As announced by the TIPO on March 3, 2012, the TW-Support Using the PPH Agreement (TW-SUPA) was effective on March 1, 2012 and the related official fee is NT$4,000 (about US$140). The amended regulation of the official fee was also effective as of March 1, 2012.
The PPH pilot program between the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) started on September 1, 2011. The PPH pilot program enables an applicant, whose claims are determined to be allowable/patentable in the Office of First Filing (OFF), to have the corresponding application filed in the Office of Second Filing (OSF) advanced out of turn for examination while at the same time allowing the OSF to exploit the search and examination results of the OFF. However, due to the long examination pendency at TIPO, search and examination results of applications whose OFF is TIPO could not be provided before the initiation of examination in the OSF. In other words, the making use of search and examination results of the OFF cannot be fully achieved. In order to promote international work-sharing in patent examination, and to encourage applicants to take advantage of expedited examination under the PPH pilot program, the TW-Support Using the PPH Agreement (TW-SUPA) examination pilot program has commenced on March 1, 2012.
Where TIPO is the OFF of a TW application and a corresponding foreign application is later filed in the Patent Office which has a PPH agreement with TIPO, the applicant may request participation in the TW-SUPA pilot program and request the TW application be advanced out of turn for examination. TW-SUPA pilot program is expected to support patent acquisition through PPH and to promote international work-sharing by providing search and examination results of TIPO at an early stage. TW-SUPA pilot program will be carried out on a trial period of six months. TIPO will evaluate the result of this program to determine whether and how the program should be fully implemented after the trial period. TIPO may also change or terminate this program early if the volume of participation exceeds a manageable level, or for any other reason.
Should you need more information, please feel free to contact us.
(Sources: TIPO News dated March 3 & 27, 2012)
(http://www.tipo.gov.tw/ch/News_NewsContent.aspx?NewsID=5758
http://www.tipo.gov.tw/ch/News_NewsContent.aspx?NewsID=5850)
