Taiwan South Korea Design Patent Priority Document Exchange Launch on July 1, 2023

Taiwan and Korea signed an MoU on the Electronic Exchange of Priority Documents (PDX) for Design Patents on November 12, 2021. Following the completion of relevant system development, Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) launched the PDX program on July 1, 2023.

Priority Documents are required in the event that a subsequent patent application is filed with a priority claim. Under the MoU on the Exchange of Industrial Property Information and the Electronic Exchange of Priority Documents signed in 2015, the PDX program has been applicable to invention and utility model patent applications. As the aforementioned program has been put to extensive use by applicants from both countries since its implementation, TIPO and KIPO decided to include design patent priority documents in the program. Upon its implementation, this initiative significantly reduced applicants' time spent on mailing paperwork and streamlined cross-country application procedures, resulting in a more comprehensive and robust priority document exchange mechanism.

source:TIPO