excess claim fees be will be payable not only at the time of the examination request, but also, with effect from 1 April 2026, upon responding to each written opinion issued if the number of excess claims increases per response.  As a result, for applications where examination is requested from 1 September 2025, excess claim fees will no longer be payable at the time of requesting grant.

4. Pilot Initiative to incentivise PPH usage

On 12 September 2025, IPOS announced enhancements to their Patent Prosecution Highway (“PPH”) programme by providing fee savings for applicants. In particular, applicants can obtain a refund of 30% of the official fees paid for requesting examination if the applicants’ PPH request, submitted between 15 September 2025 and 31 December 2027 (both dates inclusive), is accepted by IPOS.

In practice, PPH can either be requested at the time of requesting examination or thereafter, as long as IPOS has not yet commenced examination. In this regard, while it is generally necessary to file voluntary amendments by the time of requesting examination in Singapore, should the applicant state its intention to make a PPH request with IPOS after examination has been requested and examination has not yet commenced, IPOS will provide an avenue for the applicant to amend its claims to conform to foreign allowed/granted claims being relied upon for the PPH if the applicant so chooses.

What does this mean for stakeholders in the IP ecosystem in Singapore?

IPOS has shared that their official fees for patent examination have been maintained for more than a decade, and that the proposed changes are overdue. That may be so, but the way that IPOS has rolled out the aforementioned initiatives appear to be strategic, and in line with their objective of reducing backlog relating to patent prosecution.

Currently, the programme for waiving of official fees when seeking an 18 month extension of time to request examination is meant to give the examinations department at IPOS breathing space to eliminate the backlog of examination requests at IPOS. However, as all applications which seek the 18 month extension of time have an extended deadline to request examination beyond 1 September 2025, they will be subject to the latest examination and excess claim fee increases.

The increase in revenue that IPOS derives from the new acceleration fees and the excess claim fees can be invested in growing the number of patent examiners, which appears to be the plan for IPOS. Furthermore, this increase in revenue also provides IPOS the resources to invest in productivity solutions to aid the patent examiners. This is particularly timely in the current age of substantial disruption in data management and/or artificial intelligence space, including patent examination.

However, the imposition of higher fees for filing patent applications in Singapore may be criticised as there are other ways to accelerate patent prosecution like using patent prosecution highways (IPOS has mutual acceleration agreements with more than 40 countries), and other methods to minimise the number of excess claims.

The takeaway would be for stakeholders to look forward to shorter patent prosecution periods in Singapore, as the steps being methodically implemented by IPOS appears to be well-considered and have a high probability of success. Should the aforementioned initiatives be successful, it is expected that Singapore will regain some of its recently lost lustre as a regional IP hub, and re-establish itself as a centre for patent protection in ASEAN.