“But I don’t want to receive the Notice of Allowance so quickly!”
This sentiment has been shared by some patent applicants, particularly in recent years as examination periods have become shorter and shorter in response to the growing demand for faster prosecution from the majority of applicants.

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has taken note of these concerns and has now responded with revised examination rules.

According to the previous rules, the substantive examination of invention patent applications in Taiwan could be deferred for up to three years from the filing date, while design patent applications were not eligible for deferral at all.

Under the revised rules on the deferral of substantive examination, applicants are granted significantly greater flexibility:

• Substantive examination for invention patent applications may now be deferred for up to five years from the filing date; and
• Substantive examination for design patent applications may be deferred for up to two years from the filing date.

The revised rules took effect on January 1, 2026.

To help you better understand this new framework, the key points of the revised rules are outlined below.

1. Purpose of the Rules

These rules are established by TIPO to govern the procedures for deferring substantive examination of invention and design patent applications at the preliminary examination stage, as well as for deferring examination of invention and design patent applications at the re-examination stage.

For ease of reference, the substantive examination conducted at the preliminary examination stage and the examination conducted at the re-examination stage are collectively referred to herein as “substantive examination.”

2. Deferral of Substantive Examination for Invention Patents

An invention patent application may apply once only for deferral of substantive examination if one of the following conditions is met:

• The application is in the preliminary examination stage, and the first Office Action has not yet been issued; or
• The application is in the re-examination stage, and the first Office Action has not yet been issued.

However, deferral is not permitted if:

• Substantive examination was requested by a third party;
• The application is already subject to prioritized examination, accelerated examination, or the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH); or
• More than five years have elapsed since the filing date of the application.

3. Deferral of Substantive Examination for Design Patents

A design patent application may also apply once only for deferral of substantive examination if:

• The application is in the preliminary examination stage, and the first Office Action has not yet been issued; or
• The application is in the re-examination stage, and the first Office Action has not yet been issued.

However, deferral is not permitted if:

• Accelerated examination has already been requested; or
• More than two years have elapsed since the filing date of the application.

4. Required Information for a Deferral Request

An applicant requesting deferral of substantive examination must submit an application specifying:

• The patent application number;
• The name of the applicant;
• The name of the appointed patent agent, if any; and
• The scheduled date for resuming substantive examination.

The scheduled date for resuming substantive examination must fall:

• Within five years from the filing date for invention patent applications; and
• Within two years from the filing date for design patent applications.

5. Withdrawal or Change of the Deferral Request

Applicants may withdraw a request for deferral at any time.
However, once withdrawn, a new deferral request for the same patent application may not be filed again.

Applicants may also change the scheduled date for resuming examination, provided that the revised date continues to comply with the statutory time limits described above.

6. Examination Order After Resumption

When the scheduled date for resuming substantive examination arrives, the application will be placed into the examination queue together with other applications of the same calendar year, and examined in sequence accordingly.

7. Protection of Public and Third-Party Interests

If TIPO determines that deferring substantive examination of a particular application may have a significant adverse impact on the public interest or third-party rights, it may:

• Refuse to accept the deferral request; or
• Terminate an already approved deferral.

8. Laid-open Publication of Invention Patent Applications

For invention patent applications, a deferral of substantive examination does not affect the laid-open schedule.  Laid-open publication, if applicable, will proceed under the standard procedures.

9. Transitional Provisions

Applications that had already requested of deferral of substantive examination before the effective date of the revised rules, and whose scheduled resumption date has not yet arrived, will be handled in accordance with the revised rules.