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Protecting Your Ideas

Home > Business Topics > Protecting Your Ideas > Patents
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Patents

PATENTS
For more details, please download the Patents Infopack provided by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).  
For What?

A product or process that offers a new technical solution to a problem. This could be a new method of doing things, the composition of a new product, or a technical improvement on how certain things work.

E.g. an anti-theft device for a vehicle, a ringpull tab for a can, or a computerised mousetrap.

Requirements 1. New
2. Inventive Step
3. Industrial Application
Registration Yes.
- Fees Registration fees are about S$400 per patent and are paid to IPOS. Full list of registration fees.

Professional fees are charged by the company who is filing the patent on your behalf. Typical professional fees range from S$1,500 - S$5,000 depending on the complexity of the patent.
- Estimated Processing Time 2 - 4 years depending on several factors (e.g. whether you need to amend your patent, whether anyone challenges your patent, etc.)
- Forms Download at IPOS.
- Procedures See instructions at IPOS.
Term Of Protection Maximum of 20 years subject to renewals from the 4th year.
International Protection Available through the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
- Forms Download at World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
- Fees List of fees at IPOS.
- Procedures See instructions at IPOS.
- Notes It is not mandatory to apply for patent protection in Singapore first before seeking protection overseas. However, Section 34 of the Patents Act states that any person resident in Singapore is required to obtain a written authorisation from the Registrar of Patents before he files or causes to be filed outside Singapore an application for a patent for the same invention.

The only exception to this is a patent application that has been filed in Singapore for 2 months or more and there is no further direction from the Registrar under Section 33 of the Patents Act.

Download Application For Clearance Under S34.

Useful Links

ePatents - Search & file your patents online 
Patents at IPOS