Gerald Koh comments on Singapore’s new patent regime Singapore Business Review

23 Feb 2012

Singapore Business Review

Intellectual Property Director Gerald Koh comments on Singapore’s new patent regime that will see a move from a “self-assessment” system of granting patents to a “positive grant” system to align it with more established jurisdictions such as the United States, UK and Japan.

Gerald said: “The current patent regime was borne out of necessity and only commenced in 1995. Prior to that, Singapore would grant protection for patents which had been registered in the UK. In order to encourage growth of a nascent IP industry and for innovators and businesses to be enticed to patent their inventions and products, the bar to patentability was not set too high. However, now that the IP industry in Singapore is more mature and developed, it is timely and appropriate to consider adopting international standards which are more rigorous.” 

Gerald opined that the change in regime would be beneficial in strengthening the overall confidence of businesses and inventors in the Singapore patent protection regime.

Read the report in Singapore Business Review March 2012 p.37.