How to Search the Singapore Patent Office Website

Singapore is one of three modern city-states in the world (Monaco and the Vatican City are the others for the trivia buffs).  It is also considered both a country and a state which makes it easier when filling out a mailing address. That ease is also apparent when finding the Singapore patent office search screen.  Let’s take a look at what the Singapore patent office website has to offer.

The Singapore patent office website search interface is a straightforward find compared to other patent office search interfaces.  You have various IP types to search including patents, designs, and trademarks.  The concentration for this article is on patents, and the patent search has three options for searching-Fast Search, Simple Search and Boolean Search. 

I tend to select the Simple Search with the Search Type “IP” and the Search Category “Patents/Patents Open Dossier.”  Then, I enter whatever criteria I have available for searching.  Note that after entering your criteria you need to scroll down to enter a Captcha code before clicking on the Search button at the bottom of the search screen. 

Before I move on to the search result and patent information, it’s worth mentioning that the default language for their website is English.  This is a windfall since I’m constantly having to use a translation tool.

The result that displays after clicking Search includes application number, title, status, applicant, filing date (mindful of the date format DD/MM/YYYY), lodgment date (date at which the application is completed) and agent name.

If you are looking for a search result that has more information without clicking into the record, consider using the Boolean Search as it displays more fields in the search result like inventor names, priority information, and patent number. This may come in handy if you are looking up several matters by applicant name and don’t want to open each record to save time.

If you don’t mind the extra click, opening the records has a plethora of additional information if you want more than just the basic bibliographic information.  The Details of Patent section includes the typical information around status, filing date, grant date, title, and priority.  It also includes next renewal date, year of last renewal, and one of my favorites, expiration date.  Expiration dates are not very common in patent office websites so when it’s included I always consider it a bonus. 

Another piece of useful information is, if the displayed matter is a divisional, the record lists and links to the parent.  As you scroll down the record there is applicant, inventor, and agent details.  This could be useful, for example, when trying to track down an inventor address if the previous assignee didn’t give you the details.

If you’ve read some of my articles you know that I’m always looking for renewal information.  Therefore, I was excited to discover the Other Entries section includes all the previous renewal payments.  In addition, it includes events relating to prosecution history.  Lastly, the Specification and Abstract Documents sections include downloadable documents to the description, claims, drawings, and abstract.

Now you know the treasures of the Singapore Patent Office Website!  I’m sure there are more.  If you know of one I didn’t mention, please let us know or post on our LinkedIn page. If you found this valuable, we have another post for you: what are back fees and which countries assess them. Black Hills IP hopes this content becomes a continuous flow of information that the IP community can rely and act on.  We are the leaders in smarter IP data docketing.