The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has recently announced green technology as a new category of application or invention eligible for expedited examination under TIPO’s existing Accelerated Examination Program (AEP).
If a published patent application relates to energy saving, new energy or automobiles powered by new energy or carbon reduction, then the patent application would be eligible for AEP. It is important to note that Taiwan is not a PCT contracting state (i.e., it does not participate in the international patent application system). As a result all foreign patent applicants including Australian applicants are required to file their applications at TIPO within one year from the date of the first filed priority patent application. Because patent applications typically publish 18 months after their original filing date, that means non-Taiwanese applicants must wait an extra six months or so after filing their application for publication to occur before requesting expedited examination.
One drawback of TIPO’s fast track program is its publication requirement; to qualify for the AEP a patent application must have published before the applicant makes the AEP request. An article, suggests that AEP does result in quicker examination. The article reports that it takes about 29 months to receive a first office action during ordinary examination in TIPO as opposed to nine months under the AEP.