Acceptance of new requests under patents and trademarks acceleration programs suspended by IPOS
Acceptance of new requests under patents and trademarks acceleration programs suspended by IPOS
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has postponed the acceptance of new acceleration requests under its SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast acceleration programs beginning on January 4, 2026, until further notice.
Patents Circular number 1 of 2026 and Trademarks Circular number 2 of 2026 were issued by the IPOS on January 4, 2026, announcing the suspension. Similarly, the circular said that the office is presently reviewing both programs. The suspension does not cover acceleration requests submitted before January 4, 2026.
An IPOS representative reportedly told Asia IP, “These services have seen healthy demand, so we are working to resume the services as soon as possible.”
The programs were launched on May 20, 2025 to allow patent and trademark applicants to receive office actions more swiftly.
To speed up 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 program benefit from fewer office actions and have a higher grant rate on average, at lower costs.”
Meanwhile, trademark applicants can speed up their applications via IPOS’s Classification Database of pre-approved goods and services. The representative reportedly added, “Preapproved 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.”
