Newsletter
Green Technology Inventions Eligible for Accelerated Patent Examination
Generally speaking, the entire patent examination procedure in the Republic of China—from the time an application is submitted for substantive examination to the point at which a notice of approval is issued—takes about 2 to 4 years to complete. However, given that the patentability standards in many advanced countries and regions are similar and thus the examination results in these countries can serve as reference for patent examination in the R.O.C., an "Accelerated Patent Examination" procedure was officially enacted in 2010 in order to decrease the amount of time needed by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) to carry out its examination procedure and enable inventors to obtain patents within a shorter timeframe to meet business requirements.
In recent years, the government has expended significant efforts to promote green energy industries. Since other major countries such as the U.S., U.K., China, Japan, and South Korea have all introduced accelerated examination (AE) for inventions involving green technology, the TIPO will soon follow suit by adding "matters relating to green technology" as grounds for granting an accelerated examination in Taiwan. The latest edition of the "Work Proposal for Accelerated Patent Examinations" was implemented on January 1, 2014. According to this "Work Proposal," accelerated examination can be sought for any of the following grounds:
(1)The corresponding foreign patent application has undergone substantive examination by the foreign patent bureau concerned and has been approved;
(2)The corresponding foreign patent application has received a search report and written opinion from U.S., Japanese, and/or European patent authorities but has not yet received approval from such authorities;
(3)The patent application is essential for commercial implementation by the patent applicant.
(4)The subject matter of the invention application under examination is related to green technology.
With respect to Ground (4), "green technology" is defined in reference to "green industries" under the impetus plan of the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) and the "Promotion Proposal for Green Energy Industry" and "National Science & Technology Program—Energy" promoted by the Executive Yuan, R.O.C. According to a FAQ published by the TIPO, "green technologies" that fall under the scope of accelerated examination include: (1) solar power, (2) wind power, (3) bioenergy, (4) hydropower, (5) geothermal power, (6) marine energy, (7) hydrogen power and fuel-cell batteries, (8) carbon dioxide capture and storage, (9) energy-from-waste (EfW/WtE), (10) LED lighting, and (11) green vehicles. This list is not exhaustive, however. As long as the patent application is related to new forms of energy, alternative energy, energy-saving products that benefit the environment, low carbon emission products, and/or recovery and recycling of resources, it can be considered to meet the green technology criteria. If the invention of a patent application is a part of a green energy research program sponsored by the Republic of China, it is advisable to provide relevant documents to easily prove that the patent application satisfies this essential condition.
A government fee of NTD 4,000 must be paid for an accelerated examination application classified as "an invention related to green technology." This is because the IPO may still need to conduct a patent search and all relevant examination procedures if the applicant does not provide the prosecution history of the corresponding foreign patent application for its reference, and the result of an accelerated examination may also bring greater commercial benefit to the patent applicant.
Generally speaking, upon the IPO's acceptance of an accelerated examination application for a green-technology patent application and all proper documents having been properly filed, the TIPO will issue an examination report within 9 months. However, the timeframe of an examination may vary depending on the field of technology involved.