Changes In The Patent Cooperation Treaty - Singapore

PCT Changes on 1 April 2007

1. Confirmation of Incorporation by Reference of missing parts/elements (rule 20.6)
- to allow inclusion of missing parts or elements that were present in the priority document but was omitted in the PCT application without causing changes to the international filing date.
- the Receiving Office (RO) will inform the applicant whether their request for incorporation is accepted or refused.

2. Restoration of the Rights of Priority (Rule 26bis.3)
- to allow a priority claim to an earlier filed application outside the priority period (ie, > 12 months).
- Restoration of Rights of Priority - within 2 months from expiry of priority ie. 14 months.

3. Rectification of Obvious mistakes (Rule 91)
- now, the mistake must only be obvious to the "competent authority", not "anyone".
- new time limit ; request must be submitted within 26 months from priority date.

4. Physical Requirements (Rule 11.9(d))
- require all text in international application to be at least 0.28 cm.

5. Correction Procedure (Rule 26.4)
- may be stated in a letter.

PCT Changes on 1 July 2008

1. Extension of time limit for payment of the restoration fee (Rule 26bis.3(d))
- time limit for payment of fee is 3 months from expiry of priority period.
- RO may extend this time limited for up to 2 months.


2. Request to take into account the result of earlier searches (Rule 12bis.1, 4.12 & 41)
- request International Search Authority (ISA) to take into account earlier search carried out by other ISA or national office.

3. Prevention of International Publication
- notification to withdraw application should be sent directly to IB to prevent accidental publication of withdrawn application.

4. Reduction of International Fees
- International filing and handling fee reduced by 90% for applicants from certain countries (Antigua, Barbuda, Bahrain, Barbados, Libyan, Arab Jamahiraya, Oman, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, UAE & Seychelles).

5. E-filing: submission of pre-converted files
- Receiving offices (RO) allow to accept submission of International application (IA) in its pre-converted format in the event the submitted IA in pdf. contain errors due to the conversion process.

6. Use of email for advance copies of notifications
- enable notification to be sent to applicant in advance of paper notification.

PCT Changes on 1 January 2009

1. New publication languages
- publication available in Korean and Portuguese.
- will contain title, abstract and search report in English.
- only apply to application with filing date on or after 1 January 2009.

2. Supplementary International search (SIS) (Rule 45bis)
- to enable applicant to request further searches in prior arts of specific languages eg. Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Norwegian.
- currently only conducted by 3 SIS authority – Sweden, Russia and Nordic Institute.

PCT Changes on 1 July 2009

1. Declaration under Article 14(4)
- the RO will send a Declaration to the applicant that an application will be considered withdrawn.
- the applicant will be sent a notification to be informed of RO's intent to send the Declaration.
- the applicant can request for 2 months time extension to submit argument in reply to the notification.

2. Form of claims amendments
- for amendment under Art 19 or 34, replacement sheets containing complete set of claims must be submitted.
- for deletion of claims, no renumbering of remaining claims is required.

3. Filing of sequence listings
- sequence listings forming part of the international application.
- no page fee for sequence listing filed in ST.25 text format filed in electronic form.
- however, full page fee will be chargeable if filed in image or pdf format.
- table relating to sequence listing will count as regular pages of descriptions.