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The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) announced on 4 January 2026 that acceptance of new requests for the SG Patents Fast and SG Trade Marks Fast programmes would be suspended with immediate effect. The SG Patents Fast Programme allowed applicants to pay an additional fee to accelerate the issuance of the first official action. There were two options: SG Patents 4 under which the first official action would be issued within four months of the request for examination and SG Patents Fast 8 under which the first official action would be issued within eight months of the request for examination. The SG Trade Marks Fast programme allowed applicants to pay an additional fee to fast-track trade mark applications and receive the first examination report within six weeks from the date of the application.
IPOS have not provided a reason for the sudden suspension of the acceleration programmes. We have been in contact with IPOS to clarify their future plans for the programmes. We understand that IPOS intends to re-instate the programmes in the future, but IPOS are not able to give an indication of when this is likely to happen or if there will be any changes to the programmes. The SG Patents Fast programme provided a way for applicants to accelerate issuance of the first official action which could assist with decision making on matters such as foreign filings. The SG Patents Fast programme also potentially allowed applicants to accelerate the grant of Singapore patent applications, which could be used to accelerate prosecution of corresponding patent applications in other jurisdictions as well as potentially providing a commercial advantage.
We will continue to monitor the status of the programmes and to liaise with IPOS and since the programmes have many benefits for applicants, we hope that the programmes will be re-instated soon. In the meantime, there are other options for accelerating examination in Singapore and other jurisdictions and we can offer tailored advice on the most suitable available options.
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