Taiwan and US sign MOU on Secure Exchange of Patent Date to facilitate patent priority claims

　Taiwan IPO made a public announcement on November 24, 2023 that Taiwan and the U.S. signed the MOU on the Secure Exchange of Patent Data on November 22, 2023, which will streamline the process and reduce the cost for patent priority claims filed by Taiwanese applicants who annually file more than 20,000 patent applications in the U.S..  

　Under the priority right claim system, first filed patent applications in Taiwan serve as a basis for priority claim for later filed patent applications in the U.S. for a period of 12 months after the first filing date, provided that the required priority documents should be submitted for the claim.  Currently, the number of annual patent applications filed by Taiwanese applicants in the U.S. has been around 20,000 on average in recent years, and there was a 6% rise from 2021 in the annual number in 2022.  The exchange of priority documents between TIPO and USPTO has been time-consuming and expensive, and now with the exchange of priority documents secured by the MOU, applicants’ burden will be alleviated accordingly.  

　As a matter of fact, TIPO and USPTO has initiated their bilateral discussions on the electronic exchange of priority documents since 2016, and both sides have been repeatedly confirming the details regarding information equipment and transmission in order to ensure information security.  With the sustained efforts taken by both sides in this matter, the MOU has finally been executed this year to stand for a milestone in deepening TIPO and USPTO’s IP cooperation following the implementation of the Patent Prosecution Highway in 2011 and the execution of the MOU on Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Cooperation in 2017.  

　Moreover, with an aim to build up an environment favorable to and ready for patent portfolio management by applicants around the world, TIPO has launched the electronic priority document exchange (PDX) program with Japan and South Korea each since 2013 and 2016, and such PDX programs have also been expanded to cover design patents since 2019 and 2021, respectively.  The successful expansion of the PDX cooperation with the U.S. will substantially enhance the convenience of patent filings by Taiwanese applicants in the U.S. and vice versa, forming a mutually beneficial arrangement.  

　The deputy representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S., Johnson S. Chiang and the managing director, Ingrid Larson of the AIT/W signed this MOU.  After the signing of this MOU, TIPO and USPTO will conduct verification tests on the information system, and TIPO will announce the date of implementation after the completion of the information security testing by both offices.  (Released 2023.11.24)  
/CCS