Taiwan and Korea Sign Two MOUs to Speed Up Patent Prosecution and Facilitate Exchange of Industrial Property Information

On June 15, 2015, Taiwan IPO (TIPO) and Korean IPO (KIPO) signed two Memoranda of Understanding to establish collaboration on Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program and exchange of industrial property information and priority document exchange (PDX).  With signing of the two MOUs, the examination process of patent applications in Taiwan and South Korea will be expedited under the PPH program, and the industrial property information exchanged between the two offices will become accessible to the public of the two countries.

Taiwan IPO has been establishing international cooperation of PPH program with the US, Japan, and Spain since 2011.  There had been a total of 797 patent applications filed under the PPH program in 2014 and the average examination time is 11 months, which is one-third of the time needed for non-PPH program examination and demonstrates a remarkably accelerated patent prosecution process.  Moreover, South Korea has been one of the patent filing nations that contribute the highest number of foreign patent applications in Taiwan.  In 2014, there had been a total of 2,127 patent applications filed by South Korean companies, including Samsung Display, LG Chem, and Samsung Electronics on the top 20 foreign applicants in Taiwan.  Patent applications filed by Taiwanese companies in South Korea increased from 768 in 2013 to 955 in 2014, most of which were contributed by TSMC, Winbond Electronics, MediaTek Inc., and Silicon Motion).  In view of the foregoing statistics, it is foreseeable that the chemical engineering, electronic, and semiconductor industries will benefit from the Taiwan-Korea PPH collaboration. 

Under the PPH program, once a patent applicant has been notified of the examination decision issued by either TIPO or KIPO, the applicant can request for fast-track examination of his/her corresponding application pending at TIPO or KIPO.  For example, Taiwanese applicants who have filed patent applications first in Taiwan and then in Korea and are notified of KIPO’s examination decision first may request for examination under PPH program with TIPO.  Patent applicants can receive final decisions more quickly and efficiently. 

By signing the second MOU, TIPO and KIPO initiate collaboration on electronic exchange of patent priority documents, for which the two offices will establish relevant information exchange mechanism as soon as possible to start the electronic exchange of priority documents so as to save applicants’ time and money and also to simplify the cross-country application procedure and also further to save storage space for paper documents.

Before signing the patent priority electronic file exchange MOU, TIPO and KIPO, since 2003, have carried out exchange of patent and trademark information for internal use only.  Now with this MOU, the exchanged information will be available to the public, which will not only cause dissemination of prior arts but also provide an open data source for third parties.  Moreover, the industry can use the exchanged information to generate more inventions and further to enhance industrial development. 

The Taiwan-Korea PPH program has taken effect since July 1, 2015.  Please link to http://www.tipo.gov.tw/lp.asp?CtNode=7556&CtUnit=3679&BaseDSD=7&mp=2 for relevant information.  (June 2015)
/CCS