Posted by: ESSEN Patent & Trademark Office
Practice Area: Patent    Country: Taiwan R.O.C.    Publish Date: 26-Aug-2009

In the past few years, Taiwan has seen a steady rise in patent applications submitted from abroad, reflecting both the expansion of global trade markets and the increased efforts in maintaining IPR protection efforts in Taiwan. During this period, TIPO has received an annual average of more than 80,000 foreign applications. This total, according to a 2007 survey, ranks Taiwan no. 6 worldwide among national patent offices.

To help meet these growing demands and relieve examiners of excessive caseloads, TIPO has established the Accelerated Examination Program (AEP). The AEP was begun on January 1, 2009 for an initial trial period of one year and will be continued or amended pending the results of a future review.

Invention patent applications submitted in Taiwan may be eligible for the AEP provided a corresponding examination previously submitted abroad has been approved by the patent office of that country. The program will accept applications for both substantive examination and re-examination, regardless of whether a notice of examination
comments has already been issued. For most eligible cases, TIPO will send out a notice of examination results no more than six months (instead of an average two to three years for ordinary invention patent applications) after receiving and reviewing all required documents from the applicant. (Source: TIPO 2009-04-27)