FOLLOW-UP WORK OF AMENDMENT OF ROC (TAIWAN) PATENT ACT

05/01/2012

---

The ROC (Taiwan) Patent Act passed the 3rd reading review by the Legislative Yuan on 29 November 2011 and the amended Patent Act was announced by the President on 21 December 2011, which include a total of 159 amended articles (108 amended articles, 36 newly added articles and 15 deleted articles). The date on which the amended Patent Act shall be decided by the Executive Yuan (Cabinet); it is expected that the amended Patent Act will take effect at around end of November 2012.

The amendment stated above involves a number of changes of patent practice. To cope with the implementation of the amendment, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs are in the process of developing all the necessary supporting mechanisms, including amending the Enforcement Rules of Patent Act, amending and formulating the relevant patent regulations, amending the Patent Examination Guidelines and various patent application forms, adjusting the IPO’s patent computer system etc.

According to the IPO’s plan, the concerned patent regulations being amended or newly formulated include the following:

(1)

Enforcement Rules of Patent Act

(2)

Implementation Regulations for Handling Patent Applications Filed with Patent Specification, Claims and Drawings Prepared in Foreign Languages

(3)

Regulations Governing Biological Material Deposit for Patent Application Purposes

(4)

Regulations Governing Patent Term Extension

(5)

Regulations Governing Patent Government Fees

(6)

Regulations Governing Reduced Payment of Patent Annuities

(7)

Regulations Governing Invention/Creation Sponsoring

The above-mentioned patent regulations are scheduled to be announced in around October 2012. As to the Patent Examination Guidelines (including chapters for Procedural Examination and Patent Right Administration, Invention Patent Applications, Utility Model Patent Applications, Design Patent Applications, Patent Cancellation Actions etc.), the amendment is expected to be announced also in around October 2012. Lee and Li are closely watching the development of the above-mentioned work items and will timely report the same for reference by readers of Lee and Li’s Bulletins.