IP Observer


March 28, 2017

IPOS Patent Fee Changes from 1 April 2017

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) will be introducing a series of fee revisions which will be in effect from 1 April 2017. New fees are applicable for payments made on or after this date.

Three key changes to the IPOS patent fee schedule are as follows:

Reduced Fees for (Supplementary) Search Reports and for Search and Examination Report Requests
To lower upfront costs in patent prosecution, IPOS has cut the fee an applicant has to pay when requesting a (supplementary) search report or a search and examination report. A further SG$300 discount is available if, upon entering into the Singapore national phase, the PCT applicant requests a search and examination report and indicates that an International Search Report (ISR) or an International Preliminary Examination Report (IPER) has been established by IPOS.
New Excess Claim Fee Structure
IPOS now charges SG$20 per claim in excess of 25 claims at the grant stage. Under the new structure, each claim in excess of 20 will be charged at SG$40 at both (1) the search & examination or examination stage and (2) the grant stage. An applicant will only be charged once for any claim in excess of 20 throughout the patent prosecution process, however. This change is to encourage applicants to file concise claim sets and thus streamline the patent application process in Singapore.
Increase in Renewal Fees
The renewal fees are to be increased from the 8th year onwards, in the hope that patent owners will reassess their patent portfolios and release unused patents back into the public domain. At the same time, patent owners who are willing to offer their patents for licensing may endorse them with Licenses of Right (LOR) and halve the payable renewal fees.

Please find attached a summary of the new fee schedule.

Attachment: Summary of the New Fee Schedule

#	Fee Items		Fee (SGD)		Change
#	Fee Items		Current	New	(SGD)	(%)
1	Request for search report/supplementary search report		1,925	1,650	-275	-14
2	Request for search and examination report		2,600	1,950	-650	-25
3	Request for search and examination report with an ISR or IPER issued by IPOS		2,600	1,650	-950	-37
4	Excess claim fee for each claim in excess of 20 claims
	a) at the search and examination or examination stage		0	40	(new)	(new)
	b) at the grant stage	(claim 21, 22, 23, 24, or 25)	0	40	(new)	(new)
	b) at the grant stage	(claim 26 or subsequent claim)	20	40	20	100
5	Request for examination report		1,350	1,350	0	0
6	Renewal fee for
	a) the 5th, 6th or 7th year of the Patent		140	140	0	0
	b) the 8th, 9th or 10th year of the Patent		270	370	100	37
	c) the 11th, 12th or 13th year of the Patent		350	520	170	49
	d) the 14th, 15th or 16th year of the Patent		490	670	180	37
	e) the 17th, 18th or 19th year of the Patent		600	820	220	37
	f) the 20th year of the Patent		710	970	260	37
	g) Each of the Subsequent Years of the Patent		950	1,200	250	26

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