Date: 23 March, 2020

【Updates】The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (IPO) introduces a new fast track trademark examination system to enable accelerated trademark examination process. Starting from 1st May, 2020, any new trademark application which satisfies the following requirements shall automatically be subject to fast track examination. The examination period will be reduced by about 2 months and the fast track examination does not require a separate application or official fee.

Requirements for fast track examination

1. Electronic filing shall be used;
2. The trademark shall be a traditional trademark (excluding non-traditional trademark, certification mark, collective trademark and collective membership mark applications);
3. All descriptions of goods or services shall be identical to the standard descriptions in the “IPO recommended terms of designated goods or services”;
4. Specific electronic methods of official fee payment shall be used;
5. If an attorney is appointed, the Power of Attorney shall be submitted together with the application (Key point 1).

If an application meets the requirements 2, 3 and 5, it would be subject to fast track examination since we have already fulfilled the requirements 1 and 4.

How does the new fast track examination system work

Under the new fast track examination system, an applicant can expect to receive a first office action 1.5 to 2 months earlier than the normal examination process. Currently, the average first office action pendency for Taiwan trademark examination is about 5 months.

Also, the actual filing date of the fast-tracked trademark does not change. The IPO continues to grant trademark rights on a first-to-file basis and the first person to file an application will exclude others from registering a same or similar trademark.

How to check if an application is eligible for a fast track examination

Applications that have been subject to fast track examination will be displayed as “Fast Track” in the IPO trademark database 1 month after the filing date.

Key points to note

1. Even if the power of attorney is not filed at the time of filing, the application will still be subject to fast track examination if the power of attorney is submitted within 20 days from the filing date.
2. Applications claiming priority may be subject to fast track examination if they meet all the requirements. However, the designated goods or services of a priority application usually are not included in the IPO recommended terms of goods or services.

   In view of the importance of priority right, an applicant intends to claim the priority of an earlier application shall keep the descriptions of goods or services in the priority application. It may not be wise to amend all descriptions of goods or services to the IPO recommended terms which would lead to a loss in priority for the application.