The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) launched the “Accelerated Examination Program for Reexamination of Invention Patent Applications” (AEPRe) on a trial basis on September 1, 2024. During the trial period, applicants using the program have received examination results within an average of 24.5 days from the date of filing a request under the program, earning high praise from applicants and patent attorneys. Given the program’s success, TIPO has decided to extend the trial for another year and encourages continued use of the program to accelerate patent examination and patent portfolio development, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of startups.
 
AEPRe applies to invention patent applications under reexamination in which only some of the claims were rejected during the initial examination. The program encourages applicants to proactively amend the claims during reexamination to align them with the scope deemed allowable during the initial examination. Where an applicant elects to use AEPRe, the reexamination procedure can be accelerated.
 
During the 24-month period from September 1, 2024, to August 31, 2026, TIPO received a total of 83 AEPRe requests. Excluding two ineligible cases in which the requests were filed outside the permitted timeframe and three cases in which the first reexamination report had not yet been issued, the average examination time for the remaining 78 cases, calculated from the filing of an AEPRe request to the receipt of an examination result, was only 24.5 days. By contrast, it typically takes 10 to 13 months for applicants to receive examination results through the standard reexamination procedure, demonstrating the program’s significant benefits in helping applicants secure patent rights more quickly.
 
(Translated from a news release published on TIPO’s official website.)