Amended Patent Law
2007/05/14 TaiwanPatent Law has been amended and promulgated on Feb. 6, 2003 by Presidential Order and come into force as from July 1st, 2004. Some major amendments are listed below,
- Abolishment of the Opposition System : issue fee is payable after the patent has been accepted. Cancellation procedure shall be brought to after the patent is granted by any third party in case any invalidation procedure is desired.
- The time frame for filing a re-examination and for converting application type is extended to 60 days from the original 30 days.
- Invention patent application is examined item by item as from July 1st, 2004.
- Patent Office shall have the priority to exam patent invalidation filed which relates to infringement lawsuit in order to settle the disputes for patent lawsuit as early as possible.
- For Utility Model applications which have not been examined before July 1st, 2004 or have been filed after the said date, only formality examination is required. It is therefore expected to receive certificate for a Utility Model application around six months. In addition, anyone can apply to the Patent Authority for obtaining a technical evaluation report for the Utility Model which only undergone formality examination. If exercising the right without applying for technical evaluation report or without paying thorough attention, in case the patent right has been cancelled, the applicant might need to be responsible for indemnification of loss.
- Re-examination for Utility Model is abolished in view of its change into formality examination.
