Accelerated examination channel for reexamination of patent applications in Taiwan, China

Submitted by song on Wed, 12/25/2024 - 22:01

来源：

页之码IP

Starting from September 1, 2024, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has launched the AEPRe program for one year to accelerate the review process of invention patent applications. The program speeds up the process when the applicant agrees to amend his or her application by deleting the rejected claims and reorganizing the allowed claims into independent claims. Under the AEPRe rules, the examiner will focus on the conclusions of the first examination stage, thereby greatly shortening the examination time. After the application enters AEPRe, the applicant can receive the examination opinion or examination decision within 6 months.

1. An application suitable for reexamination where some claims are rejected and other claims may be granted.

2. Timing of filing: From the time when TIPO issues a notice of entry into the reexamination procedure until the time when the reexamination opinion notice is issued. In view of this, the applicant should not file an application when filing a request for reexamination, but should file an application after filing a request for reexamination.

3. Amendment: Applicants who wish to use the AEPRe fast track must agree to amend the claims by:

(1) Deletion of claims rejected in the first examination
(2) Allowing dependent claims to be reorganized into independent claims
(3) Necessary adjustments are allowed, including new claim numbering, reorganization of dependent claims, or addition of new dependent claims.

If the AEPRe application does not meet any of the requirements, TIPO will reject the request for accelerated examination and notify the applicant. In this case, the patent application will not enter the accelerated examination channel, but will enter the normal reexamination procedure. On the contrary, if the application meets the conditions, TIPO will not issue a separate notification and will issue an examination opinion or examination decision within 6 months. The AEPRe program does not require the payment of any official fees. AEPRe mainly focuses on issues such as novelty or creativity found in the first examination, and does not involve issues of unity.