Recently, TIPO released the "Pilot Operation Plan for Active Patent Examination in New Start-up Industries" to conduct rapid review of patents applied by companies in new start-up industries.
The review method of this program is different from other general review procedures. When a new start-up company submits an application under this program and it meets the requirements, TIPO will proactively provide a search report and preliminary review opinions within one month, and communicate with the applicant. Agree to hold a positive meeting within one month. During the meeting, the examiner will appropriately demonstrate the examination process and give the applicant positive modification suggestions. After the meeting, the applicant must respond or propose modifications within one month, or make a self-assessment and withdraw the patent application. Or the applicant responds or makes modifications. In principle, TIPO will issue the review result within one month. If there are no other obstacles, the review result will be the final authorization decision.
The advantage of this "Pilot Plan for Proactive Patent Examination in New Start-up Industries" is that it allows new start-up applicants to quickly obtain the review results, and can help those who are not familiar with the patent system because of the positive revision suggestions received from the examiners during the meeting. Startups receive appropriate protection from poor quality patent coverage, thereby increasing the value of their patents.
One year since the program was implemented in 2023, 25 new startups have participated in the program, and the authorization rate has reached 100%, which is higher than 84.6% in 2022, and the authorization period has been greatly shortened to about 70 days. This data shows that the efficiency of patent applications for new companies can indeed be improved through the assisted review of this program.
Recently, TIPO will further relax the applicant qualifications of the "New Venture Industry Active Patent Examination Trial Operation Plan" to allow more applicants to join this operation plan, and will no longer limit whether a new startup company has been established when applying for a patent. , so that more start-up companies can accelerate the patent layout process.
