The Accelerated Examination Program (AEP) in Taiwan was launched on January 1, 2009 for invention patent applications which their corresponding foreign patent applications have been allowed on the basis of substantive examination conducted.
The pilot program of AEP was then extended in 2010 to cover those inventions which their corresponding foreign applications pending before USPTO, JPO or EPO but official action and search report have been issued, as well as those inventions which are required for commercial practice.
In order to promote the growth of green industry,Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has now announced that AEP would be applicable to the green technology related inventions starting from January 1, 2014.
According to the statistics up to March 2013 by TIPO, the total filings for green technology inventionshave reached 7,264 including 58% of domestic applicants, followed by the foreign applicants from Japan 20% and United States 9%, respectively. The invention applications pertaining to green technologies are mainly LED, solar energy, and fuel cell.
TIPO has adopted a broader definition or coverage of green technologies to encourage the filing of such patent applications and thus does not setany specific limitations thereon. Basically, the green technology inventionsshould meet the following requirements:
- involving the technology area of energy saving, new energy, or new energy automobile; or
- involving the reduction of carbon dioxide emission and energy consumption.
To file a request of AEP for green technology, the applicant must submit the following:
- a written statement explaining how the invention contributes to green technology (by stating the relationship between the claims or description of specification and the green technology) or evidencing documents (such as the documents showing the invention is based on a green technology research project funding by the government); and
- official fee of NT$4,000.
It is to be noted that the average processing time for the first examination result of an invention patent applicationis currently 29 months. However, if the applicant has filed the above mentioned AEP request, it is anticipated that the pending period would be shortened to around 9 months.
