Page 46 - 2018 Annual Report Taiwan Intellectual Property Office

• Regulations Governing the Determination of Patent Term Extension
To improve the system for extending patent term and simplify the documents required for the application, TIPO published the amended Regulations Governing the Determination of Patent Term Extension on April 11, 2018, which took effect retrospectively on April 1.
Key Amendments to the Patent Act in Recent Years
Date
Jun 11, 2013
Mar 24, 2014
May 1, 2017
Jan 1, 2013
.
Important Changes
1.The reinstatement of rights mechanism about convention priority rights was introduced.
2.The system of continuation of rights for filing two applications for the same creation was added.
3.The scope of applicability of grace period was expanded to include novelty and inventive step of patent applications.
4.New regulations related to public health were added to align with WTO.
5.Partial designs, computer-generated icons and graphical user interfaces (icons & GUIs), and sets of articles into the scope of design patent protection were allowed, and the system of derivative designs was introduced.
The principle of continuation of rights for filing two applications for the same creation in invention and utility model patent was adopted.
Border protection measures were adopted to regulate the alleged patent-infringing products.
The grace period for applying for invention and utility model patent applications was extended from 6 to 12 months, and the reasons for the grace period were broadened.
Patent Examination Guidelines
• Guidelines for Procedural Examination and Patent Rights Management
In compliance with the Taiwan-UK Cooperation on Deposit of Biological Materials, as well as amendments to patent term extension and related practices such as the statement of one creation filed for invention patent and utility model patent and convention priority document, TIPO amended Chapters II, VII, VIII, X, XIII, XIV, XV, XVII and XVIII of Part 1 of the Guidelines, and they took effect on November 1, 2018.
• Examination Guidelines for Patent Term Extension (PTE) Registration
TIPO continued the amendment in 2017 to the Examination Guidelines for Patent Term Extension (PTE) Registration. In April 2018, TIPO held information sessions to seek public feedback. On April 11, TIPO published the amended Guidelines, which took effect retrospectively on April 1.
44
III
IPR LEGAL REGIME