The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, together with the other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN“) Intellectual Property (“IP“) offices, has launched the ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation Plus (“ASPEC+“) programme with effect from 6 April 2026.
The regular ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation (“ASPEC“) is the first regional patent work-sharing programme among the IP offices of nine participating ASEAN Member States (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). The programme was established to share search and examination results between the participating offices to allow applicants to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently.
ASPEC+ is a new option offered under the established ASPEC programme, aiming to offer more closely harmonised patent reports and committed timelines. The main features of ASPEC+ include:
- Choose your preferred IP Offices based on your market priorities within ASEAN;
- Receive the first office action within 10 to 14 months, providing early certainty on the status of your patent applications;
- Benefit from enhanced search and examination results through an exchange of expertise between your IP offices of choice;
- Possibility of receiving identical or similar examination results from your IP offices of choice; and
- Optimise patent prosecution effort, time and resources as simultaneous responses to identical or similar examination results, can be prepared.
It is currently free to apply for the ASPEC+ programme. Official fees for search and examination at IP offices will still apply.
Click on the following link for more information:
- ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation (available on the ASEAN IP website at www.aseanip.org)
Disclaimer
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