The new practice year commences on 1st April 2010.
If Rule 9 of the Rules applies to you, you are advised to apply for the practising certificate for the next practice year. Please refer to Rule 9 for details on the filing of Form C to apply for the practising certificate.
For more information, please click here.
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The Copyright (Amendment) Act 2009 and Copyright Tribunal (Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 will come into force on 31st December 2009.
For more information, please click here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. New equivalent amounts in Singapore dollars have been established in respect of the international filing fee, the fee for each sheet in excess of 30 sheets, the PCT-EASY fee reduction and the fee for international searches for PCT applications filed with Singapore as a receiving Office.
2. A 90% reduction in certain PCT fees which took effect from 1 July 2008 is still available to an applicant who is a natural person and who is a national of and resides in Singapore.
Click here to refer to the PCT Fees.
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The Patents (Patent Agents) (Amendment) Rules 2009 shall come into operation on the 15th December 2009. The Code of Conduct referred above can be found in this amendment. Click here for more details.
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The Hungarian Patent Office has been appointed to carry out search and examination work on patents and applications for patents filed in Singapore, joining the Australian Patent Office, the Austrian Patent Office and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office as Examiners under Rule 2(3) of the Patents Rules.
The appointment of the Hungarian Patent Office, which takes effect on 22 Oct 2009, and other amendments are gazetted in the Patents (Amendment) Rules 2009. Click here for more information.
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Click here for the IPOS Annual Report 2008/2009 now!
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IPOS monitors developments in the international copyright landscape as part of its regular environmental scanning. One of the matters being monitored is the developments in a handful of countries concerning graduated response systems, commonly known as the "three strikes" law, as a measure to deter on-line infringement of copyright works.
IPOS is not considering the introduction of such laws at the moment. Few countries have introduced such measures, and we will continue to monitor how these evolve before considering any such introduction here.
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A new factsheet on "Buying and Selling Intellectual Property" has been added to IP Knowledge Kaleidoscope (IPKK). IPKK is a series of online intellectual property management factsheets to provide businesses with an insight into the many facets of their intellectual assets.
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With effect from 15/09/2009, an application to register a trade mark, collective mark or certification mark (TM 4) and a request to transform an international registration into national application(s) (MP 1) must be made on version V05/01/09 of the respective forms.
The changes are found at Annex A. Please click here for more details.
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The proposed changes to the patent system are now open for public consultation. Please click here for more details.
The closing date for submission of comments/suggestions has been extended from 14 Aug 2009 to 4 September 2009.
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In line with the Singapore Government’s UEN initiative, a part of the Integrated Government 2010 (iGov2010) Masterplan, IPOS will be adopting UEN with effect from 1 Jul 2009. A new UEN function has been developed for each of IPOS’ online filing services. For more details, please click here.
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With effect from 1st June 2009, the hours of business at Intellectual Property Office of Singapore are 8:30am to 5:30pm from Mondays to Fridays. The office will remain open for business during the lunch hour.
Electronic filings, where applicable under the Trade Marks, Patents, Registered Designs Acts and Rules will continue to be available for applicants who wish to secure a Saturday filing date.
Click here to refer to Practice Directions (Patents).
Click here to refer to Practice Directions (Trade Marks).
Click here to refer to Practice Directions (Designs).
Click here to refer to Practice Directions (Plant Varieties Protection).
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A Glossary of Common IP Terms and their Chinese Equivalents with Hanyu Pinyin is now available for reference. Click here for more details.
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We have been informed by trade mark proprietors that they have received letters from companies using names, abbreviations or emblems that appear to be “official” inviting them to ‘register’ their marks in registers or publications for a fee.
Click here for details.
