Singapore patent system proposed change

Article taken from Today (http://www.todayonline.com) on 16 Jan 2012

  • Under the proposed “positive grant system”, only patents which fully meet the full criteria – novelty, inventiveness, and applicability to industry – will be granted by the Intellectual Propery Office of Singapore (IPOS).
    Note: American patent system is based on the principle of “Novelty” and “Unobviousness”.
  • Currently, the IPOS uses a “self assessment system” which grants patents even if they do not satisfy all three criteria and there are objection raised in the examination report.
  • The IPOS was unable to give a timeline on when the change would be tabled in Parliament.
  • The new system would serve as a sieve to ensure that potentially weak patents are not granted in the first place and only strong patents are allowed to dominate.
  • …”inventors would be incentivised to work towards stronger patents”…
  • …the IPOS’s proposed changes would ease the burden on courts.