Singapore seeks upgrade on lax patent approval laws

Parliament is being urged to pass amendments that would move Singapore to a self-assessment to a positive grant patent system.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Law, Ms Sim Ann said that the upgrade is needed to make Singapore's patent system closer to world-leading standards and ensure a high quality of approved patents.

Under the existing self-assessment patent system, patent applications need not, however, fully fulfil Singapore’s patentability criteria in order to be granted. This means that patents may be granted without a fully positive examination report.

But she said under the proposed positive grant patent system, only patent applications which fully meet patentability criteria can be granted.

"The positive grant patent system will: raise the overall quality of patents granted in Singapore; align our patent system closer to that of established patent offices like the European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, the UK Intellectual Property Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office; and strengthen business and investor confidence in our patent regime," said Ms Sim Ann.

"The move to the positive grant patent system will minimise the occurrence of weak patents being granted in future, enhance the standing of Singapore granted patents, and give increased assurance to companies and investors of the quality of Singapore-granted patents. Because investors have increased assurance of the quality of Singapore-granted patent, local SMEs could find it easier to raise funds on the basis of their Singapore-granted patents to take their patented inventions to market,' she said.

New sections in the law will also add a new supplementary examination process for patent applications that rely on a positive foreign search and examination report, to ensure that such patent applications also comply with Singapore’s requirements for patents. 

It will also add a new process for the review of non-positive examination reports, search and examination reports, and supplementary examination reports, to provide patent applicants with the opportunity to address outstanding objections raised by the examiner in these reports.