On September 11, 2024, Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) of China announced a draft amendment to certain provisions of the Patent Act and solicited public opinions within 60 days from the date of the announcement of the draft in order to address the booming development of emerging electronics industries.
In order to adapt to trends in international design protection, the main focus of this amendment is related to the portion concerning patents for design. The key points are listed as follows:
1. The restriction that image designs must be applied to an "article" is relaxed, and the scope of subject matter for patents for design is expanded to include images generated by computer programs or other electronic technologies. The acts of infringement on such patents for design are clarified, and relevant procedures for application, amendment, etc., are established (see Articles 121, 124, and 136 of the Amendment);
2. A multiple design system is introduced, allowing applicants to submit two or more similar designs in the same application while retaining the original derivative design system. If an applicant has multiple similar designs in one application, he/she shall specify one of the designs as the original one (see Articles 127, 129, 139, 140, and 141-1 of the Amendment);
3. The grace period for maintaining novelty of a patent for design is extended from 6 months to 12 months, but this extension does not apply to the publication in a patent gazette (see Articles 122 and 142 of the Amendment);
4. The time limit for filing divisional applications is relaxed. Currently, divisional applications must be filed before the reexamination of the original application is closed. The new rule allows divisional applications to be filed within 3 months after the date on which an approval decision for the original application or reexamination is served (see Articles 130, 134, and 141 of the Amendment);
5. It is clarified that patent ownership disputes shall be resolved through civil litigation and adjudicated by the courts. Relevant provisions that allowed ownership disputes to be raised as grounds for invalidation have been removed (see Articles 10, 35, 59, 69, 71, 119, 140, and 141 of the Amendment).
6. Transitional provisions are specified (see Article 157-5 of the Amendment)
(Source: Unitalen)