The accelerated examination program (AEP) in Taiwan was established in 2009 to shorten the examining time for an invention patent application. Initially it was implemented for invention applications which their corresponding foreign applications were allowed after substantive examination (Base 1). In 2010 the AEP was extended to the pending corresponding applications with official actions and search reports issued by USPTO, JPO or EPO (Base 2), and to the inventions with the need for commercial practice (Base 3). In 2014 the AEP further covers those green technology related inventions (Base 4).
In view of the rapid changes of technology and high competition in this global world, Taiwan government has set to provide better IP environment and enhance the innovative technology by incorporating various sources to make better policy and provide useful patent information for the development of IP strategy for business sectors. Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) previously entrusted the National Research Labs (NARLabs) to conduct research and analysis on the global trends and patent litigations of the telecommunications industry. A forum on the same topic was then held in November 2015 to invite the leading scholars, researchers and private sectors for the discussion and share opinions of developing IP plan.
In order to promote the collaboration between the industry and academic field, TIPO then announced in December 2015 to reiterate that the AEP examination under Base 3 is set to accelerate the patentability of a patent application which the applicant has the necessity to put the invention into commercial practice. Said commercial practice may include a patent application of invention made by the cooperation between the industry and academia, and the applicant could be an individual, university or research institution, or enterprise, regardless the cooperation funds come from the government or private sectors.
The applicant must submit the following for filing the above AEP request under Base 3:
- AEP application (to provide a brief description on the commercial practice)
- Exhibits such as photos of products, catalogues, licensing agreement, etc.
- Official Fee of NT$4000 (this is required only for AEP filed under Base 3 or 4, and is exempted for AEP filed under Base 1 or 2 which the foreign examination results or search report are submitted and such documents will save the time and cost of TIPO during the examination process)
It is to be noted that the invention application eligible for AEP examination must be laid-open (after the 18 months from the earliest priority date), otherwise a request for early laid-open should be filed at the same time when filing the AEP request. Also, the AEP examination will be conducted only after a request for substantive examination has been filed and received TIPO’s notice to proceed with the process of substantive examination on said invention application.
The processing time for TIPO to notify the examination result for an invention patent application filed with AEP request under Base 3 is about 9 months, whereas an invention patent application which has not been filed AEP request will have its first examination result within an average time of 15 to 28 months depending on the technical field of said invention.
Although the above AEP under Base 3 is set to assist the domestic applicants of both industry and academia for obtaining patent protection in an earlier time, yet the AEP including Base 1 to 4 applies to all foreign counterparts of Taiwan invention patent applications. In fact, besides AEP, foreign applicants could also file PPH request in Taiwan according to the bilateral agreement between TIPO and USPTO, JPO, SPTO and KIPO, respectively. Invention patent applications filed by PPH request will have an even shorter examination pendency up to 3 months only, as compared with 6 to 9 months for those filed by AEP request.
