Revision of Accelerated Examination Program (AEP) Effective from 1 Jan. 2022

Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) expanded the scope of eligibility for green patent applications to use Accelerated Examination Program (AEP) and shortened the given pendency for the applications that have met the conditions specified.

Accelerated Examination Program (AEP)

AEP is an effective way to shorten the pendency for the examination of an invention application. The applicants may request AEP under following four conditions which were specified by TIPO.

Condition 1: The corresponding application has been approved by a foreign patent authority under substantive examination

Condition 2: The EPO, JPO or USPTO has issued an Office Action during substantive examination but has yet to approve the application’s foreign counterpart

Condition 3: The invention application is essential to commercial exploitation

Condition 4: Inventions related to green technologies

Major amendments of this revision

In order to encourage the research and development of technologies, TIPO amended the rules to expand the scope of eligibility for green patent applications.

Previously, TIPO limited Condition 4 to green “energy” technologies such as solar energy, wind power, etc. From 1 January 2022, Condition 4 can apply to not only alternative energy but also other “green technologies” such as energy-saving, carbon emission reduction, etc.

In addition, the pendency for the first Office Action is also shortened from 9 months to 6 months for the applications which are under Condition 3 or Condition 4.

Effectiveness of AEP

According to the official data[1] in 2020, the average pendency from filing to first Office Action for invention patents without the AEP request was 8.7 months. In contrast, the average pendency for an application having AEP was 1.97 months. Given the meaningfully improved efficiency, the effect is significantly positive for the applicants who made the AEP request.

Future

Green energy is a dynamic concept. The rules and definitions should be amended with the advance of science and technology. This revision will encourage domestic and overseas applicants to develop new green technologies as the faster grant of patents suggests the ready availability of protectable legal interests in Taiwan.

From the historical data, the average pendency from filing to the first Office Action under AEP is less than 3 months regardless of the condition based on which to request for. In addition, this program may expand the scope of eligibility and, parallel with another fast-track mechanism – the Patent Prosecution Highway program (PPH), it is hoped to attract more prospective applicants to file the applications of inventions patents in Taiwan.