2019 Annual Report Intellectual Property Office

III. IPR LEGAL REGIME To improve the legal regime for intellectual property rights protection, TIPO pushed for amendments to the Patent Act, the Trademark Act, the Copyright Act, and the Trade Secrets Act in 2019. To align with the amendment to the Patent Act and optimize examination quality, TIPO revised relevant regulations and examination standards to optimize the legal regime. Patent Laws and Regulations • Amendment of the Patent Act To align with deregulation, changes to regulations worldwide, and to substantiate patent examination practices, TIPO pushed for partial amendment to the Patent Act, which passed third reading on April 16 and promulgated by Presidential Order on May 1 to take effect on November 1. The key revisions include: (1) The term of design patent was extended from 12 to 15 years. (2) The period for requesting a division following the granting of an invention patent was extended from 30 days to 3 months. The scope of applicability was expanded to include utility model patents. (3) The invalidation requester must submit grounds within three months after the request is filed. Late submission will not be considered. The amendment specifies the time and other relevant measures for the patentee to request post -grant amendment during the invalidation examination. (4) The amendment specifies the time for requesting post-grant amendment to a ut i l i ty model patent and examination is changed from formality to substantive. (5) Regarding preservation of patent files, files, except for permanently preserved ones, are regularly destroyed to ease up shortage of storage space. • Amendment to the Patent Act and Subsidiary Laws To align with the amendment to the Patent Act, TIPO published the amended Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act and the Regulations of Patent Fees on September 27, both took effect on November 1. III. IPR LEGAL REGIME Patent Laws and Examination Guidelines 01 Patent Laws and Regulations Patent Administrative Regulations and Examination Guidelines • Guidelines for Procedural Examination and Patent Rights Management To align with the amended Patent Act of 2019, TIPO revised Chapters XIII, XVII, XX, XXI and 2019 TIPOANNUAL REPORT 45