BY ALEX C. H. TSUNG
 
The Intellectual Property Office in Taiwan (TIPO) has published its 2021 Annual Report which provides statistics for patent examination in 2021.

According to the Report, for invention patent examination cases, there were 43,576 requests for substantive examination, 42,566 disposals and 50,285 pending cases. Compared to 2020, the numbers of requests for substantive examination and disposals both increased by 1.3% and the number of pending cases increased by 2.0%. The disposals included 31,833 allowances (74.8%), 9,945 rejections (23.4%) and 788 others including withdrawals (1.8%). A total of 44,774 first, second and further office actions were issued, marking a 0.4% increase from 2020 (44,602). Particularly, the TIPO issued 39,858 first office actions and 4,916 second and further office actions. Besides, a total of 98 final office actions were issued. The average first office action pendency was 8.7 months and the average disposal pendency was 14.0 months.

For invention patent reexamination cases, there were 6,496 requests for reexamination, 5,640 reexamination disposals and 7,337 pending reexamination cases. Compared to 2020, the number of reexamination disposals increased by 21.0% and the number of pending reexamination cases increased by 13.3%. The average first office action pendency was 10.3 months and the average disposal pendency was 13.0 months.

For utility model patent examination cases, the number of disposals was 16,025 and the average disposal pendency was 2.7 months. In addition, 970 technical evaluation reports were completed and the average completion time was 6.9 months.

For design patent examination cases, the disposals included 7,304 allowances (86.7%), 760 rejections (9.0%) and 361 others including withdrawals (4.3%). The average first office action pendency was 6.1 months and the average disposal pendency was 7.3 months.

Under the Accelerated Examination Program (AEP), a total of 577 AEP requests were filed. With regard to the pendency for processing AEP requests, the average first office action pendency was between 58 and 94 days and the average disposal pendency was between 143 and 203 days.

Under the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program, most requests were filed under the TIPO-USPTO PPH program (525 cases) and the TIPO-JPO program (389 cases). For patent applications filed under the TIPO-USPTO program and the TIPO-JPO PPH program, the average first office action pendency was between 46 and 59 days and the average disposal pendency was between 121 and 150 days.

(Translated and summarized from the 2021 Annual Report of the Intellectual Property Office in Taiwan)

*Section Chief of International Patent Division at Tai E International Patent & Law Office