The Trade Mark and Patent Registries of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has announced a series of fee revisions that will take effect from 1 April 2017. In summary, there are significant fee reductions for patent search and examination fees and trade mark filing fees after 1 April 2017. Therefore if applicants intend to use search and examination options, they should delay making these requests until after 1 April 2017.

However, there will be a considerable increase in the official fees for the renewal and maintenance of granted patents and registered trade marks from 1 April 2017. This has been marketed as a means of discouraging the hoarding of registered IP rights, in order to objectively minimise the potential stifling of innovation. Nonetheless, although the relevant official fees will rise, proprietors of granted patents who have registered to licence their granted patents as of right will enjoy a 50% discount off the official fees for renewals. Therefore any renewals should be done before 1 April 2017, if possible.

Further details on the fee changes may be found below.

Patents

Reduction in patent examination fees

The changes at the Patent Registry are headlined by a 25% fee reduction for each request for a search and examination report, and a 14% fee reduction to request for either a search report or a supplementary search report. There will also be a further discount on the official fee to request for a search and examination report in situations where a report under the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) has already been established by IPOS acting either as the International Searching Authority (ISA) or the International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA), for patent applications entering national phase into Singapore.

  Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
Request for search report/supplementary search report $1,925 $1,650
Request for search & examination report $2,600 $1,950
Request for search & examination report where the international search report/international preliminary examination report has been established by IPOS (under the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT)) $2,600 $1,650

Increase in excess claim fees

Currently, excess claim fees of SGD20 per claim in excess of 25 claims are charged at the time of payment of the grant fee. From April 2017, the excess claim fee will increase to SGD40 per claim in excess of 20 claims payable during the examination stage. In addition, if at the grant stage there are extra claims added for which excess fees were not paid, the same charge will be levied on these extra claims at this stage. There will however be no refund if the number of claims is reduced at the grant stage.

  Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
Request for search & examination report nil $40 per claim in excess of 20 claims
Request for examination report nil $40 per claim in excess of 20 claims
Payment of fee for grant of patent $20 per claim in excess of 25 claims $40 per claim in excess of 20 claims

Patent renewals

Request for renewal of a patent

  Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
from 8th to 10th year of the patent $270 $370
11th to 13th year of the patent $350 $520
14th to 16th year of the patent $490 $670
17th to 19th year of the patent $600 $820
from 20th year of the patent $710 $970
after 20th year of the patent $950 $1,200

Payment of additional fee and renewal fee for restoration of patent

  Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
from 8th to 10th year of the patent $570 $670
11th to 13th year of the patent $650 $820
14th to 16th year of the patent $790 $970
17th to 19th year of the patent $900 $1,120
from 20th year of the patent $1,010 $1,270
after 20th year of the patent $1,250 $1,500

Payment of renewal fee after entry is made in register to effect that licences under patent are to be available as of right

  Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
from 8th to 10th year of the patent $135 $185
11th to 13th year of the patent $175 $260
14th to 16th year of the patent $245 $335
17th to 19th year of the patent $300 $410
from 20th year of the patent $355 $485
after 20th year of the patent $475 $600

Trade marks

Reduction in filing fees for filing under certain conditions

The Trade Mark Registry will offer a 30% discount off the official filing fee, on a per class basis, for trade mark applications that are filed using IPOS' own pre-approved items of goods and services. This move has strong significance for brand owners who would like to seek registered protection over their trade mark(s) in Singapore, particularly in cases where a suite of trade mark applications is to be filed in a large number of classes of goods and services. Related reductions in some of the official fees charged for applications designating Singapore that are made under the Madrid System will also be made.

Application to register a trade mark using the pre-approved list of goods and services

Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
$341 per Class of goods or services $240 per Class of goods or services

Application to register an international registration/subsequent designation of trade mark designating Singapore through the Madrid Protocol

Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
$374 per Class of goods or services $341 per Class of goods or services

Filing of a transformation application in relation to an international registration/subsequent designation cancelled at the request of the Office of Origin

Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
$374 per Class of goods or services $341 per Class of goods or services

Trade mark renewals

However, there will be an increase in the official fees for the renewal and maintenance of registered trade marks from 1 April 2017.

Application for renewal of registration of a trade mark

Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
$250 per Class of goods or services $380 per Class of goods or services

Late application for renewal of registration of a trade mark

Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
$370 per Class of goods or services $560 per Class of goods or services

Application to restore a trade mark to the register

Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
$400 per Class of goods or services $610 per Class of goods or services

Application for renewal of an international registration/subsequent designation of trade mark designating Singapore through the Madrid Protocol

Current fee (SGD) Revised fees (SGD)
$270 per Class of goods or services $380 per Class of goods or services

The changes to the official fees should result in an overall cost reduction for businesses and brand owners when the various stages of seeking registered protection for an invention or a trade mark are taken into account. The new set of official fees will only be applicable to applications or requests that are filed with the respective Registries from 1 April 2017.

Do let us know if you require more information or have any queries regarding how these changes may affect your IP portfolio. We would certainly be pleased to assist you in this regard.