OPERATION GUIDELINES FOR REQUESTING DEFERMENT OF SUBSTANTIVE EXAMINATION OF INVENTION/DESIGN PATENT APPLICATIONS (2025-12-16)

OPERATION GUIDELINES FOR REQUESTING DEFERMENT OF SUBSTANTIVE EXAMINATION OF INVENTION/DESIGN PATENT APPLICATIONS

Established 23 March 2015.
Revised 16 December 2025.
Revision announced 16 December 2025 by Ministry of Economic Affairs Order of Jing-Shou-Zhi-Zi no. 11452800760.
Effective as of 1 January 2026.

1.  These Guidelines are established by the Intellectual Property Office, Ministry of Economic Affairs for processing the requests for deferment of substantive examination of invention/design patent applications and the re-examination of the same applications.

2.  Deferment of substantive examination of an invention patent application may be sought for but once only where substantive examination of the application has been requested and the application is in the phase of
1)  First examination and the Notice of First Office Action is not yet served;
2)  Re-examination and the Notice of First Office Action is not yet served.

The preceding paragraph does not apply to any invention patent application 
1)  a request for the substantive examination of which has been filed by a third party;
2)  a request for prioritized examination, accelerated examination or PPH of which has been filed; or
3)  more than five years have elapsed from the filing date of the application.

3.  Deferment of substantive examination may be sought for but once only of a design application in the phase of 
1)  First examination and the Notice of First Office Action is not yet served;
2)  Re-examination and the Notice of First Office Action is not yet served.

The preceding paragraph does not apply to any design patent application 
1)  a request for accelerated examination of which has been filed; or 
2)  two (2) years have elapsed from the filing date of the application.

4.  The request for deferment of substantive examination shall be submitted in writing with these particulars clearly stated in the request form:
1)  The patent application number.
2)  Name or designation of the applicant.
3)  Name of the attorney, where applicable.
4)  Requested date of resumption of examination.

The requested date of resumption of examination provided in subparagraph 4) above must be within five (5) years from the filing date of the invention patent application and two (2) years from the filing date of the design patent application.

5.  The applicant may withdraw the submitted request for deferment of substantive examination; however, in such case, the applicant shall be barred from filing a second request for deferment of examination of the same patent application. 

The applicant may request to change the requested date of resumption of examination after submitting the request for deferment of substantive examination, provided that the date proposed for the change must be in accordance with paragraph two of Point 4.

6.  Upon the arrival of the requested date of resumption of examination, the application will be included in the applications filed in the current year and aligned for examination in order.

7.  The Patent Authority may dismiss a request for deferment of substantive examination of a patent application if it determines the application may materially affect public interests or the interests of any third party and, where the request has been docketed, terminate the deferment procedure. 

8.  The lay-open date of an invention patent application will not be affected by the request for deferment of substantive examination and requests for early lay-open will be processed in accordance with the original procedure.

9.  The 16 December 2025 revision of these Guidelines shall apply to patent applications where the request for deferment of substantive examination was submitted before said revision takes effect with the requested date of resumption of examinations yet to arrive.