Migration of IPOS online filing platform, excluded days from 1 to 13 May 2024 for business under IP Acts and Rules

5 April 2024

To facilitate the migration of its online filing platform to the Government on Commercial Cloud platform, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”) has declared the period of 1 to 13 May 2024 (both dates inclusive) to be excluded days for all business under the IP Acts and Rules, except for certain classes of business (“Transactable Business”). Deadlines falling during this period will be extended to 14 May 2024.

IP Acts and Rules refer to the Patents Act 1994 and Rules, the Trade Marks Act 1998 and Rules, the Registered Designs Act 2000 and Rules, the Plant Varieties Protection Act 2004 and Rules, and the Geographical Indications Act 2014 and Rules 2019.

Transactable Business

Transactable Business includes the following:

  • Application to register a trade mark, collective mark, or certification mark
  • Application for international registration governed exclusively by the Madrid Protocol
  • Request for the grant of a patent
  • Application for registration of a design under section 11 of the Registered Designs Act 2000
  • Application for grant of protection under section 13 of the Plant Varieties Protection Act 2004
  • Application to register geographical indication
  • Application to register, amend, or terminate licence
  • Application to register, amend, or terminate security interest
  • Application to register transfer of ownership
  • Assent by personal representatives
  • Filing of order of court
  • Written authority sought under section 34 of the Patents Act 1994
  • Conduct of case management conferences, pre-hearing reviews, and hearings; and the submission of related documents, which relates to:
    • correspondence to inform or update on the person(s) attending case management conferences or pre-hearing reviews or request a vacation of the proceedings;
    • additional or supplementary written submissions and bundle(s) of authorities; and
    • rebuttal or reply written submissions and bundle(s) of authorities.

To protect applicants, any time limit for claiming of priority which falls within 1 to 13 May 2024 will be extended to 14 May 2024.

The Registries Practice Direction (No. 1 of 2024) and accompanying circulars for the respective IP types, published on 1 April 2024, detail the effects of excluded days on the expiry of time periods and date of filing.

Reference materials

The following materials can be found on the IPOS website www.ipos.gov.sg: