Singapore Parliament Passes Amendment To Patent Act, IP Related Acts

SINGAPORE, July 11 (Bernama) -- The Singapore Parliament on Tuesday passed legislative amendments to the Patent Act and other Intellectual Property (IP) related acts. To enhance Singapore’s IP infrastructure and better meet the needs of inventors and businesses, as well as position Singapore to become a key node for patent agency work, the law ministry and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) proposed the amendments to the Patents Act, as well as other IP related Acts in May 2012. In a statement, the ministry said the amendments included change from a ‘self-assessment’ to a ‘positive grant’ patent system, where only patent applications which had fully positive examination reports could be granted. Secondly, liberalisation of the patent agent regime to allow patent agents who are qualified overseas to register in Singapore to undertake offshore patent agency work. Lastly, a new Integrated Registries IT system at IPOS, which will make it easier and more convenient for customers to execute transactions and access information related to the different types of IP. -- BERNAMA