On September 1, 2024, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) implemented the “Optimized Program for Telephone Communication and Remote Video Interviews with Outsourced Examiners” on a trial basis.
 
With the launch of the trial program, the phone system of the TIPO now allows conference calls, by which applicants of invention patents or their agents, outsourced examiners, and the TIPO’s contact persons can communicate with each other in real time. After receiving an examination report from the TIPO, the applicant may phone the contact person disclosed in the examination report to inquire about the feasibility of communicating with the outsourced examiner through a conference call. The TIPO will arrange an appropriate time for a reply after an evaluation. In principle, the conference call will be limited to 20 minutes.
 
Further, if the case is complicated or there are any needs for operations and demonstrations, the applicant or agent may apply for a remote video interview with the outsourced examiner and the TIPO’s contact person. For the remote video interview to be held, the applicant or agent should be in a non-public place equipped with the hardware and software specified by the TIPO and with the capability to ensure the proper quality of video transmission. Also, the outsourced examiner should have the hardware, software and network bandwidth required by the TIPO and be located in a quiet and non-public place suitable for communication.
 
The TIPO hopes that the new measures will help improve the quality of patent applications and the efficiency of examination.
 
(Elaborated based on the Hot News announced on the website of the TIPO)