The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) and Korean Intellectual Patent Office (KIPO) began a PPH MOTTAINAI pilot program on July 1, 2015. The trial period was 5 years, and the pilot program ended on June 30, 2020. As this fast-track program had achieved good results, both TIPO and KIPO decided to continue and implement a permanent PPH program starting from July 1, 2020.
For many years, Korean applicants ranked No. 4 among the foreign applicants filing patent applications in Taiwan. For invention patent applications filed in 2019, TIPO received 1,656 filings from Korean applicants, while KIPO received 1,102 filings from Taiwanese applicants. According to TIPO’s statistics, a total of 96 PPH cases were filed via TIPO-KIPO PPH program from 2015 to 2019, and the filing numbers of 2019 increased by double amount as shown in the following table:
| Year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TIPO-KIPO PPH Cases | 6 | 20 | 14 | 18 | 37 |
Per TIPO’s statistics on patent filings in 2019, the average pendency times for issuing the first notice (of examination opinion) and disposal (acceptance or rejection) for a normal invention application without utilizing PPH program are 8.4 months and 13.6 months, respectively. In comparison, the average pendency times for PPH cases are much shorter, about one to two months for first notice and about 4 months for disposal, respectively. Therefore, applicants are encouraged to file a PPH request for an invention application, in order to speed up the examination process and obtain patent protection sooner.
