Taiwan IPO announces the second draft amendment to Taiwan Patent Act
E210622Y1 Jul. 2021（E260）
Taiwan IPO published the second draft amendment to partial provisions of the Patent Act, which amends 79 articles of the Act. Highlights of the amendment are summarized as follows based on the comparison and consolidation of the first and second draft amendments.
1. Extension of time limit for filing divisional applications
Under the second draft amendment, the time limit for filing a divisional application is largely extended to allow a divisional application to be filed within 2 months after the rejection decision for the original application has been served or during the reexamination process.
2. Introduction of civil remedy procedure for disputes over patent ownership
For any disputes that arise out of the ownership issue with respect to right to apply for a patent and to the patent and are brought to the court, mediation, or arbitration for seeking remedies, the relevant applicant may request for suspension of the examination, deliberation, and other relevant procedures that would affect or change the ownership.
3. Inclusion of grounds for submitting supplementary evidence in invalidation proceedings
For enhancing remedy efficacy in invalidation proceedings and giving consideration to the particularity of invalidation cases at the same time, the second draft amendment introduces the circumstances where the invalidation requester or intervener is allowed to submit new evidence or new grounds in patent lawsuit.
4. Stipulation of process of adjudication for litigation involving patent disputes
The second draft amendment sets forth the process and method for the court’s adjudicating patent lawsuits to facilitate court practice in the litigation involving patent disputes. (Released 2021.06.22)
/CCS
