TW: Accelerated Examination Available for Green Tech Patent Application since January 1, 2014

On January 1, 2014, Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) added one condition for the Inventions Relating to Green Tech (Condition 4) under the Accelerated Examination Program (AEP) and began accepting requests in order to encourage the development of the green industry and to enhance the patent predominance of green technology in Taiwan.

As of March, 2013, the patent applications relating to green technology totaled up to 7,264 cases. In respect to the applicant nationality, Taiwan applicants account for 58%, followed by 20% of Japan applicants and 9% of the U.S. applicants respectively. In terms of the category, LED lighting, solar energy and fuel cell are at the top 3 in this field.

The green technology, in Condition 4 of AEP, is defined in a broad sense for encouraging the green technology related applicants to utilize the AEP. Any invention application qualified for the following alternatives can be filed:

(1) The technical field involving energy conservation, new energy, or new energy vehicles, etc.

(2) The invention involving carbon reduction or resource-saving.

When an applicant employs Condition 4 to request for AEP, the procedure and filing fee of NT$ 4,000 are the same as the current Condition 3, the commercial exploitation related condition under AEP. In addition, only relevant documents of the applied green technology need to be attached. Compared with the first OA pendency of 29 months for general applications, a faster OA will be issued by TIPO within 9 months for Condition 4 applications as long as all necessary documents are completely filed.

Going with the global trend, TIPO encourages green technology innovators to continuously invest research and development by means of the implementation of the accelerated examination for green technology related applications, which U.S., U.K., mainland China, Japan and Korea have carried out. Through the innovation of green technology, a win-win situation for both the environmental sustainability and the economic power-up can be created.

(Source: Taiwan Intellectual Property Office)