Taiwan-Canada
PPH MOTTAINAI Program Launches in February

Source:
TIPO https://www.tipo.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=656360&ctNode=7127&mp=1

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) MOTTAINAI program between the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) was signed on January 31, 2018 and commenced on the next day, February 1, 2018. As the sixth bilateral agreement on PPH program, this is considered another achievement by TIPO after it forged PPH cooperation with its counterparts in the US, Japan, Spain, South Korea, and Poland.

The PPH cooperation between TIPO and CIPO will accelerate the examination process for invention patent applications in both jurisdictions, enabling applicants to be granted of patents in a faster manner and to benefit patentees in forming patent strategies internationally, so as to facilitate business and innovation development.

Particularly noted, the TIPO-CIPO PPH program is the “MOTTAINAI” version. When an applicant files for invention patent applications in the two countries, regardless in which one the same case filed first, upon obtaining an earlier favorable examination result from either office the applicant will be eligible for the PPH at the other office. For example, in the event that a Taiwanese applicant files for an invention patent firstly with the TIPO and later the CIPO, if a favorable decision is firstly produced by the CIPO, the applicant will then be eligible to request for the PPH at TIPO; and vice versa. The cooperation program is expected to speed up patent examination process and enable a more efficient parallel patent prosecution. 

for any questions relating to this topic, please contact us at cjchen@tsailee.com.tw