Extension of SG IP Fast Program until 30 April 2024

Patent applications take time to grant for reasons like the steps involved and their technical complexity.

To shorten this time frame, several patent offices offer patent acceleration programmes to shorten time frames to grant and issuance of the first examination report. The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) approach is her SG IP Fast Programme; see here.

In relation to patents, the first form of the SG IP Fast Programme was a FinTech Fast Track (“FTFT”) for Fintech inventions and an Accelerated Initiative for Artificial Intelligence (“AI2”) for artificial intelligence inventions, launched in 2018 and 2019 respectively. The latest SG IP Fast Programme now covers all inventions. Originally slated to end on 30 April 2022, IPOS has extended it for two years to 30 April 2024. Straightforward patent applications can be granted in as fast as six months. Non-straightforward patent applications can be granted in as fast as nine months.

The monthly cap for patent applications will increase from the current five requests to ten requests, with a cap of two requests per entity (individual or…