Page 47 - 2018 Annual Report Taiwan Intellectual Property Office

• Examination Guidelines on Biology-related Invention Patent Applications
TIPO amended the Examination Guidelines on Biology-related Invention Patent Applications to align with the development of Taiwan’s biotech industry and patent examination practices, as well as the amended Examination Guidelines on Invention Step, which took effect on July 1, 2017. In October, TIPO held a public hearing to seek feedback from different sectors and later completed the draft amendment to the Guidelines. On December 7, TIPO published the amended Guidelines, which took effect on January 1, 2019. The key revisions include:
(1) The discourse of the inventive step regarding specific biology-related invention types were revised, and 13 sample cases were added.
(2) The structure of certain chapters was adjusted, certain provisions were made more concrete, and some texts were modified.
• Patent Examination Guidelines for Unity of Invention
To enhance consistency of disposals in judgement and concretize the subject of examination, TIPO amended the Guidelines, which took effect on January 1, 2019. The key revisions include:
(1) Methods of determining unity of invention were revised.
(2) Methods of assessing the subject of
examination: if an application doesn’t meet
the requirement of unity of invention, at
least one independent claim as well as dependent claims shall be searched and examined.
Patent Attorney Act
To practice the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, TIPO amended Articles 4 and 37 of the Patent Attorney Act, removing the provision that any person suffering from a mental disability or other physical or mental impairment shall not practice as a patent attorney or a patent agent. The amendment was promulgated by Presidential Order and took effect on November 21, 2018.
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TIPO ANNUAL REPORT
Public hearing on the amendment to the Patent Examination Guidelines for Unity of Invention
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III IPR LEGAL REGIME