1 April 2014Jurisdiction reportsCrystal J. Chen

Green technologies eligible for accelerated programme

Any energy or water solutions that are safe, clean, recyclable, and efficient could be deemed ‘green’ inventions. It is believed that possessing green inventions equates to employing cutting-edge technology, which can ensure the future competitiveness and promising development of a company.

Applicants wanting to patent their inventions can benefit from the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office’s (TIPO) accelerated examination programme (AEP), which has now been extended to include green technologies.

The AEP was launched on January 1, 2009 and was revised on January 1, 2010. Applicants for patents for eligible inventions may apply for accelerated examination as soon as they receive the examination or re-examination notification of the pending application from the TIPO. Starting from January 1, 2014, a new admissible condition has been added to the AEP to allow green technology-related inventions also to be eligible for accelerated examination.

According to the statistics, up to the month of March 2013 there were 7,264 invention patent applications that are green tech-related filed with the TIPO. Among these, domestic applicants accounted for 58 percent, while Japanese and US applicants accounted for 20 percent and 9 percent, respectively. The top three green technologies are LED lighting, solar energy and fuel and battery-related inventions.

"An early publication should be requested at the time of filing an AEP request if the application has been notified for examination but has not been published yet."

Because China, Japan, the UK and the US have launched AEP of green energy technologies, TIPO is therefore accepting AEP applications for green tech-related invention applications to enhance domestic green tech competitiveness and encourage more green innovations from domestic industries. TIPO will be able to issue its first Office Action to applications that include an AEP request within nine months, compared with the 29-month period for pending applications that have not applied for AEP.

AEP-eligible applications

The current conditions for applying for the AEP are:

(1) The application’s foreign counterpart has been granted under substantive examination by a foreign patent authority;

(2) The European or Japanese Patent Office or the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued an Office Action during substantive examination but has yet to allow the application’s foreign counterpart;

(3) The invention application is essential to commercial usage; and

(4) The invention application is green energy technology-related.

Applicable fields of green technologies that are admissible for the AEP include technologies involving energy-saving, new energy, new-energy automobiles, inventions involving carbon-reduction technologies and/or natural resource-saving technologies.

No official fee is required for filing an AEP request under conditions (1) and (2), but an official fee will be charged under conditions (3) and (4). Apart from the AEP based on condition (2), there will be no restriction on the competence of patent authorities in any country or region, and the AEP may be requested on the basis of the corresponding application in any country or region.

AEP examination

The application must be published before or upon filing an AEP request. The timing to request the AEP is as soon as the examination or re-examination notification is issued by the TIPO. Therefore, an early publication should be requested at the time of filing an AEP request if the application has been notified for examination but has not been published yet.

TIPO will not acknowledge receipt of the AEP request, but plans to issue a Notice of Allowance or an Office Action notifying reasons of rejection as early as nine months after the submission of all the required documents.

Decisions issued by foreign patent authorities will not be the only decisive factor for TIPO to determine the patentability of the patent application, as the purpose of the AEP is to expedite examination in order for applicants to receive the first Office Action as early as possible rather than following decisions of foreign patent authorities.

A decision of rejection will still be issued if an examiner deems that the claims that are allowed by a foreign patent authority are non-patentable, based either on the art already considered by the foreign patent authority, or on new art cited by the TIPO.

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