TW-Support Using the PPH Agreement (TW-SUPA) Examination Pilot Program Revised and Enacted on September 1, 2012

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) started the PPH programs with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) on September 1, 2011 and May 1, 2012, respectively. The PPH programs enable 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 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.
In order to perfect the content of this program, TW-SUPA pilot program has been revised and will be carried out on a trial period of one year from September 1, 2012.

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