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1. Why do you need a good Patent Attorney and how to search for a qualified Patent Attorney?
Patent prosecution requires integration knowledge and skills in relevant laws, business and technologies. A good Patent Attorney with good understanding, skill-sets and experiences can assist you to maximize your resources and work together with you in obtaining and defending your competitive edge.
Your invention will be better understood and patented by a good Patent Attorney who has drafted patent specifications with the maximum scope of protection, as well as making sound technical and business sense. A good Patent Attorney will pre-empt potential objections and provide appropriate guidance during the entire patent prosecution process.
Please note that the Patent Attorney serving you is a qualified Patent Attorney registered with IPOS. You may search for a registered Patent Attorney at IPOS website.
Besides being registered, which is a basic requirement, a good Patent Attorney should preferably have:
- Sound legal knowledge on patent laws in both domestic and relevant foreign countries;
- Several years of hands-on working experience in Research & Development;
- Understanding of the relevant technology and market situations with the ability to analyze prior art information;
- Business skills in appreciating your unique business and in helping you to manage patent portfolios, patenting cost and diverse legal requirements.
2. What is IP (intellectual property) and patent protection?
IP rights are exclusive rights granted to owner(s) of the intellectual property for exploitation. Patent protection gives an owner(s) of an invention with an exclusive period of 20 years typically for making, using or selling products or services based on the invention.
3. What are benefits of obtaining patent protection?
4. What are the key activities of patent prosecution?
5. What to do if I receive objections from Patent Office?
Generally, there are two types of objections, namely procedural and substantial objections.
When you receive a procedural objection, you typically need to comply with relevant legislation by filing corrections or amendments.
When you receive substantial objection, which normally raises questions about novelty and inventive step on your patent claims, you will need to study the content of the objection and file suitable response(s). Typically, a Patent Attorney is engaged to work with you for studying cited prior art documents and the objections in order to present structured response for overcoming the objection.
It is crucial to engage a suitably qualified Patent Attorney who is both technically and legally sound to assist you in overcoming various obstacles during the patent prosecution process.
6. Is there any financial help for protecting my inventions?
The good news is YES for some countries, including Singapore and China. Some countries encourage innovations and as such, provide various funding schemes for assisting patent filing. Please contact us if you wish to know more.
7. Why prior art search is important for patent filing?
The patent law requires an invention to be NEW in order to be patentable.
The prior art search will give you some indications as to whether you invention is new or possess novelty. In most countries, your invention will generally not be eligible in getting a patent if someone has already made disclosure in public on ideas similar to your invention.
Since patenting process can be costly and lengthy (e.g. 2~4 years), you may wish to request your Patent Attorney to conduct prior art search before filing your invention as a patent application. The prior art search can provide preliminary evaluation on patentability of your invention. Money and time can be saved if some relevant prior art is uncovered by the preliminary evaluation before the patent filing, instead of being unveiled Patent Office(s) during later stages of patent prosecutions.
Another advantage of performing prior art search is that you will gain a precious opportunity to modify your invention or drafting patent specification before patent filing. Since patent laws typically have strict regulation over amendment or correction after the filing, it will be much easier to take into consideration your findings in the prior art search and include all your changes to the patent specification before its official filing with Patent Office(s).
8. How much does it cost to obtain worldwide patent protection?
The answer is that “it depends”. Patents are territorial such that you may need to file patent applications in each relevant jurisdiction in order to protect your invention in the jurisdiction. Each of the patent applications normally is required to undergo examination before the grant of protection by related national governments.
There are indeed International and regional treaties available for facilitating faster and cheaper grant of patent protection. For example, you may file one or more priority or provisional applications at low cost for getting limited period of protection to your invention.
Please contact us to find out about suitable patenting strategies to suit your business and technological objectives.
9. What are the recent changes in Singapore patent laws?
Singapore has changed from its previous “self-assessment system” to the new “positive grant system” on 14 February 2014.
Under the previous “self-assessment system”, Singapore patent applications filed before 14 February 2014 or entered Singapore national phase before 14 February 2014 can still be granted even if their examination reports contain objections (e.g. patentability issues). In contrast, under the new system, all Singapore patent applications have to overcome all objections in Examination Reports or Written Opinions in order to be granted.
The above information is provided for your reference only, which does not constitute our legal advice. Please contact us directly if you wish to obtain legal guidance to your specific situation
+65 6500 6336 
