Asia IP

To support greater trade flow and innovation between the two regions, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) have agreed to launch a comprehensive Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programme for the accelerated treatment of patent applications with effect from January 2015.

Kristian Robinson, a director at Spruson & Ferguson believes that the greatest advantage would be an expected increase in patent filings at the IPOS. With the EPO-IPOS PPH programme, there is now greater incentive for patent applicants to file in Singapore and obtain a Singapore patent, with the view of accelerating their European prosecution.

“Given the volume of filings at the EPO, the length for prosecution can typically take from three to five years. In contrast, the IPOS is free of backlog and can conclude examination of patent applications as quickly as within a year.

“Hence, for patent applicants who want to fast-track their patent prosecution at the EPO, it is now useful to file a parallel SG application. In doing so, the patent applicant may be able to take advantage of a quickly granted SG patent to shorten its European prosecution,” he says.