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Subsequent to the implementation of the PPH pilot plan between he Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as of 1 September 2011, the IPO further announced the “Taiwan-Support Using the PPH Agreement Plan” (TW-SUPA Plan). The purpose for using the TW-SUPA Plan is to enable patent applicants to seek PPH procedure with a qualified foreign patent office (i.e., a foreign patent office having cooperation with IPO for PPH pilot plan) based on the result of the examination made by the IPO for the applicant’s ROC (Taiwan) patent case. The IPO started to implement the TW-SUPA Plan from 1 March 2012 for a period of 6 months. Prior to the expiration of the 6-month implementation period, the IPO will, based on the outcome of the implementation, evaluate and decide whether to continue implementing the TW-SUPA Plan. The IPO may alter or terminate the implementation of the TW-SUPA Plan for case burden reason or other reasons. The major implementation details regarding TW-SUPA Plan are as follows;
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To be entitled to filing a TW-SUPA request, the following conditions must be met:
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(1) |
The concerned ROC patent application is the first-filed patent application, based on which priority claim is made for a corresponding foreign patent case. The patent office receiving the above-mentioned corresponding foreign patent case is limited to one which has cooperation with the IPO for PPH pilot plan.
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(2) |
The date on which a TW-SUPA request is filed shall not exceed 6 months starting from the filing date of the corresponding foreign patent case.
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(3) |
For the concerned ROC patent application, a notification for commencement of substantive examination has been issued, but the first office action has not been issued.
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(4) |
If the concerned ROC patent application has not been paid open at the time when a TW-SUPA request is filed, the patent applicant must apply for an early laying open of his/her ROC patent application in accordance with Paragraph 2, Article 36 of the ROC Patent Act.
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When filing a TW-SUPA request, the following documents are needed:
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(1) |
An written application
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(2) |
the evidentiary document regarding the filing of the corresponding foreign patent case (for example, a filing receipt issued by the USPTO)
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(3) |
At least two pieces of prior art references which the patent applicants deem the most relevant to the claimed invention(s), as well as the “reason(s) who the claimed invention(s) is(are) patentable in light of the submitted prior art reference” prepared by the applicant
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(4) |
an official fee of NT$4,000
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Considering the patent applicants’ need and the proper allocation of patent examination resources, the IPO will, for each of the technology field, decide “the monthly total number of TW-SUPA requests accepted by the IPO.” For now, the monthly request number is as follows:
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(1) |
For patent cases in the "mechanical field" or "daily used article field": 8 requests each month for each field
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(2) |
For patent cases in the fields of semiconductor, information technology, telecommunication, power measurement of optical and storage device, bio-tech and pharmaceutical, chemical engineering and Photoelectric liquid crystal: 4 requests each month for each field
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The yearly TW-SUPA requests filed by the same applicant shall not exceed 8.
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Given the above, where ROC patent applications are fist filed in the ROC with corresponding foreign patent cases filed with the USPTO, the IPO will expedite examination of the said ROC patent applications based on TW-SUPA requests properly filed.
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