IPOS recently announced official fee revisions (mostly fee increases) across different types of intellectual property (IP) protection, including patent and trademark protection, mostly taking effect on 1 September 2025 where some other fee revisions will be taking effect on 1 April 2026.
Patents
With effect from 1 September 2025, there will be modest fee increases in the PCT search and preliminary examination fees and renewal fees, but significant fee increases for the excess claim fee and the examination review report request fee.
Excess Claim Fee
In Singapore, currently, excess claim fees are payable at the time of requesting examination for each claim in excess of 20 claims.
For an examination request filed on or after 1 September 2025, for each claim in excess of 15 claims (instead of the current 20 claims), the excess claim fee will double to SGD 80 (about USD 70).
Ways to avoid this excess claim fee increase include:
- For Singapore patent applications yet to request examination, file the examination request before 1 September 2025; or
- If requesting examination on or after 1 September 2025, file voluntary claim amendments at the time of requesting examination to reduce the number of claims to 15 or less.
Examination Review Report Request Fee
In Singapore, if outstanding rejections/objections cannot be resolved within 18 months from the date of the first Written Opinion, a Notice of Intention to Refuse, including a negative Examination Report, will be issued by IPOS providing the Applicant(s) with one final opportunity to respond to the negative Examination Report in an attempt to resolve/overcome all outstanding rejections/objections, subject to the payment of a significant examination review report request fee currently at SGD 1,420 (about USD 1,100).
For an examination review report request filed on or after 1 September 2025, the associated fee will be increased to SGD 2,150 (about USD 1,700). Furthermore, for an examination review report request filed on or after 1 April 2026, the associated fee will be increased even further to SGD 3,200 (about USD 2,500).
Ways to avoid this examination review report request fee increase include:
- For Singapore patent applications with a negative Examination Report issued before 1 September 2025, file the examination review report request before 1 September 2025;
- For Singapore patent applications with a negative Examination Report issued between 1 September 2025 and 1 April 2026, file the examination review report request before 1 April 2026; or
- Resolve/overcome all outstanding rejections/objections within 18 months from the date of the first Written Opinion to avoid a negative Examination Report by responding to each Written Opinion (Office Action) as soon as possible to maximise the chance that the Examiner has sufficient time to issue an additional Written Opinion, if needed, within the above-mentioned 18 months examination period, instead of issuing a negative Examination Report.
Trademarks
As for trade mark applications with customized goods/services, the official fees will increase from SGD 380 to SGD 410 per class. The official fees remain unchanged if the applicant chooses to adopt the goods/services from IPOS’ pre-approved database.
Trade mark renewal fees and certain amendment fees will also be increased to encourage release of non-performing IP and quality filings.
We encourage trade mark owners who have an interest in protecting or renewing their trade marks in Singapore to enjoy the lower official fees before the official fees increase.
The increase of official fees will also affect other aspects, such as Registered Designs, Plant Varieties Protection, Hearings and Mediation, Copyright, and extensions of time.
More details on the official fee revisions announced by IPOS can be found at the IPOS Circular (Circular: Fee Updates | Intellectual Property Office of Singapore)