To foster a more efficient and applicant-friendly environment for cross-border patent filings—enabling enterprises to obtain patents faster and strengthen their market position—the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) and the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) on the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) during the Taiwan-France Economic Dialogue on May 21, 2025. The TIPO-INPI PPH pilot program officially launched on July 1, 2025, marking a new milestone in bilateral IP collaboration. This article offers an overview of the PPH framework and its current implementation in Taiwan.

I. What Is the Patent Prosecution Highway?

The Patent Prosecution Highway was first introduced in 2006 as a pilot program between the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO).[1] The initiative aims to expedite patent examination by enabling participating patent offices to share search and examination results. By avoiding wasteful duplication of effort, it alleviates examiner workload, improves the efficiency and quality of examination, and enables applicants to obtain patent rights more quickly.

A. Types and Mechanisms of Bilateral PPH Programs

Bilateral PPH programs may be classified into three types, in descending order of restrictiveness, based on the conditions for submitting a request:

1. Normal PPH

When at least one claim of a patent application filed with the Office of First Filing (OFF) has been found allowable/patentable following substantive examination, the applicant may submit a PPH request to the Office of Second Filing (OSF) for the corresponding application. The OSF may then accelerate the examination process by referring to the search and examination results provided by the OFF.

2. PPH MOTTAINAI

Given the variation in examination speeds across jurisdictions, the OSF may complete substantive examination before the OFF. Under the Normal PPH framework, however, applicants are required to rely on the examination results issued by the OFF, which may limit the opportunity to leverage earlier positive outcomes from other offices. To overcome this limitation, the PPH MOTTAINAI model permits applicants to use positive examination results from either office—regardless of which completes examination first—as the basis for a PPH request in the corresponding office. This mechanism offers greater procedural flexibility and improves overall efficiency.

3. PCT-PPH

Administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) streamlines and harmonizes the international patent filing process. It enables applicants to preserve priority rights in multiple jurisdictions through a single-language submission and provides additional time to enter the national or regional phase, compared to the Paris Convention route. Unlike the Normal PPH or PPH MOTTAINAI programs, which rely on the national office’s examination results, the PCT-PPH enables applicants to submit a PPH request based on a positive international work product issued during the PCT international phase. However, since Taiwan is not a PCT contracting state,[2] the PCT-PPH program is not available in Taiwan.

B. Plurilateral PPH Program

The PPH framework was initially implemented through bilateral agreements. As the number and complexity of such agreements increased, maintaining them on a one-to-one basis became increasingly burdensome. To address this, two plurilateral PPH pilot programs were launched in 2014:

1. IP5 PPH: Involving the five largest intellectual property offices (IP5 Offices)—JPO, USPTO, KIPO (Korea), CNIPA (China), and EPO (Europe).
2. Global PPH: Currently involving 28 participating offices worldwide, including the JPO, USPTO, and KIPO.

Both programs allow applicants to submit a PPH request to any participating office based on either (i) a positive examination result issued by another participating office, or (ii) a positive international work product issued during the PCT international phase.[3]

TIPO is currently not a participant in any plurilateral PPH programs.

II. Taiwan’s PPH Implementation

Taiwan currently maintains bilateral PPH agreements with seven countries: the United States (since 2011), Japan (since 2012; permanent since 2020), Spain (since 2013), Korea (since 2015; permanent since 2020), Poland (since 2017), Canada (since 2018), and France (since July 2025). Among these, the TIPO-USPTO PPH program follows the Normal PPH model, whereas the others adopt the PPH MOTTAINAI model.[4]

The following are the requirements for submitting a PPH request with TIPO.[5]

1. Eligible Application Type: Only invention patent applications are eligible. Utility model and design patent applications are not accepted under the PPH program.
2. Priority Requirements: The TIPO application must either (i) claim priority to the foreign application under Taiwan’s Patent Act §28 (Normal PPH or PPH MOTTAINAI); (ii) serve as the basis of a valid priority claim under the foreign patent law for the foreign application (PPH MOTTAINAI); or (iii) share a common priority document with the foreign application (PPH MOTTAINAI).
3. Claim Correspondence: All claims in the TIPO application must sufficiently correspond to one or more claims indicated as allowable/patentable in the foreign patent office. That is, they must be of the same or narrower scope, and no new claims or claims of a different scope may be introduced.
4. Timing of Request: The PPH request must be submitted after TIPO has issued a notice to the applicant indicating that a substantive examination will begin shortly, but before it issues a first office action on the application
5. Fees: No official fee is required for submitting a PPH request.

As of May 2025, Taiwan’s top three PPH programs by cumulative application volume are: the TIPO-JPO PPH program (5,811 cases), trailed closely by the TIPO-USPTO PPH program (5,601 cases), and then the TIPO-KIPO PPH program (239 cases).[6] According to 2024 statistics, PPH applications in Taiwan enjoy significantly faster examination, a higher grant rate, and a higher “direct grant” rate (applications granted in the first office action), compared to all invention patent applications in Taiwan, as shown in the table below.

▲Examination statistics for PPH applications and all invention patent applications (statistics period: January to December 2024).[7]

III. Comparison Between the PPH and the Accelerated Examination Program (AEP)

TIPO introduced the Accelerated Examination Program (AEP) in 2010. While both the AEP and the PPH aim to expedite the examination process, the AEP offers a broader range of qualifying conditions and allows greater flexibility in the timing of the request. A brief comparison between Taiwan’s PPH and AEP systems is provided in the table below.

As of December 2024, a total of 9,778 AEP requests had been filed. Over the past five years, foreign applicants accounted for the majority of AEP requests, primarily relying on Condition 1. In contrast, domestic applicants mainly submitted requests under Condition 3, followed by Condition 4.[8] In general, AEP applications were processed significantly faster than invention patent applications overall, though slightly slower than PPH applications, as illustrated in the table below.

▲Average first response time by AEP request condition (statistics period: January to December 2024)[9]

Applicants should choose between the PPH and AEP programs. If both requests are submitted without a clear indication of preference, TIPO will prioritize the PPH request by default, as it generally leads to a faster examination process.[10]

IV. Conclusion

France was Taiwan’s third-largest trading partner within the EU and its 18^th-largest globally in 2024, with bilateral trade totaling USD 6.538 billion.[11] The annual Taiwan-France Economic Dialogue has been held alternately in Taipei and Paris since 2012 and was elevated to a high-level dialogue in 2024. The long-standing trust and cooperation between the two countries underscore France’s role as a strategic partner for Taiwan in Europe. The newly launched Taiwan-France PPH program is expected to enhance the efficiency of patent acquisition and support enterprises in developing global patent portfolio strategies. TIPO has expressed its commitment to continued cooperation with INPI to foster a robust intellectual property environment that promotes innovation and commercial growth in both countries.

For more information on patent and IP laws in Taiwan, please contact us at gkuo@winklerpartners.com or kliu@winklerpartners.com.

Written on 23 July 2025 by Gary Kuo, Karen Liu and Hung-Yi Yang.

[1] See PPH Portal, PPH Network (https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/toppage/pph-portal/network.html).

[2] See TIPO (2021), 1.5 Can I apply a PCT international application in the ROC? (https://www.tipo.gov.tw/en/cp-311-880712-15ed4-2.html).

[3] See PPH Portal, IP5 PPH (https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/toppage/pph-portal/ip5-pph.html); PPH Portal, Global PPH (https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/toppage/pph-portal/globalpph.html).

[4] See TIPO (2025), Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program (https://www.tipo.gov.tw/en/cp-825-873220-103c3-2.html).

[5] See TIPO (2018), Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) – FAQs (https://www.tipo.gov.tw/public/Attachment/813117172111.pdf).

[6] See TIPO (2025), PPH Statistical Summary (May 2025) (https://www.tipo.gov.tw/patents-tw/dl-290063-3714f97be55a47478d9d8eb7af9cef9d.html).

[7] Source: TIPO (2025), PPH Examination Data (January to December 2024) (https://www.tipo.gov.tw/patents-tw/dl-289399-1d32e17eb8004d369d03cd77c3170a97.html).

[8] Source: TIPO, Accelerated Examination Program (AEP) (https://www.tipo.gov.tw/patents-tw/lp-708-101.html).

[9] Source: TIPO (2025), AEP Statistical Summary (January to December 2024) (https://www.tipo.gov.tw/patents-tw/dl-287910-6f4f4893a8ee4ba1bf28b4cd2fddf64f.html); TIPO, supra note 13.

[10] See TIPO, supra note 9.

[11] See TIPO (2025), TIPO–INPI Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) to Launch July 1, 2025, Boosting Global Patent Strategy and Competitiveness (https://www.tipo.gov.tw/en/cp-282-1016678-2a124-2.html).