Both Singapore and the Republic of Korea are focused on mutual collaboration and cooperation in identified arenas of intellectual property (IP).

What is covered is the commercialization or exploitation including patent technology and licensing, the promotion of awareness and education, and the exchange of technical expertise, knowledge and training for all genres of IP including the field of plant variety protection (PVP).

Citizen and resident Inventors that seek to secure patent protection now have available a broader framework that would translate into time and cost savings and render Singapore a more attractive location for research and development investments from Republic of Korea.

Firstly, Singapore has added the Korean national IP office (KIPO) to its approved pool of competent international search and preliminary examination authorities (ISA and IPEA). This means that a citizen or resident of Singapore who makes an international patent filing, under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) with IPOS as a receiving office, has an additional option to choose KIPO to conduct the International Search & Examination for his international application.

Secondly, Singapore granted KIPO the status of prescribed patent office (PPO) adding it to its current pool of recognized patent offices. This means an applicant for a patent in Singapore can rely on the search and examination results of a similar patent application that has been filed with KIPO (with requisite English translations to be furnished).