Acceptance of new requests under patents and trademarks acceleration programmes suspended by IPOS
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has suspended the acceptance of new acceleration requests under its
By: : Daniel
Update: 2026-01-15 03:45 GMT
Acceptance of new requests under patents and trademarks acceleration programmes suspended by IPOS
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has suspended the acceptance of new acceleration requests under its SG Patents Fast and ST Trade Marks Fast acceleration programmes beginning January 4, 2026, until further notice.
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has suspended the acceptance of new acceleration requests under its SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast acceleration programmes beginning January 4, 2026, until further notice.
Patents Circular No. 1 of 2026 and Trade Marks Circular No. 2 of 2026 were issued by IPOS on January 4, 2026, announcing the suspension. The circular likewise stated that the office is currently reviewing both programmes. The suspension does not cover acceleration requests submitted before January 4, 2026.
An IPOS representative reportedly said, “These services have seen healthy demand, so we are working to resume the services as soon as possible.”
The programmes, were launched on May 20, 2025 to allow patent and trademark applicants to receive office actions more swiftly.
To accelerate the examination of their patent applications, applicants may opt for the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), which includes over 30 partner offices under PPH and Global PPH (GPPH) networks. The IPOS representative reportedly said, “Applications under the PPH/GPPH programme benefit from fewer office actions and have a higher grant rate on average, at lower costs.”
Meanwhile, trademark applicants can accelerate their applications via IPOS’s Classification Database of pre-approved goods and services. “Pre-approved terms are automatically accepted by the Registrar and reduce examination time. Applications adopting the pre-approved Classification Database also benefit from reduced filing fees of S$280 (US$217) per class, compared to S$410 (US$319) per class for normal applications,” the representative reportedly added.