Accelerated Examination Program for Re-Examination (AEPRe) launched on September 1, 2024 on trial basis

　TIPO announced the launch of “Accelerated Examination Program for Re-Examination” (AEPRe) for implementation on a trial basis as of September 1, 2024.  Under the AEPRe pilot program, TIPO will accelerate re-examination as long as the applicant voluntarily amends or deletes the claims rejected in previous substantive examination and retains the other non-rejected claims, which will help patent applicants secure patents.  

　According to TIPO, there are two stages in the examination of invention patent applications; if an invention patent application is rejected in the substantive examination stage, the applicant may request a re-examination.  Under the AEPRe pilot program, the applications eligible for accelerated re-examination are those in which not all claims are rejected in the original decision of rejection.  Applicants of such applications may request re-examination of their applications by “deleting the rejected claims or rewriting the non-rejected claims into independent claims” to have the patent scope in line with the scope approved in the previous substantive examination.  The reexamination cases will undergo TIPO’s accelerated examination and TIPO will issue the first office action for the reexamination within 6 months from the filing date of such cases.  

　As revealed by the 2023 statistics, TIPO has received a total of 6,538 invention patent applications for re-examination, with the average pendency for the first office action and the disposal being 10.1 months and 13.1 months, respectively.  The AEPRe pilot program, launched on September 1, 2024, is open to online applications without charging any official fees.  Applicants of AEPRe applications will receive an office action or written decision within 6 months.  Moreover, TIPO has evaluated and found that in actual practice, applicants of AEPRe applications will receive decisions within 2 or 3 months, a faster process for the applicants to obtain patents.  

　Please see more details concerning AEPRe on TIPO’s website (https://www.tipo.gov.tw/tw/cp-85-977635-e7dc7-1.html).  (Released 2024.08.29)
/CCS