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TIPO Formalized Accelerated Examination Program for Invention Patent Applications |
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To accelerate the examination of the continually increasing invention patent applications in Taiwan, the Intellectual Property Office of Taiwan (TIPO) started a one-year trial of Accelerated Examination Program (AEP) in January 1, 2009. At the end of 2009, TIPO evaluated the results of the trial AEP and decided to formalize the AEP by accepting two more kinds of eligible invention applications from January 1, 2010.
Based on the statistics from January to September in 2009, 384 applications (78 cases were handled by Tai E) for AEP have been requested, of which 309 cases are eligible and 252 cases have had an official letter of the examination results issued within six months. This result shows that the AEP indeed can provide the applicants a convenient and effective way to accelerate the substantive examination of their applications.
In view of the result and considering the rights of the patent applicants, TIPO extended the range of eligible invention applications. Currently, eligible invention applications are limited to Taiwanese invention patent applications that are under substantive examination in the primary examination or re-examination stage, where the corresponding foreign application has been substantively examined and allowed. In the future, if the examination opinions and search report of the corresponding foreign application have been issued by the USPTO, JPO or EPO, but the application has not been allowed yet, the Taiwanese counterpart also will be eligible for the AEP. Furthermore, if a Taiwanese invention patent application is required for the applicant to practice for commercial purposes, the Taiwanese application also will be eligible for the AEP.
In principle, TIPO will render examination results within 9 months at the latest after the application form and necessary documents are submitted in full. The actual examination time may vary and depends on the technical field to which the invention patent application relates.
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