On May 21, 2025, Director General Cheng-Wei Liao of the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO), under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Director General Pascal Faure of the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the PPH Program between Taiwan and France during the “2025 Taiwan-France Economic Dialogue.” The signing ceremony was witnessed by Taiwan’s Ambassador to France, Ms. Pei-Chih Hao, and Mr. Franck Paris, Director of the French Office in Taipei. The Taiwan-France PPH Program is scheduled to be implemented on July 1, 2025, marking a significant milestone in the deepening of bilateral cooperation in the field of intellectual property.
 
The PPH Program is a mechanism designed to expedite patent examination processes between participating patent offices by utilizing shared search and examination results. This collaboration not only reduces duplication of efforts but also enhances the efficiency and quality of patent examinations. The implementation of the Taiwan-France PPH Program will enable enterprises to secure patent rights more swiftly, thereby advancing their global patent strategies.
 
Since launching its first PPH Program with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2011, the TIPO has established similar cooperations with six other countries—namely, Japan, Spain, the Republic of Korea, Poland, and Canada. With the inclusion of France, Taiwan now has seven international partners in its PPH network, further expanding the scope and impact of its global cooperation. According to the TIPO’s statistics, the average disposal pendency for PPH applications in Taiwan in 2024 was 4.4 months, a significant improvement compared to the general patent examination timeline of 14.15 months.
 
Director General Liao emphasized that in 2024, France was Taiwan’s 18^th-largest trading partner globally and the third-largest within the European Union, with bilateral trade amounting to USD 6.538 billion. France remains a vital economic and trade partner for Taiwan in Europe. The establishment of the Taiwan-France PPH Program represents a crucial step toward fostering a more favorable environment for cross-border patent applications, enabling enterprises to obtain patents more efficiently and strengthen their competitive position in the international market.
 
Looking ahead, the TIPO and the INPI will continue to deepen their collaboration and engagement, working together to ensure a robust intellectual property protection framework that supports industry development in both countries.
 
 
(Translated and summarized from the “Hot News” section of the TIPO website)