In the past decade, the world has been paying more attention to Intellectual Property Rights, and as a result, patent applications have increased significantly at patent offices. To help cope with the growing workload, many patent offices, like in the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, Canada (USPTO, EPO, JPO, KIPO and CIPO, respectively) have implemented mechanisms known as "Patent Prosecution Highway" programs (PPH) to accelerate the application examination procedure while maintaining or even improving examination quality.

WORLD PATENT APPLICATIONS 1985 - 2007

Data from World Intellectual Property Indicators 2009 guidebook

TAIWAN PATENT APPLICATIONS 1985 – 2009

Data from TIPO Website

Unfortunately, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) is not a participant in any of these PPH programs. However, to help examiners cope with the heavy loading, in January 2009 TIPO introduced its own version of a PPH program, called the "Accelerated Examination Program" (AEP) for invention patent applications. After a one year trial period, the program had formally entered into force on 1 January 2010.

An English introduction to the AEP is available on the TIPO website. NAIP has also released a Notice detailing the requirements, procedures and benefits of the AEP (contact us for further information). The TIPO document, including the "AEP Procedure Chart" on the last two pages, clearly introduces much of the important information and rules. However, some vital details have not been translated and are only available in Chinese. For your reference, we have translated and organized the missing information into the seven key points below:

1.    When to Apply: Apply for accelerated examination after notification by TIPO that substantive examination or re-examination of the application will begin shortly. The applicant may not simultaneously apply for accelerated examination when requesting substantive examination or reexamination.

2.    Application Limits: There is no limit to how many times an applicant can apply for accelerated examination in order to submit additional reference information. The response time (six or nine months, depending on circumstances) won't be affected. The response time is counted from the date all necessary application documents are received and in order.

3.    Confirmation of Submitted Documents: The applicant will not receive confirmation if the examiner finds that the applicant has submitted all necessary documents. However, if documents are missing, TIPO will send notification within one to two weeks.

4.    Is the Preliminary Examination Report of a PCT Application Acceptable for AEP Condition 2? : A PCT application's "preliminary examination report" is not applicable as a reference document mentioned in Condition 2. TIPO accepts only an office action received after a PCT application enters the national phase.

5.    Only the Final Notice of Allowance Is Acceptable as the Reference under Condition 1: Some patent offices, like in the United Kingdom, may issue an opinion or report on an invention's patentability after substantive examination. Usually, after 18 months from the filing or the priority date, the application will be published and the Final Notice of Allowance made available. TIPO accepts only the Final Notice of Allowance as a reference under Condition 1. The report on patentability from a foreign counterpart application may be submitted as the reference under Condition 2.

6.    Multiple Foreign Counterparts: A foreign application is recognized as a "foreign counterpart(s)" as long as the content corresponds to any of the content within the TIPO application. For example, if the specification and the drawings of a foreign application support the claims in the TIPO application, it may be recognized as a foreign counterpart. As a result, multiple foreign counterparts are acceptable and a foreign counterpart that only supports part of the claims in a TIPO application is still acceptable as a reference document. The applicant need not divide the TIPO application into several applications to match the claims of the foreign counterparts.

7.    Foreign Counterpart Eligibility: The foreign counterpart must be an application that has undergone substantive examination. Since some patent offices, like the Korean patent office, conduct substantive examinations on utility models as well, this means those utility models applications can be used as a TIPO application's foreign counterpart.

Based on data from the one-year trial period, TIPO expects the AEP to decrease examination time not only for applications with foreign counterparts but also applications filed only at TIPO. The AEP will reduce examiner workload and free up time that can be beneficial to other applications and improve overall examination efficiency.

Further Information:
1. The TIPO Accelerated Examination Program (AEP) Announcement (2009.04.10)
2. AEP Program Summary (2009-05-26)
3. AEP Applicant/Usage Statistics (2009-08-24)
4. AEP Applicant/Usage Statistics Pt II (2009-11-10)
5. Extension and Revisions to AEP Program (2010-01-11)
6. TIPO-hosted AEP Survey (Chinese)*
*As of 7/19/10 43% of survey participants were "Satisfied" or "More Than Satisfied" with the program; 31% deemed the program "Normal"; 9% "Acceptable"; and 16% had no opinion.