IPOS suspends acceptance of new requests under patents and trademarks acceleration programmes
14 January 2026
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has suspended the acceptance of new acceleration requests under its SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast acceleration programmes beginning on January 4, 2026, until further notice.
IPOS issued Patents Circular No. 1 of 2026 and Trade Marks Circular No. 2 of 2026 on January 4, 2026, announcing the suspension. The circular likewise stated that the office is currently reviewing both programmes. Acceleration requests submitted before January 4, 2026, are not covered by the suspension and will therefore have their office actions or applications accelerated provided they meet the requirements.
“These services have seen healthy demand, so we are working to resume the services as soon as possible,” an IPOS representative told Asia IP.
Launched on May 20, 2025, the programmes were launched to allow patent and trademark applicants to receive office actions more swiftly.
To expedite the examination of their patent applications, applicants may opt for the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), which includes over 30 partner offices under PPH and Global PPH networks. “Applications under the PPH/GPPH programme benefit from fewer office actions and have a higher grant rate on average, at lower costs,” the IPOS representative said.
Meanwhile, trademark applicants can expedite their applications via IPOS’s Classification Database of pre-approved goods and services. “Pre-approved terms are automatically accepted by the Registrar and reduce examination time. Applications adopting the pre-approved Classification Database also benefit from reduced filing fees of S$280 (US$217) per class, compared to S$410 (US$319) per class for normal applications,” the representative added.
- Espie Angelica A. de Leon
