AmCham S'pore Hails IPOS Appointment

SINGAPORE, Sept 2 (Bernama) -- The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (AmCham) has hailed the appointment of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) as South-East Asia’s first international authority in patent search and examination. In a statement Wednesday, AmCham said the appointment strengthened Singapore as an attractive destination for innovation and growing intellectual property (IP) hub in Asia. "The appointment of IPOS, which will take effect on Monday, enables any international application filed in other countries, to be searched and examined in Singapore as well," it said. Worldwide, there are only 17 IP offices that offer such service. AmCham Chairman, James Andrade, said the ability to do Patent Cooperation Treaty search and examination complemented Singapore’s already robust IP regime. "It will drive more cutting edge IP-related work, create employment in Singapore and will be a boon to companies with regional operations," he said. The appointment of IPOS was initially made during the 54th World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Assemblies in 2014. While it has been possible to file an international application in Singapore since 1995, IPOS’s agreement with WIPO designates it as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority. -- BERNAMA