2019 Annual Report Intellectual Property Office

V. IPR CREATION AND USE Given the impact the gradual shortening of patent examination period had on the existing mechanism of third-party observations in Taiwan, TIPO studied regulations and practices of the USPTO, EPO, UKIPO, JPO and WIPO (the patent offices) regarding third-party observations during patent examination to improve the efficiency of public review and stay abreast of global trends. Based on the study results, TIPO aimed to set up recommended standard operation procedures, measures, mid-term and long-term improvement plans for third-party observations during patent examination. Our study found that these patent offices already established rules on third-party observations mechanism to be abided by people making third-party submissions and examiners. Secondly, the patent offices also provide online file wrapper access service to the public to facilitate transparency and dissemination of information during examination process. This in turn brings the mechanism closer to public participation in the patent examination. In addition, to process third- party observations, the patent offices would actively inform patent applicants about the third-party submissions and help them obtain and the submissions. The early access to relevant prior art information would help applicants to improve the patent quality of their applications. Moreover, most of the patent offices have specific websites for third-party observations enabling submission of third-party observations and providing useful information. These websites effectively help the public to quickly understand relevant regulations governing submission of observations, which in turn enhances the quality and convenience in third-party submissions. Study of Global IP Offices' Third-Party Observations during Patent Examination Cases Divisional requests of invention patents during examination Divisional requests of invention patents during reexamination Post-grant divisional requests of invention patents Year 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 to optimize examination procedures and relax regulations to align with international examination practices and improve the quality of patent examination. 64