Recent Developments On Singapore's Patents Regime

1. Broadening of the grace period provision for patent applications, to better meet the commercial needs of inventors, facilitate the spread of new ideas, and promote innovation;
2. Closure of the foreign examination route within the patent application process, to improve the quality and consistency of granted patents; and
3. Implementation of other procedural changes, which makes the patent application process more applicant-friendly, and to streamline operations at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”).

 Broadening of Grace Period Provision

Singapore applies a worldwide novelty standard in determining whether an invention is patentable. During the search and examination process of a patent application, a claimed invention will be assessed against publicly available information (whether in Singapore or elsewhere) at its priority date (also known as the "state of the art"). Under this assessment, if an invention is publicly disclosed before the inventor applies for a patent, this information will form part of the state of the art and such disclosure can be fatal to the patentability of the invention.

The Singapore Patents Act contains a grace period provision which excludes certain disclosures from forming part of the state of the art so long as the Singapore patent application is filed within 12 months from the disclosure. However, under the current provision, disclosures are only excluded under very narrow circumstances, for example, where a disclosure is made in breach of confidence.

With the amendment, the grace period provision is now broadened to include any disclosure of the invention originating from the inventor.

This amendment follows Parliament's recognition of various business needs, such as the need to attract investors or to publish scientific papers, which motivate inventors to disclose their invention before making a patent application.

However, inventors should still exercise prudence and caution before disclosing their inventions. This is because not all jurisdictions have grace period provisions; even in jurisdictions where there are grace period provisions, the requirements to be satisfied may differ.

Closure of Foreign Route…