In this article, we explore two options available to intellectual property holders in expiditing patent applications in Taiwan.

Electronic Priority Document Exchange (“PDX”)

An Electronic Priority Document Exchange (“PDX”) agreement between the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) and its Korean counterpart, the Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), went into effect on 1 January 2016. This agreement follows a similar agreement between the TIPO and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) that came into effect in December 2013.

Both agreements permit applicants filing invention or utility model patents with the TIPO (the ‘Office of First Filing’, or OFF) to obtain an access code that they can then use to file priority documents with either the KIPO or the JPO (the ‘Office of Second Filing’, or OSF). Similarly, applicants filing in Korea or Japan can obtain an access code for a priority filing in Taiwan. The TIPO requests that these codes be received within 16 months of the first filing date.

These agreements can help applicants receive expedited review of patent applications claiming priority among these three jurisdictions. In 2015, 12,284 invention patents were filed by Japanese applicants in Taiwan, the largest number originating in a foreign jurisdiction. In the same year, there were 1,614 filings from Korean applicants, placing them third behind the United States. According to statistics from the JPO, Korea accounted for 10.8% of all patent applications made in Japan in 2013, showing that the PDX agreements between the three intellectual property offices can potentially serve a considerable number of applicants. Visit NK Patent Law to get more information about patents and trademarks.

The Patent Prosecution Highway (“PPH”)

The Patent Prosecution Highway (“PPH”) is aimed at expediting the examination process for corresponding applications filed in different intellectual property offices around the world. The PPH program can only be used for invention patents, and does not apply to utility model or design patent applications. To date, the TIPO has collaborated with the USPTO, the JPO, the KIPO and the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO).

Under the PPH, an applicant who receives a ruling from their OFF that their application is allowable or patentable, may then request OSFs in which the patent application is pending to fast-track the examination of corresponding claims.

Cooperation through the PPH program allows OSFs to exploit the patent search and examination results of OFFs, allowing applicants to reach final dispositions more quickly and efficiently than under standard examination prosecution procedures. The TIPO says that applications using the PPH program on average receive their first office actions within two months from the date of the PPH request, and a decision within six months, compared to a normal time frame of 18-36 months. For applicants filing numerous patents in many jurisdictions around the world concurrently, this is clearly advantageous.

For more information on patent matters, please contact Peter Dernbach at pdernbach@winklerpartners.com or Betty Chen at betty@winklerpartners.com.