In brief
On 12 May 2026, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) issued a joint statement announcing a new cooperation initiative to strengthen collaboration on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in patent substantive examination.
The initiative is aimed at enhancing examination quality, consistency and operational efficiency through structured bilateral exchanges and technical collaboration, and reflects a broader global push towards AI-enabled intellectual property (IP) administration.
In more detail
The joint statement comes on the back of a bilateral meeting in Singapore between Mr. Tan Kong Hwee, Chief Executive of IPOS and Mr. Yasuyuki Kasai, Commissioner of JPO, as well as an earlier Memorandum of Cooperation signed in November 2025.
Under this cooperation initiative, IPOS and JPO will launch a bilateral patent examiner exchange programme and hold regular technical exchanges on the use of AI in patent examination to strengthen capabilities, share best practices, and develop robust processes.
Beyond AI, the cooperation initiative between IPOS and JPO will extend across a broader set of operational and policy areas, including patent search and examination quality management, benchmarking of examination practices, IT infrastructure development, operational management and IP policy exchanges. IPOS and JPO will also coordinate initiatives to support enterprises, including SMEs under the cooperation initiative.
The collaboration is intended to support high-quality, reliable and trusted patent examination as patent offices adapt to rapid technological developments and increasing interest in AI-driven innovation.
IPOS and JPO emphasised the importance of maintaining consistency, reliability and trust in the patent system while leveraging AI to improve efficiency.
Both offices will continue engagements through platforms such as the upcoming IP Week in Singapore in August 2026.
Key takeaways
This joint statement reflects a clear and accelerating focus on the use of AI in patent examination and signals more deliberate shift towards international alignment in how AI tools are deployed within examination workflows, rather than purely domestic experimentation.
From a practical perspective, businesses should expect patent offices to increasingly integrate AI-assisted tools into prior art searches, classification and preliminary analysis, even if final decision-making remains examiner-led. While this may lead to faster and more consistent examination outcomes, it also raises potential questions around transparency, reproducibility and how applicants should engage with AI-influenced examination reports.
To prepare for AI-enable examination, businesses should ensure that patents are drafted for clarity, with stronger specifications and internal consistency, for example, covering definitions and fallback positions, to be ready for more granular novelty and inventive step objections earlier. Businesses should expect tighter, and more standardised objections and potentially faster cycles, so it would be worthwhile preparing for swifter workflows from internal invention disclosure progressing through to patent filing.
Such cross-border cooperation between IP offices brings with it the promise of more predictable and efficient patent outcomes across jurisdictions, which businesses managing multi-jurisdictional patent portfolios can look forward to. Over time, closer alignment may result in greater predictability in examination outcomes, more consistent approaches to inventive step and prior art assessment, and potentially reduced friction when prosecuting related applications across jurisdictions.
Sanil Khatri, Daryl Seetoh, and Natalie Joy Huang, Local Principals, have contributed to this legal update.
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