COVID-19: The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Extends Prescribed Deadlines Falling Within 7 April 2020 to 7 May 2020
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Senior Patent Attorney
Singapore
I work as a senior patent attorney in Bird & Bird's Intellectual Property & Technology Group in Singapore, where I specialise in life sciences. I work with a broad range of clients, from local SMEs to foreign MNCs.
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In order to further strengthen its measures against the spread of COVID-19, the Singapore Government announced, on 3 April 2020, that all workplaces except those offering essential services will close for a month i.e. from 7 April 2020 to 4 May 2020 (both days inclusive).
In response to the above, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore ("IPOS") has declared 7 April 2020 to 7 May 2020 as Excluded Days. What this means to Applicants is that all prescribed deadlines (including all deadlines related to application filings and submission of documents) falling within the period from Tuesday, 7 April 2020 to Thursday, 7 May 2020 (both days inclusive) will be extended to Friday, 8 May 2020. This exclusion applies across all IPOS Registries as well as the Hearings and Mediation Department.
Applicants can, however, continue to make use of IPOS's online portal, IP2SG, to carry out e-filings.
In addition, IPOS will close its physical office and its staff will be working from home. All face-to-face consultations will also be suspended until further notice, and e-appointments, business and legal clinics will be conducted by telephone, email and/0r tele-conferencing, where appropriate.
This update is produced by our Singapore office, Bird & Bird ATMD LLP, and does not constitute legal advice. It is intended to provide general information only. Please note that the information in this update is accurate as at 6 April 2020. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates on any changes as soon as these are communicated to us. Please contact our lawyers if you have any specific queries.
