IPOS extends by a year pilot initiative on requests for extending deadline for examination of patents, and resumes acceptance of requests under SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast

17 August 2026

On 12 August 2026, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”) issued Circulars on the following developments:

  • One-year extension of pilot initiative relating to requests for extending deadline for examination of patents; and
  • Resuming acceptance of requests under SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast from 1 September 2026.

One-year extension of pilot initiative relating to requests for extending deadline for examination of patents

IPOS is extending by one year the pilot initiative that allows applicants to extend the deadline for requesting examination (with or without search) by 18 months without official fees.

The statutory deadline for requesting examination (with or without search) is 36 months from the priority date or from the filing date if no priority is claimed. Normally, official extension fees of S$200 are payable for each month of extension requested, up to 18 months. With the extension of the pilot initiative, applications with examination deadlines falling between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2027 (both dates inclusive) can extend their examination deadlines by 18 months without official fees. The extension request can be filed at any time within 18 months after the statutory examination deadline. If a previous extension of fewer than 18 months has already been obtained, a further extension up to the maximum of 18 months can still be obtained without official fees.

Extending the examination deadline benefits applicants who wish to delay examination to await positive outcomes of corresponding applications for using Patent Prosecution Highway (“PPH”) programmes to accelerate prosecution in Singapore. Applicants who request PPH relying on a positive outcome of a corresponding application generally receive the first office action much sooner, receive fewer office actions altogether, and have a higher grant rate.

For more details, please refer to Patents Circular No. 4/2026.

SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast to resume acceptance of new requests

From 1 September 2026, IPOS will resume the acceptance of new requests under SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast acceleration programmes. Applicants may apply for acceleration in relation to requests for patent examination (with or without search), and for registration of trade marks filed on or after 1 September 2026.

SG Patents Fast

Applicants can choose the pace of acceleration as follows:

  • SG Patents Fast 4: Receive first office action within four months of successful application.
  • SG Patents Fast 8: Receive first office action within eight months of successful application.

The qualifying criteria and application process under SG Patents Fast are as follows:

  • The patent application is not a divisional application in Singapore.
  • The patent specification contains 20 or fewer claims.
  • A monthly cap of five requests per entity (individual or corporate) is applicable. This cap does not apply to requests to accelerate subsequent office actions.
  • Successful applications qualify for acceleration of subsequent office actions.
  • An acceleration request must be made together with an examination request (with or without search), with payment of an acceleration fee in addition to the existing examination fee.

For more details, please refer to Patents Circular No. 5 of 2026.

SG Trade Marks Fast

Enterprises will find it simpler to accelerate their trade mark applications and receive the first examination report (or notice that the application has been published for opposition purposes, as applicable) within three to six weeks from the date of the application. Applicants will not require (i) a related patent application, or (ii) full adoption of pre-approved descriptions of goods and services from IPOS’ Classification Database.

The qualifying criteria and application process under SG Trade Marks Fast are as follows:

  • The application is a national trade mark application, and not for a certification or collective mark.
  • The acceleration request must be made at the point of filing Form TM4 with the payment of the acceleration fee.

The acceleration request will automatically apply to all classes in trade mark applications with multiple classes. Like the SG Patents Fast programme, acceleration fees will apply.

For more details, please refer to Trade Marks Circular No. 3 of 2026.

Reference materials

The following materials are available on the IPOS website www.ipos.gov.sg:

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