The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program between the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) and the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) is set to launch on July 1, 2025. The PPH program allows patent offices to share search and examination results, thereby reducing duplication of work, enhancing examination efficiency, and improving patent quality. The Taiwan-France PPH will support enterprises in obtaining patents more quickly and strengthening their global IP portfolios.

Since launching its first PPH program with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2011, the TIPO has established PPH partnerships with Japan, Spain, Korea, Poland, and Canada. France now becomes Taiwan’s seventh PPH partner. According to the TIPO’s statistics, the average disposal pendency for PPH cases in Taiwan in 2024 was 4.4 months, i.e., significantly shorter than the average of 14.15 months and demonstrating a substantial improvement in examination efficiency.

Director General Cheng-wei Liao remarked that France is a key trade and economic partner for Taiwan in Europe, with bilateral trade amounting to USD 6.538 billion. The Taiwan–France PPH cooperation aims to create a more favorable environment for cross-border patent filings, enabling enterprises to obtain patents faster and gain a competitive edge in the market. The TIPO and the INPI will continue to deepen their cooperation and expand exchanges in the future to foster industrial development.

(Summarized and translated from the News published on the TIPO’s website: https://www.tipo.gov.tw/tw/cp-87-1010911-92281-1.html)