The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) recently announced that starting from October 2007, it would admit foreign patent search result and examination result as reference material for use in examining the corresponding application filed in Taiwan.
TIPO remarked that 58% of the patent applications filed in Taiwan in 2005 and 2006, were from foreign applicants. Based on such, TIPO decided to admit the above-mentioned, in particular those from the USA, Japan and EU, in order to expedite the examination process and to render better services to the applicants. According, foreign applicants are encouraged to submit their corresponding foreign patent search reports and/or notices of allowance to TIPO, if available.
