If you handle IP portfolios across the Commonwealth, your March 31st deadline just got twice as busy. Both the UK Intellectual Property Office and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore are introducing higher official fees starting April 1, 2026.

THE UK ‘GREAT RESET’

If you haven’t audited your UK portfolio this week, now is the time to start. As of April 1, 2026, the UK Intellectual Property Office is implementing one of its most significant fee updates in recent years.

The ‘Why’

UKIPO isn’t just raising prices arbitrarily. There are two primary drivers:

1. The Inflation Gap
   • Many UK trademark and related fees have remained largely unchanged for decades and have not kept pace with long-term inflation. As a result, the office has been operating under increasing financial pressure to maintain and modernise its services.
2. The ‘One IPO’ Transformation
   • March 31, 2026, marks the public launch of the One IPO Patents service, a major step toward a unified, digital-first platform that will eventually integrate patents, trademarks, and designs into a single real-time system. The revised fee structure helps fund this transformation.

The Data: What’s Actually Changing

Note: The full data PDF is at the bottom of this link, titled IPO full list of fees.

Things To Note

1. Cost-Saving Strategy: Use the 6-Month Renewal Window

The most immediate way to reduce costs is by using the renewal window. UK trademarks and designs can be renewed up to six months in advance.

If a registration is due before September 30, 2026, renewing before April 1 allows you to lock in the current fee levels. For large portfolios, this can translate into substantial savings.

2. Series Mark Review

UKIPO has indicated that series marks (multiple variations filed under a single application) are under review as part of its ongoing digital transformation.

If this filing strategy is important for your brand protection approach, it may be prudent to act early. Not only are fees increasing (from £50 to £60 per additional mark), but the future availability of this mechanism remains uncertain.

3. Patent ‘One IPO’ Transition

From April 1, 2026, UK patent applications can no longer be filed via eOLF (the EPO’s online filing system). Filings must instead be made through the new One IPO portal.

Submitting applications before the transition may help avoid both higher fees and potential disruption during the early stages of the new system rollout.

SINGAPORE’S PLAN

The ‘Why’

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore has been clear about its objectives. These changes are not purely inflation-driven, they are designed to address structural issues in the IP ecosystem:

1. Portfolio Efficiency: Encouraging the removal of unused or non-commercially exploited IP rights
2. Conciseness: Reducing excessively large patent claim sets
3. Quality: Incentivising more precise and complete applications from the outset

Phase 1: The ‘Foundation’ (Effective September 1, 2025)

This phase focused on entry and maintenance costs:

1. 15-Claim Limit: The “free” claim threshold was reduced from 20 to 15
2. Increased Claim Fees: Excess claim fees doubled from S$40 to S$80 per claim
3. Renewal Adjustments: Patent and trademark renewals increased by approximately 7–10%
4. Custom Specifications: Trademark applications using non-pre-approved descriptions increased from S$380 to S$410

Phase 2: The Legal and Procedural Shift

1. Final-Stage Examination Review (Form PF12B)

The fee for requesting an Examination Review Report will increase from S$2,150 to S$3,200.

Impact: This applies at the final stage, after a Notice of Intention to Refuse. Applicants seeking to challenge the examiner’s decision must now incur significantly higher costs.

This reinforces the importance of resolving issues earlier in prosecution, particularly during the Written Opinion stage.

2. Trademark Amendments (Form TM27)

This is a two-step increase:

• Sept 2025: S$40 > S$50
• April 2026: S$50 > S$60

Impact: Applies to amendments such as:

• Specifications of goods/services
• Class corrections
• Priority claims
• Disclaimers or limitations

This change encourages greater precision at the filing stage.

3. Excess Claims – Procedural Shift (Form PF13A)

A key structural change introduces what is effectively a “pay-as-you-go” model.

For applications where examination was requested on or after September 1, 2025, excess claim fees must now be paid during the Written Opinion response stage, rather than at grant.

Impact:

• Fees are incurred earlier in the prosecution process
• Each response with excess claims may trigger additional costs
• The grant-stage excess claims fee has been removed

4. Design Amendments (Form D5)

Amendments to registered designs will increase to S$60 under Phase 2.

Early corrections (before April 1) may help reduce administrative costs.

Note: The full data PDF is at the bottom of this link, titled Annex A

Final Takeaway

These changes reflect a broader global shift in intellectual property systems, towards higher-quality filings, leaner portfolios, and fully digital processes.

For businesses and practitioners, the message is clear:

act early, draft precisely, and actively manage your IP portfolio to control costs.

If you are reviewing your portfolio ahead of the April 1 changes, now is the time to act.

Reach out to Quality Oracle to ensure your IP strategy remains cost-efficient and future-ready in light of these upcoming changes.